Unless I'm missing something it seems RS hasn't written much or spent a lot of time on Crete and this is concerning me as we're considering 10 days on Crete at the end of May.
Our plan is Crete (10), Santorini (4), Nafplion (4) and Athens (4)... numbers in brackets are nights spent.
Does this sound like an OK plan? We are travelling with 3 young adult children (ages 18-23).
Thanks for any input!
Posted by
Nanaimo, BC, Canada
1471 posts
Crete is an excellent choice to visit. You could easily just do Crete and then Athens at the end of the trip and you would barely see much of Crete. I am not suggesting you change your plans as you have chosen your destinations pretty well.
You could drop a night night in Santorini and another night in Athens and add that time to Crete.both Santorini and Athens highlights can be experienced in 3 nights each.
I would suggest that you consider spending your time in Chania Crete. It has an airport so is easy to get to. Find a hotel in Chania old town. You can imagine what it was like in the 14th century. There are a number of excursions of west Crete from Chania. Any travel agent can book excursions for you. We discovered Wanderlust tours on our May 2024 visit and had 3 amazing different tours with them to many of Cretes highlights. We no longer rent a car to explore ourselves so a tour keeps us active.
Some images from Crete.
Chania 2024 https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72177720318408008/
Wanderlust tours Chania https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72177720318394812
Gramovossia,Balos and Elafonissi https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72157698932695812
Posted by
Sidney, BC, Canada
1003 posts
10 days in Crete will give you a great introduction to Crete, where there is so much to see and do. Aside from the trip to Hydra, Rick’s tour of Greece does not cover any of the Islands, hence no guidebooks. My preferred guide to Crete is the Rough Guide, gives you lots of information on the many things to do in Crete as well as a brief but comprehensive history of the Island.
Chania is a charming old city with a stunning waterfront. Love wandering through the old town, lots of interesting buildings including excavated ruins from the Mycenean and Minoan periods. I have not been for some years but understand there is now a new archaeological museum.
A visit to the Palace of Knossos is a must do and as Stan said, tours are available from Chana that probably include the city of Heraklion to visit the museum there which contains artifacts from Knossos and other major sites on the island.
There are some great beaches or you can go hiking the various gorges. Also look at the central and eastern end of the Island. The towns in. Central Crete tend to be tourist resorts but there are some beautiful spots, especially around Elouda, where a visit to the island of Spinalonga with its massive Venetian fortress is interesting.
I never made it to the southern coast of the Island; it’s a lot less developed than the north coast.
Aside from the Rough Guide look for also Lonely Planet. Eyewitness do a nice small Top 10 Crete which is handy to carry with you, not so much for planning.