traveling to Greece in '09 and besides visiting Athens, we want to visit a Greek island for 4 nights. a harbor town (such as Chania on Crete) appeals to us - not too touristy
but things to do at night would be good. any suggestions?
we're open to any island (or two)
Posted by
Camarillo, California
3149 posts
Naxos and Paros both have fun and interesting port towns without all the glitz and glamor of places like Mykonos and Corfu.
Posted by
New York City, NY, USA
5678 posts
Many years ago we went to Crete. We didn't make it to Chania, but I did hike the Samara Gorge or part of it, and that was fun. We stayed in a little town on the south coast where you could catch a boat to the town at the end of the gorge. We hiked partially up the gorge and then came back down. We'd stayed earlier in Rethymno so we could check out Knossos. We had this tiny little balcony where we had breakfast. You want to stay away from the eastern part of the island if you want to avoid the holiday beach vacationers. We really like Crete. I will admit that part of the romance, was having read Mary Stewart's book The Moonspinners and then having also seen the movie of the same with Peter McEnery--wonder what he's doing these days?--and Hayley Mills. If you do decide to go, rent the DVD! ; )
Pam
Posted by
Brighton, UK
1421 posts
Josie
Chania is a really nice town, but Crete is a fair distance from Athens unless you plan to fly. Flying is fairly cheap in Greece but the downside is that you have to get back and forth from Athens to the airport which is around an hour away.
By 'things to do at night' do you mean restaurants or clubbing?
If the former, and you want to be somewhere with not too many tourists, you might want to consider somewhere like Syros - scenic and with a range of good restaurants. Or Andros, especially Chora, which is beautiful, friendly, and can be reached fairly quickly by ferry,
If you do want clubs I'm by no means an expert, but on Crete Rethymnon (which is a university town and has a big music scene) is a better bet than Chania.
Cheers
Alan
Posted by
Chicago, Illinois, USA
131 posts
Josie,
just returned from six nights in Agios Prokopios, Naxos. LOVED IT! It's not nearly as touristy as Chora (main town) but has enough restaurants, etc. right on the beach. You are only a 10 minute bus ride from Chora and a 10 minute walk down to Agios Anna where there are more restaurants and a more youthful nightlife. We stayed at the Agios Prokopios hotel. Clean, awesome pool, wonderful owner.
Naxos is the largest of the Cyclades and usually you can fly for around 70 E. The ferry is a pretty painless trip - 5 hours. Hope you have a wonderful trip.
Shannon