Crete: May 2018
Crete Island was my first stop on my Greek Island hopping adventure. Crete Island is huge and is full of ancient culture, cute towns, pristine beaches, and majestic mountains. Here is my guide to the best things to do in Crete in 3 days!
Crete is an island in Greece that I had never really thought much about or done much research into however my travel buddy, Lizzie, (armed with top quality recommendations) insisted its a must see. So off we went!
1. The town of Chania
With only a few days to spend in Crete, we narrowed down our hit list to the west of the island. We chose the small seaside town of Chania as our base where we stayed in the cutest little Airbnb apartment right in the middle of the old town. This little town is full of picturesque alleyways, a beautiful little waterfront, and amazing food!
Let’s talk about the food in Crete, it’s delicious and fresh and amazingly vegetarian-friendly. It’s the place where I first tried fava bean dip which became my favoured staple in Greece.
In Crete, in particular, the food is better and cheaper! The local house wine is served in carafes with little tiny glasses, it’s so cheap it might as well be free. Especially when you have 6 glasses and the carafe is still half full, yay for tiny glasses!
Not going to lie it can be a bit hit and miss and you’re guaranteed to get vinegar at least once but when the wine is cheaper than water, it would be rude not to indulge and acquire that Greek wine taste.
The restaurant with the best food (but the worst wine) we went to in Crete was To Stachi. This is an unassuming looking vegetarian joint that serves traditional Greek and Cretan dishes. You get a real family homemade vibe! Order anything that’s stuffed and you’re sorted.
Another place we really loved was right across the road from us called To Koutourouki. This place is wedged in a narrow alleyway, the food was good and the wine much more drinkable!
2. Hike the Samaria Gorge
Our first major planned excursion was a hike down the Samaria Gorge. Samaria Gorge is an epic valley of mountains leading down to the Libyan sea on the south coast.
We booked a day tour from a tour operator we found on the street in Chania. This tour took us to the start of the track very early in the morning. We then did the hike ourselves and met at the end for a ferry ride and bus back to Chania.
The unique thing about this hike is you start up high in the mountains then work your way down for year into the gorge, which gets extremely narrow at some points. Walking down might sound easy, but I assure you it definitely is not! Muscles in my legs that had never been used before were SCREAMING for days!
The hike in total took about 7 hours. It was stunning, with ever-changing scenery as you descend. There were a few pitstops along the way to stop, rest and refuel.
Finally, when we got to the end we were greeted with a bar that served ice cold beer. Beer tastes so much better when it’s well deserved! Then the final treat is making your way out onto the coast and going for a swim in the blue Libyan sea.
The beach was really nice with the black sand contrasting the blue ocean. There’s also plenty of cute restaurants with outdoor dining along the waterfront to enjoy with that beautiful Cretan food.
3. Drive to Elafonisi Beach
The following day after we managed to get our legs to function again we found a car to hire for the day. Lizzie got the job of the driver and took on the mountainous roads like a champ! The roads are no joke here. All I can say is I’m glad I wasn’t driving, the roads are hairy and google maps is rather misleading (as per). But the scenery was amazing.
We drove to a beautiful beach on the east coast called Elafonisi, most famous for it’s pink sand. And yes it’s real! It was really pink in certain parts of the shoreline.
There were lots of calm blue lagoons and stretches of sand to relax on for the day and ahhhh was it nice to be back by the ocean again, my happy place!
On our way back we stopped off for dinner at another family-run restaurant in a random little town, where everything is from the garden. I love this theme in most of the restaurants in the Greek Islands.
After (just) managing to get the car back safely that night we relaxed for the evening. We then made our way to Heraklion for one night to get the ferry to our next stop on our Greek Island adventure: Santorini!!
Warning- my post on Santorini with be extremely photo heavy.
Tips for visiting Crete
Greek Island Travel Planning
I meticulously planned 4 weeks in the Greek Islands. This was so time-consuming and painful, but so necessary for the Greek Islands in shoulder season and with a time limit.
The ferries between the various islands can be non-existent or few and far between so it takes a lot of research to figure out which islands to go to and from there which islands are actually possible to go to! I also pre-booked all the accommodation for Greece, not sure if that was necessary but we secured some really amazing accommodation at really good prices.
This was so good for budgeting which was crucial at the front end of a long trip in the priciest country I planned to visit. All the planning paid off, all the critical ferries were caught, all the islands we picked were incredible and the accommodation was top notch!
Transport
You will need to hire a car to see the island. You can hire from on the island for around 30 euros per day. It’s much easier to find a car if you drive a manual! Also make sure you have an international drivers licence as this is what the law in Greece requires so if you don’t have one and get in an accident your travel insurance with be void.
Cash
You can withdraw cash easily in Crete. A number of shops also accept card but for paying for small things in shops and restaurants it’s much better to carry cash. Get a prepaid travel card before you go and save money on exchange rate and ATM fees. If you are in the UK, Europe or Australia I recommend Revolut. You get £200 of free ATM withdrawals a month (only 2% after that) and the exchange rate they give is the market rate. I have used their online account and prepaid MasterCard for over three years and I love it. I have saved a fortune on fees.
Sunscreen
Sunscreen is really expensive on the Greek Islands so bring some with you from home!
Visit during shoulder season
I can HIGHLY recommend going to the Greek Islands in May, apart from the ferry timetables being slightly diminished, the weather was utterly perfect!
The crowds were small but the towns were still lively. All the best accommodation options were available and a hell of a lot cheaper.
There you have it my guide to the best things to do in Crete for 3 days!
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