Crete seems to be filled with historical buildings, good food and lots of things to do.
We are having a problem deciding which part of Crete to go to. We only have 10 days; 2 of which will be spent on an airplane.
Any Doper suggestions on what area to go to and where to stay? No party areas, please (it depresses us when we can’t keep up :)), from what we’ve seen on tripadvisor, a small, privately owned hotel looks most economical.
I have only been to Crete once, and the closest I got to the local culture was catching a bacterial infection by falling over on the rocks by the sea and cutting a hole in my lower lip (bad joke paraphrased from somewhere, I forget where - though the story is true in my case). It was the kind of holiday where I spent more time awake than asleep, and more time drunk than sober. Great fun, but exactly the opposite of what you require. I can therefore only recommend that you avoid the resort of Malia, where these shenanigans took place. Enjoy!
If you go during the summer and you enjoy hikes you simply cannot miss the Samaria Gorge. It’s a breathtaking hike that runs from the mountains through a canyon down to sea level. Do not miss it.
Crete is a wonderful place, it is almost impossible to go anywhere without stumbling over something archaeological. If you’re in the South go to see the palaces of Phaistos and Ayia Triadha (a couple of kilometres away from each other). They haven’t suffered the heavy and suspect restoration of Knossos and the surroundings are simply beautiful.
I stayed in Hani Kokkini, which does indeed have a number of small hotels. It’s about half an hour east of the capital, Iraklion and has it’s own Minoan villa. It could be just what you are looking for.
Decades ago I spent a month in Matala, Crete…back then it was a lazy place with a few young backpacking international tourists. Today it is probably a tourist resort.
I loved Crete - nice people, beautiful countryside, lots to see.
However, Crete was also the place where I discovered it wasn’t my time to die. I went off by myself and walked along the high cliffs overlooking the sea. Stood on once ledge and then walked a few hundred feet and stood on another. As I stood there, the very ledge where I had been standing a few minutes before suddenly crumbled and fell way, way down into the ocean. But for a few minutes and a few feet, most likely I would never have been found and be at the bottom of the sea today. Moral of the story: Beware of walking alone on steep cliffs!
But I think it is safe to say you picked a wonderful place to go, and you will have a great time discovering things by yourself. You used to be able to rent mopeds for fairly cheap to discover some of the countryside and visit a few non-touristy villages, but be careful there as well…they drive rather poorly in Crete, and all of Greece.
It seems that staying in an apartment or b & b is fairly common there…opposed to a hotel.
We’ve been doing some virtual sightseeing and we’re finding that we’re having a really hard time deciding which end of Crete to stay at. I’ve got some info on some apartments such as Anna’s Place that we’re looking into.
Is public transit easy to use there? Or would we have to rent a car or scooter to get around?
Some years ago, I stayed just outside Rethymnon, and absolutely loved it. Stunning venetian town.
We used buses for the immediate area, scooters to explore a little further afield (including the amazing Arkadi Monastery), and an organised excursion to hike Samaria Gorge.