Crete

Crete, rich in history across the millennia, rich culture, amazing nature, unique cuisine, overall civilization is Greece’s largest island and the fifth largest one in the Mediterranean Sea. One of Greece’s major tourist destinations, Crete rests about 160 km south of the Greek mainland and has an area of 8,450 sq. km and a coastline of 1,046 km with many popular and less visited beaches. It bounds the southern border of the Aegean Sea, covers 260 km from west to east but is narrow from north to south. Due to its geographical location with year round very temperate climate, it is an ideal choice for autumn, winter and early spring escapades, when tourism masses have withdrawn a bit. Access is either directly by air at its two international airports -Kazantzakis in Heraklio or in Chania - or by ferry from Pireus (6-8 hours) in Athens. Numerous boats link it to the southern Cyclades also. It may be divided into 5 areas of tourist interest: in the east the Agios Nikolaos-Lassithi area, in the « center »  the Heraklion area and also its biggest city, in the west the most popular Chania area and surrounding villages, not far from it in the west picturesque Rethymno and finally the less travelled beautiful southern shores from Ierapetra to south Mani