Anyone who's been looking through the review posted here will have noticed that everyone takes different things away from Crete. My husband and I spent our honeymoon here last summer and it was undoubtably the loveliest holiday we've been on.
One thing I think that is worth mentioning in view of the problems people have had with Heraklionairport is our travel option: we arrived by boat from Athens which I'd definately recomend if you've got the time, as if you fly to Athens you'll have time to see a bit of the city and then get to the port (or there's a direct underground that takes you straight there) a cabin for the two of us return was about 90euros, which combining the fact that we didn't need a hotel for two nights and a saving on airfare was a definate advantage.
In terms of where to visit the only area I'd say to avoid at all costs would be Malia and the surrounding area. If the clubbing/drinking thing is what you're after I believe there are several meditaranian islands better than Crete for that. The south coast is a bit inaccessible but thus all but empty, and very beuatiful. We spent the most time on the far east of the island and found the beaches clean, spacious and full of fish. It would have been quite easy to spend twice as long there. The food was superb, and we found that often the best thing to do was ignore the menu and have a look in the kitchen, especially when choosing fish. Up in the mountains, where we wish we'd had more time (a bit of a theme of the week) it was much cooler, and also much more dramatic landscape than we expected. If you are a real tourist-phobe it is probably the place to go, although I believe it is very popular walking country.
One place I think is a must visit, but could also possibly tar your view of Crete is the palace of Knossos, which we found to be crowded, poorly signed, and full of people trying to sell things - we also noticed tavernas which had about as much relation to the places we'd been eating on the rest of the island as I do to a mongoose (a genuine sign was ''authentic greek traverna: pizza and chips"). however it's definately worth visiting the museum of Crete in central Heraklion/Iraklio and if you are interested in the Minoans, try to visit one of the other palaces - we went to Zakros, and had the place to ourselves, appart from some terrapins which had collonised the cerimonial pool!
While on the island we travelled by the ordinary bus, which looking at the other passengers not that many visitors choose to do, but its both cheaper than hiring a car and a great way of meeting the locals, even if you only speak a few words of Greek (we got by on knowing the alphabet and about 10 words).
In terms of weather we went at the hottest time of year, July-August, but having said that we followed the example of our hosts and got up at 6am, and went to visit somewhere, went to sleep at 2pm until late afternoon, when we read or swam or went for a coffee, and then went for a leisurely dinner at about 9.30pm (which is still realatively early by greek standards, so we would get pick of the fish catch!). This worked pretty well and had the added advantage of us often leaving somewhere as it got busy - for example we took a 3 hour walk to Vai beach (mentioned in all the travel guides - a palm forest/beach) and at about 10am, at which time the stall holders hadn't even opened and there was noone on the beach but us. We'd have probably found it overrated if we'd arrived at 2pm, but by then we were leaving (the only people on the bus out, the driver thought we were crazy).
This is probably an overly long review - if you've got to the end your probably very keen on visiting Crete: I'd definately recommend it, get a guidebook and do some research on the internet and i'm sure you'll find a spot that suits you, it's a wonderful island!
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Advantages: Long sandy beach, village feel, friendly locals, good base to explore Disadvantages: Mosquitos can be a nuisance, maybe too quiet for teenagers
Sandroulla 28.04.2006 (28.04.2006)
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Review of Crete (Greece)
![Crete Greece [DVD]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/87607063.jpg "Crete Greece [DVD]")
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Jun 2nd, 2005
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