Eastern Crete in Five Days
How to see eastern Crete in five days, with its beaches, Minoan palaces, timeless villages, unique churches, and mountain and coastal scenery.
Malia Archaeological Site in Eastern Crete
Day One
Morning
Get an early start from somewhere like Malia or Neapoli and follow our recommended drive around the Lasithi Plateau, including a visit to the Diktean Cave. There are several places to choose for lunch in the village of Psychro near the Diktean Cave, and the village of Krasi is another lunch option, a 25-minute drive north of Psychro.
The Lasithi Plateau in Eastern Crete
Afternoon
From Psychro it’s a 40-minute drive north to the coast at Malia, where you can spend an hour or so visiting the Malia archaeological site and still have time for a swim.
Evening
Where you stay depends on what kind of place you like. Stay in Malia if you want rowdy nightlife, but our preference would be to make the 20-minute drive into the hills and spend the night in Neapoli at the excellent Neapolis Hotel. There are some great places to eat, too, better than in Malia, including the Finikas Raki Taverna.
Our Pick of the Crete Guides
Day Two
Morning
From Neapoli it’s a half-hour’s drive south to Kritsa to see the remarkable church of Panagia Kera, or if you’re in Malia allow 40-45 minutes. You can then make the easy 15-minute drive down to Agios Nikolaos to have lunch. We suggest La Casa, right by the lake.
Agios Nikolaos
Afternoon
After lunch, make the 20-minute drive north from Agios Nikolaos to Elounda, from where you can take a boat trip out to Spinalonga island, the one made famous in Victoria Hislop’s best-selling book, The Island.
Evening
There are numerous choices of places to stay in both Elounda and Agios Nikolaos, for all budgets, so choose whatever you fancy. In Elounda we recommend dinner at the Ferryman overlooking the water, or if you’re in Agios Nikolaos, one of our favourites is Pelagos, a seafood specialist.
Day Three
Morning
Spend the morning looking around Agios Nikolaos, and don’t miss its Archaeological Museum. We like the Patriko Taverna at Minoos 11, which we think has some of the best traditional food in Agios Nikolaos.
Afternoon
After lunch make the 20-minute drive east to the archaeological site at Gournia. The superbly-preserved ruins here will keep you occupied for an hour or two, after which head to the south coast. It’s only 20 minutes from Gournia to the main south coast town of Ierapetra, and we recommend driving a further 20 minutes west to the fun little town of Myrtos, and checking-in at the central Hotel Myrtos.
Evening
We recommend having dinner at La Sera, just around the corner from the hotel, although the hotel’s own restaurant is also very good.
Day Four
Morning
From Myrtos retrace your route to Ierapetra and continue east along the south coast to a lovely little place called Makriyialos (or Makri Gialos), which is almost an hour’s drive from Myrtos. We once spent a delightful week here, so stop to stretch your legs and walk around. Beyond here the main road turns to the north to take you to the lovely town of Sitia. It’s about a 45-minute drive from Makriyialos and you can have lunch at one of the waterfront tavernas.
Afternoon
After a good lunch head for Sitia’s Archaeological Museum, a 5-minute walk back from the waterfront. We recommend spending the rest of the afternoon walking around the town and/or cooling off with a swim from one of the town’s several beaches right in the centre.
Evening
Spend the next two nights in Sitia, at either the Itanos Hotel or the Elysee Hotel. Both are on the waterfront and both are very pleasant and inexpensive. Enjoy dinner at The Balcony Restaurant, where the food is definitely a cut above the average.
Day Five
Morning
From Sitia it’s an hour’s drive east and then south to see the small but absolutely fascinating and atmospheric remains of Zakros Palace. Tiny Zakros is a place we love, and it’s great to chill out here and have an excellent lunch at the Kato Zakros Bay Restaurant, right by the sea and with lots of the produce coming from the owner’s farm.
Afternoon
From Zakros it’s just under an hour’s drive north to the remarkable and popular Vai Beach, where you’ll see Cretan date palms. Don’t linger too long if you also want to visit the monastery at Toplou, a 20-minute drive inland from the beach and where you can sample (and buy, of course) some of the monastery’s own wines.
Evening
It’s a 20-minute drive from the monastery back to Sitia where you can enjoy a final dinner at one of the waterfront tavernas like the excellent Limani, happy that you’ve seen the best of eastern Crete in five days!
Other Crete pages
We visit and tour the Manousakis Winery on Crete with a wine-tasting and a chance to buy their tsikoudia, sea salt, olive oil and other goodies.
Greece Travel Secrets visits the Cretan Botano herbs and spices shop near Matala in southern Crete in search of the herb man of Kouses.
Visiting the Arkadi Monastery near Rethymnon is one of the best things to do on Crete.
Western Crete has some wonderful golden sand beaches as well as mountain villages, monasteries, caves, and archaeological sites to discover.
Agios Nikolaos is a pretty and popular town on the north coast of Crete and this page on Greece Travel Secrets covers its history, museums and beaches.
Keramos Studios in Zaros on Crete is an inexpensive two-star hotel/guesthouse with one of the best breakfasts on the island using food from the family’s farm.
The largest of the Greek islands, Crete has four ENUESCO sites, which are Sitia, Psiloritis, Asterousia, and the Gorge of Samaria.
Hiking the Samaria Gorge on Crete, one of the best things to do on Crete, by Greece Travel Secrets.
The Greece Travel Secrets guide to Zaros in Central Crete, including what to do, where to stay, and where to eat.
Sir Arthur Evans is the archaeologist famous for the excavations he made at the royal palace of Knossos on Crete.
This olive grove walk from Limnes to Vrises on Crete also takes you through orchards and gives close-up views of some of the island’s windmills.
These shopping tips for Crete include advice on buying souvenirs like ceramics, icons, jewellery, leather, weavings, wood carvings, and food and drink.
Greece Travel Secrets recommends where to stay in Irakleio, the capital of Crete, including nearby beach resort hotels and accommodation in the city centre.
Chania is the main city in Western Crete with a lovely setting and a beautiful harbour as well as several museums.
The travel tale Our Hire Car in Crete describes what it’s like when you go driving in Greece and get off the beaten track, resulting in kindnesses.
The Dalabelos Estate offers luxury eco-tourism accommodation on Crete in the hills near Rethymnon with its own farm, vineyard and olive groves.
Ancient Gournia is a Minoan archaeological site between Agios Nikolaos and Sitia in Eastern Crete where the visitor can see evidence of a maze of back streets.
Greece Travel Secrets recommends where to stay in Central Crete including hotels in Matala, Ayia Galini, and Zaros.
Driving central Crete in three days gives you time to see the highlights including the Minoan palaces at Knossos and Phaistos, the beaches and the Diktean Cave.
The area east from Paleohora along the south-west coast of Crete includes resorts like Agia Galini, gorges like the Imbros Gorge and quieter towns like Sfakia.
Matala Beach on Crete is a guest blog for Greece Travel Secrets from the We Love Crete website, inviting you to Awaken Your Inner Hippy in Matala, Crete.
Crete’s wildlife and landscape are two of the island’s attractions, including gorges for hiking, rare raptors like the lammergeier, wildcats and ancient trees.
The Stilianou Winery near Knossos on Crete uses only Cretan grape varieties, with every bottle numbered, and aims for quality rather than quantity.
This tour around central Crete lists some of the area’s highlights such as the traditional village of Arolithos, Minoan remains at Tilisos, and Agioi Deka.
This Amari Valley drive in southern Crete starts and ends in Ayia Galini, takes four to five hours and cover 100 kilometres or 62 miles.
Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...
Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?
- Click on the HTML link code below.
- Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment,
your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.
-
Sunbeds, umbrellas, and all sorts of constructions have been banned on 198 beaches across Greece according to a joint ministerial decision signed this week by Economy & Finance Minister Kostis Hatzida…
Read More
-
Amidst the mountains and spectacular scenery, these four traditional guesthouses in the heart of Zagori, Epirus, offer the very best in Greek hospitality.
Read More
-
From myth-laden peaks to rugged alpine trails, we explore ten of Greece's highest mountains, where untamed beauty and boundless adventure meet.
Read More
-
The Olympic flame that will be burning for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games this summer was lit in Ancient Olympia on Tuesday, April 16. Located in western Peloponnese, Ancient Olympia is one of the most…
Read More
-
Public transportation in Athens as well as ferry travel in Greece will be disrupted on Wednesday, April 17, due to a 24-hour strike called by the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE), the cou…
Read More
-
Greece Travel Secrets reviews the Greek cookbook, The Ikaria Way by Diane Kochilas, containing 100 delicious plant-based recipes.
Read More
-
The Greek Finance Ministry announced this week that it would taking strict measures including fines of up to 60,000 euros to ensure that Greece’s beaches are always accessible to the public. Fines ran…
Read More
-
For a third year in a row, the ferry service linking Cyprus with Greece is scheduled to resume operations on May 29. The Cypriot-flagged Daleela, which can transport 400 passengers and 200 vehicles, w…
Read More
-
The Region of Crete announced this week that all actions had been taken to include the world-famous archaeological site of Knossos on Crete on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
Read More
-
The Greek Tourism Ministry announced this week that it had sealed off the two top floors and the rooftop bar of a hotel in the center of Athens which were blocking views to the Acropolis.
Read More