Crete, the most beautiful beaches in Greece dedicated to children and families, but not only, that's why you should visit Crete, the low cost but beautiful Greece close at hand.
How many times have I heard people complain about Crete: pretty nice, yes, but it seems to be in Rimini. Or: yes, we had a good time, the hotel had good all-inclusive services, but overall nothing special. When I hear these "reviews" about Crete, I wonder if by chance we have been to the same place. My question usually arises: but have you turned it, far and wide? And, most of the time, the answer I hear is: no, we have only been to the North coast, Agios Nikolaos area and its surroundings.
Exactly. To clarify, nothing against it if, for various reasons (usually practical), you decide to stop in one place only. But please don't take the liberty of speaking ill of Crete, since you don't know it.
Flight is no longer a problem: Ryanair connects Italy to Chania. An alternative, for the more patient and romantic, but (above all) with a lot of time available, is the ferry from Piraeus (to Chania, Heraklion or Sitia).
And now the most important part: the car. Without this means (or substitutes), in my humble opinion, it makes no sense to set foot on the island of Crete: a means of transport that is faster than walking is essential here. Because it is essential to turn it at three hundred and sixty degrees, in order to really know it (and, possibly, speak badly about it anyway). And, being able, if you travel light (each reader interprets and ponders this attribute as they see fit), it is strongly advised not to book anything fixed, but to rely on landlords.
Why Crete is great, very big. But not enough that it can't be seen all, or almost all, in one fifteen days. And it's not uniformly beautiful. It is at times truly chilling, marred by the so-called urbanization. But in long (sometimes very long) stretches it is of a disarming beauty, with its heterogeneous landscapes that manage to surprise you corner after corner.
Of course, it is not an easy island to get around: the roads are few, poorly connected and often poorly maintained. It may happen that the asphalt stops abruptly, and so you are suddenly on the dirt road in the ring road. Or it can happen to come across narrow and winding mountain roads, where maybe not everyone wants to drive. But, once natural and human obstacles have been overcome, the glimpses that open up before the eyes sometimes refer to Caribbean landscapes or similar Africans, who eliminate any previous fatigue.
In particular, focusing for now only on some seaside destinations far from the main inhabited centers, I point out (clockwise, starting from the north-east): Vai beach, village of Kato Zakros (not to be confused with Zakros), the beaches of Preveli and Frangkokastello, Loutro, the beach of Elafonissi, Falasarna and surroundings (on excursion).
With its historical-artistic treasures, archaeological and naturalistic scattered here and there, Crete is not immediate and is not hit and run for tourism, but it reveals itself to you little by little, if and only if you have had the patience to explore it. With those who prove to love her, attuning to her mood, Crete knows how to be truly generous, giving an elite Mediterranean beauty and tropics in a low cost version.
