Crete - 5 days in May

If you are interested in doing a little hiking, there are several gorges. I was in Crete last September (Chania for 4 days, Agio Nikolaus also 4 days) and we wanted to hike the Imbrio gorge. But we left it for the last day to do - big mistake. It had rained very heavily the night before and we were strongly advised against it for safety reasons.

Your plan to see Knossos on the day you leave is a good one. All you need are 2-3 hours and can get to the airport from there. Parking is a problem - but you can just park along the road for free.

Contact the Greek department of tourism and ask for info on Crete. They will send you all sorts of interesing information.
I love the island and hope you will also.

Neety,
Spili is a charming town in the center of Crete 30 km south of Rethymnon - I can't remember exactly but I think it takes about an hour or so by car as the road is windy. The drive over the mountains is lovely. I'd recommend staying on the south side of Crete if you can spare a night or two. It is so interesting and beautiful. Every town and village has lots of local Greek flavor. when are you going? The beaches are amazing on the south side. We stayed in a small mountainside village to the west of Spili called Mirthios. It overlooks Plakias, a beachfront town. I highly recommend it. Using your travel day to see Knossos makes sense. You can skip the first car parks and drive right up to the sight.

You will want to spend one of the two days in Chania itself. We drove to Fallasarna Beach and then drove an hour south to Elafonissi Beach. We returned to Chania via the mountain road. Falasarna reminded us of Cape Cod's beache aropund Wellfleet ot Truro and then we felt like were in the Bahamas when we got to Elafonissi, pink sand and aqua water. Highly recommend both beaches.

congratulations on visiting Crete - its a great place. if you really want to see another (and more authenic) side of the island I recommend that you visit east of the island, especially laid-back towns like Sitia and fabulous deserted beaches like Xerocambos. This region is not for everyone - really for folk who want to find the real Crete, but if it sounds appealing check out eastcretemagazineDOTcom

How long do you think it will take to drive to Elafonissi Beach from Chania? Any ideas?

There are some of us, eastcrete, who think the west is more authentic

It's a bit under two hours from Chania to Elafonissi without stopping at Falasarna.

There a super day to be spent on the Akrotiri visiting the monasteries, and Zorba's mountain (from the movie?) at Stavros.

Odd thing to recommend maybe, but spend half an hour at the Commonwealth War Cemetery at Souda.

Go to Aptera.

Go into the mountains- even if you don't do Samaria, go up to Omalos.

Have a lovely time.

I'm sure east crete's web site is good, but do have a look at Explorecrete as well

Needy it took us over 4 hours to get to Elafonessi from Chania but we used the interior mountain road because the coastal road was washed out. Really bad rain storm the night before. Apparently the coastal road is a bit faster.
That 4 hours included stops at viewpoints overlooking gorges, small villages lunch at a taverna, oh yes and getting lost once.
Frankly in my opinion Chania has a superior old town and harbour. You might decide to hit Rethymnon on the way to Heraklion that last day. Visit the fortezza which is well worth an hour or so and time your arrival at Knossos around 2 or 3 o'clock to miss the cruise ship bus tours.

Parisblue is correct Spili is about an hour from Rethymnon. Driving in Greece tends to be a bit slow. Paris is also correct if you are gong to go all the way down to the south coast spend a night in one of the villages on the Libyan sea. There is lots to explore down there.

Here are pictures of our Crete trip.
http://travel.webshots.com/album/559511069PIlVxI