If you had this much time to explore Crete where would you go? I've never been but am visiting this great island in late June/early July. The places I plan to visit are:

- Heraklion
- Rethymno
- Chania
- samaria gorge
- Palaiochora
- Plakias
- agios nikolaos
-Elounda

What is the best way to see all of these sites (route wise?) I plan on renting a car and really taking my time. The main point is finding great beaches to relax on during the day and tavernas to relax in during the evening.

My wife and I are coming to Crete by way of ferry from Santorini. Would it make sense to catch a ferry to Agios Nikolaos and make our way west?

chriz - we did a journey following more or less the route you specify about 30 years ago. We got buses from Heraklion to Rethymnon, and Rethymnon to Chania, then rented a car and drove down to the south coast, and along the road that you will see marked on maps as running along the south coast.

only problem - it didn't exist. or at least, not in its finished form.

from what I can gather, it may not be in any better shape now.

but we had a lot of fun.

Also, western beaches, Falasarna and Elafonisi, quite tropical.
Loutro on south coast, take a ferry there from Chora Skafion. Spend a night or two.

How much time? Do you like hiking? Did a great short hike from west of Agios Nikolaos up to Thripi and down. Visited the village and experienced raki. I avoided Plakias, no draw to me. Had to go to Matala, Joni Mitchell insisted in her song.

yikes that was east of Agios Nikolaos! Not sure what the draw would be to go to Elounda but never have been. I love the southern coast but a car is a bonus for getting around, otherwise, it is bus north and south daily taking up allot of time.

All ferries from Santorini go to Heraklion. As far as I know there currently is no ferry to Agios Nikolaos, only day trips from there to Santorini a couple of days per week. There is a ferry to Sitia once or twice a week, but it stops at Heraklion first. That might be a possibility if you are travelling on the right day and don't mind spending 10 hours on the ferry.

Thanks for all of the replies! It sounds like we will have to start in Heraklion and make our way east before heading back west. How long could we get away with not having a car there?

And has anyone here on the forums ever driven in Crete before? I've read several sources online that say just obey the Greek way of driving and you'll be fine. Our main point of even going to Crete is to find the perfect beach and relax as much as possible.

@Chania - we are staying on Crete for about 20 days. we love hiking and we are def. doing the Samaria Gorge. any other shorter hikes you recommend?

And has anyone here on the forums ever driven in Crete before? I've read several sources online that say just obey the Greek way of driving and you'll be fine. Our main point of even going to Crete is to find the perfect beach and relax as much as possible. >>

see my reply above. we rented a car in Chania, and returned it in Heraklion. it was a bit difficult at first but if you've driven elsewhere in Greece [we hadn't] you should be fine.

Have driven in Sifnos and Santorini this year with no problems. Allowing for driving on the "other side" that is....
Generally Crete driving seems to be in the usual "bad and reckless" category , but there has been work on checkpoints for drink testing and speeding recently.
Always go with the flow...hesitation seems to attract danger.

We drove all over Crete, on the National Highway and beyond. Mountain roads don't usually have guardrails but we were fine.

we found driving in Chania hard work due to the road signs that were all greek to me, but luckily DH has studied maths so he interpreted and map read.

having a car enabled us to reach more remote parts, such as the road where we were flagged down by a shepherd who cadged a lift and told us all about being in the resistance by a mixture of english, greek and hand-signals, and the road along the south coast, which as I said, didn't really exist.

I was living for two years on Crete and drove due to my work about 25.000 km.....
I never had any problems with the streets, you have to get used to the driving style of the locals, but this isn't difficult...

I have been to every little village of this huge island... as i wanted to see as much as possible.

There are really great beaches, i will mention Falasarna, Elafonisi, Ballos ( can only be reached by boat ) Chrissi ( small island south of Ierapetra). I never liked the beaches on the North of the island, i drove always to the South and especially to the beaches in and around Plakias, south of Rethymno. Damnoni, Rodakino, Frangokastello are some of the nice beaches of the area.

Of course i never had any problems with the signs, being Greek, but with a good map you shouldn't have any problems.. ( or even better with a GPS )

Personally i found the driving style of the small tourist cars more dangerous than that of the locals....

Make sure you study the Greek alphabet to read road signs, easy to do. Buy good maps from www.road.gr

I'm getting quotes around Eu 140 week for a B group car in May from Heraklion. Anyone know of a better deal?
I'm thinking we can offset that a bit by using budget pensions and hotels along the south coast and Chania etc.

I think that it's unlikely that you'll find car hire cheaper than €140/week. Make sure that the insurance covers damage to the underneath of the vehicle.

Elounda is beautiful with restaurants built out into the sea, and of course there is the famous leper island off Elounda. The southern beaches are very much worth visiting. I also very much liked St Georges in the North

Didn't do much hiking in Crete other than the gorge and Thrypti which was an easy hike. Check out the local library for hikes in Crete. There are books that describe easy, moderate, difficult hikes etc. I am a beach person. In Crete my favourite beach is Elafonisi, Falasarna and Palechora. Wasn't that impressed with Preveli and Vai.