Crete for 3 weeks....but where?!
 

My wife and I are fortunate enough to have 3 weeks to spend in Crete this coming summer; woot!

Our main interests are; 1) Seeing historical sites; 2) Enjoying charming towns and good tavernas; and 3) Seeing the ocean.

That said, we are at a quandary regarding where to stay. We do NOT want to move around every few days, so have come up with a few options:
1) Spend 1 week in Sitia, seeing the eastern part of the island; Spend 1 week in Rethymno; Spend 1 week in Chania....and of course, a couple nights Iraklion to fly in and out and see Knossos.

2) Spend 1.5 weeks in Rethymno; and 1.5 weeks in Chania

3) Spend 1.5 weeks in Chania OR Rethymno; spend 1.5 weeks somewhere in the south.
So.... what does everybody think?

In advance, many thanks : )

How lucky you are!
I've been to Crete a couple of times, and we are going back this summer. We enjoy the Chania area, and the southern coast in Plakias area. You might plan a week in each and then a week in the the east.
Enjoy.

We were in Crete for a Week or so, and We wanted to spent another month... No matter what you do, don't miss Elafonisi peninsula, at the far west-south corner of the island. Its an amazing spot, with pinkish sand and shallow lagoons, turquoise water and magical hideaways... In Chania there are a lot of great restaurants in the Venetian Harbor, and you can find some very nice hotel nearby. This is the post I wrote about our trip, with some tips and info about the places we visited... Enjoy!!

http://tipter.com/trips/a-week-in-crete

I've never been but have *almost* been...so fwiw, if I had 3 weeks (lucky you!), I think I would pick 3 bases: east, south/south west, and @Chania.

We have been before by bicycle and saw only a small part. This trip we will also,have three weeks.our plan is to stay two nights Heraklion,a two night Santorini trip, followed by a week near Agios Nikolaos, three days on the South Coast ?? And then a week in Old Town . Much like your idea except we must see Santorini once again at sunset.

You are in luck---do not miss the pics as well !

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...m#last-comment

Just to suggest something different, the highlight of our trip to Crete was when we ventured away from the tourist hordes on the north coast to south of the mountains in Zaros. Beaches, hikes, gorges & ruins were all easy daytrips.

http://imcarthur.weebly.com/zaros.html

Ian

We stayed in Agios Nikolaos and loved it. Took a lot of day trips from there. It is charming and beautiful with lots of good restaurants and great sandy beaches.

We had two weeks on our first visit to Crete and we decided to just tour the west part. We could not finish our plan and have returned twice more for another two weeks total and finally this summer finished the original plan. All that to say less is more on Crete. I would suggest you concentrate on one side or the other. Obviously I would suggest the west.
I would start in Chania for a week or 10 days. Chania is lovely a place where you can step back in time.
Chania http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr5...7632117917828/
It is also a great place to do day trips to places like Ancient Aptera, Ancient Falasarna, the famous Samara Gorge (if your knees are strong) and the boat excursion to balos and Gramovossa with good beaches and a pirate fortress. Elafonissi with its pink beaches is also a popular day trip.
Then head east to Rethymnon. Personally I think it is well worth three days
Then head south to the Libyan Sea. That whole coastline is spectacular. You can easily spend two weeks down there.
Plakias is not a charming Greek village but it does have a great beach. You can visit Frangokastelli a Venetian fortress with a good beach. Take an excursion boat to Prevalli beach with its river and palm forest. You might then go to Chora Sfakion. This part of the trip will be very interesting. you can take the ferry from Sfakion to the charming village of Lourto where every room has an ocean view. Good hiking in this area. Then you can take the ferry to Agia Romouli where the Samaria Gorge trek ends. Continue on the ferry to Sougia a lovely little village with a big pebble beach then end you trip in Paleochora again all on the ferry. Of course you can do this trip in reverse and go from Chania to Paleochora and take the ferry all the way to Sfakion.
Lastly for ancient sites head a bit further east to Agia Galini which will give you access to the sites at Gortys (Roman) and Phaestos (Minoan.) It is an easy drive back to Heraklion from this area.
Here are images of Western Crete
Western Crete http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr5...7632115757899/
Libyan Sea villages
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr...7645487373222/
And finally the Archaeological sites
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr...7645085297380/
You should be able to do most of this in three weeks. On the other hand you may get to a village and decide just to stay there for a week or two.
Have fun planning

Here is my trip report from earlier this summer.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...a-villages.cfm
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ient-sites.cfm

Perhaps these reports will help you decide.

You probably can't go wrong whatever you do, but it would be a pity to miss the south of the island. When we went 30+ years ago there was a sort of a road that went across the south coast, but it was lucky that the Renault 4 we were driving had good clearance underneath. the google map of Crete suggests that it's now a proper road, in which case you could do a round trip.

in that case, how fixed are you on booking everything ahead? with just two of you, and the internet, you could probably wing it very easily. That's what we did, just armed with a guide book.