Crete itinerary
 

We will have roughly 8 days in Crete this May. We fly into Chania and plan to spend most of our time in the south and west end of the island. Paleochora is on our list and I am also interested in Loutro, and Elfonissi for the day. Likley we will rent a car for part of the time and we may need to end our stay in Heraklion due to transport to our next destination on Santorini. Are there any other locations in the vicinity that anyone would recommend seeing (Falasarna?? sp?). Must sees?? And do you have any accomodation suggestions? Would appreicate help from anyone who has some knowledge of the area.
Many thanks

You definitely want to stay in Paleochora, and use the boat to visist Elafonissi and Loutro. Falassarna is nice, but Elafonissi's nicer. You could do Samaria from Paleocora too, if that's on your list.

Take an extra day in Iraklion and visit Knossos and the museum. And you need a day in Chania.

The rest of the time, just chill

Definitely take time for Hania and check out Knossos and the museum in Heraklion. There is also a village about 15 minutes from Knossos, Archanes, which is nice to explore and has some lesser known ruins. We stayed at Hotel Megarom in Herkalion where we got a good deal on their rooms. Its right at the ferry, u could walk to the port if you want, but there are tons of places to chose from.;
We went into the mountains and stayed at Milia, a former Cretan settlement that has been restored. It was a wondrous place and a nice break from the coast. woke up in the trees with fog in the mountains. Lots of hikes and beautiful drives from there. Good food at Milia and the drive that takes you there is great. In Hania we stayed at Casa Leone which is on the harbor. Antonia who runs it is fabulous. Also stayed at a place, Elia Traditional House or Elia Hotel and Spa (seemed to have 2 names) in Ano Vouves which has about 9 rooms, a lovely swimming pool and a very small spa. It is a nice place to explore the countryside from, its about 30-40 minutes West from Hania but set among villages so it was quite different. There is a lot to see and do on Crete. its just a matter of deciding what you like to do and setting out from there.

Are you looking for accomodation suggestions for Chania? If so, we loved Palazzo di Pietro when we stayed there in July. It's a completely renovated Venetian townhouse, only a few blocks from the harbour. The family who owns it should win hospitality awards. They decorated our suite with flowers from their rooftop garden, and stocked our fridge with all kinds of delicacies, including the dad's homemade wine. It was really a treat! The hotel itself is very small- I think it has about eight or so rooms?, so if you're interested, I'd get in touch with them ASAP.

Wow everyone some great suggestions.
yestravel. I like the sound of the inland village we will definitely check that out.
And Weadles...I saw your trip report and I contacted the Palazzo di Pietro but they do not have their 2007 rates quite yet. It may be a bit above our budget as well...I am looking for accomodation around 60 - 80 euros in Chania.
Thanks so much.

From Chania, we took a day trip to Gramvousa and Balos Lagoon tht we caught in Kisamos. At gramvousa there is an pirate fort that you climb up to via many many steps. But, once at the top, it is so beautiful and the most spectacular sight I saw in Crete.

In Chania I stayed at the Amphora Hotel in old town for 80 euros a night. My room was a comfortable size (bathroom was small), had large windows that opened to the harbor, breakfast was terrific. It also had a roof top deck looking onto the harbor. The hotel has alot of character and was very pleasant