How to split 7 days in Crete??
 

My husband and I have one week to spend in Crete this summer. We are in our late twenties and love beaches and food. We are taking a ferry from Naxos and are arriving in Herkaloin. Our plane leaves out of Chania one week later.

Here's our tentative itinerary:
stay in Rethymnon(1 or 2 nights?), then head to Chania for a few nights, spend two nights towards Falasarna or Elafonisi beach area and then head back to Chania for our final night.

Does this seem like a good plan? We plan on renting a car once we get to Chania. Should we stay in Rethymnon 1 or 2 nights? Are there any other regions we missing and need to check out? We realize we can't see the entire island in a week.

Rethymnon is lovely and you will likely enjoy two nights there.
After you get to Chania you have options but it all can be done using Chania as a base. Will you be renting a car?
For beaches you can catch the excursion boat from Kissamos. You can drive or contact any travel agent and get a bus package from Chania. This excursion provides two beaches and a pirate fortress at Gramovossa and Balos lagoon.
Of course there is always the famous Samaria Gorge trip. you would need to do that on an excursion or even local bus. Can't be done by car.
You can easily drive to Falasarnia in an hour from Chania so it makes a nice day trip.
If you are looking for ruins then consider Ancient Aptera. Just 18 km east of Chania. 1800 year of civilization spread out over a mountain. Don't miss the vaulted Roman cisterns very cool.
You could also take the local bus south to the Libyan sea and visit Paleochora or Sougia two beach villages. Just hop the bus back to Chania in the early evening.
Here are images of western Crete.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr...7632115757899/

Since you will be on Naxos here are images to whet your appetite.
Trip around Naxos http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr5...7634605629689/

Meant to give you a link to look at.
http://www.sougia.info/index.htm

Huh, no idea why my comment was removed.

Forget moving around, you just waste time. Stay in one place and rent a car for day trips when you feel like it. I suggest somewhere outside the usual tourist strip around Chania. Somewhere a bit more real like Sougia.

Thank you both for your suggestions! They were very helpful. We plan on renting a car but were trying to avoid renting a car for the whole week and were going to rent a car once we got to Chania. Thank you also for the tip regarding Ancient Aptera- that sounds interesting. Do you think Elafonisi beach is worth the effort? The pictures look amazing.