Questions about CRETE
 

We are looking for a relaxing beach vacation in mid-June and can stay at the Blue Palace Resort near Elounda on starwood points. (We were originally thinking Santorini, but have already been there and never to Crete.)

Here are some questions I was hoping you could help me with:

1. Is it feasible to do one all-day day trip to visit knossos and chania? Is it better to do 2 day trips to visit these places?

2. The Blue Palace has a rocky beach (which we're fine with), but are there any other beautiful sandy beaches worth driving to nearby?

3. Do you recommend spending some time in the actual towns of Elounda and Agios Nikoloas for food, charm, or attractions?

4. Is there anything else in the area you would strongly recommend not missing?

We are family with 2 older teenagers -- we love great food, experiencing the culture and history of a place, and charming towns.

Thank you!!
Dina

I think you will find western Crete to have more charm than the area around Agios Nikolaos. That said, Elounda is beautiful, but AN is charmless, IMO. Perhaps east of there would be ok, too, but I don't have first hand experience with that. Others will give you more specific info.
Have a great trip; Crete is lots of fun!

hi dina,

allowing for the fact that our one and only trip to Crete was over 25 years ago [but the geography won't have changed, nor too much else if what a friend who now lives there tells me is anything like true!] I would not try to see knossos and Chania in a day trip. knossos was fascinating and could be combined in a day trip with Herakleon, which had a lot of life and a couple of museums, and i suspect still does.

as for beaches, the best one we fgound was at Rethymnon, about half way along to coast to Chania, but I'm sure there are others. with the roads like there were 25 years ago i wouldnt' have tried to do a day trip form Elounda to Chania, but these days it may be possible. but there are so many wonderful places to see en rotue, why would you want to ?

IMHO you need to get hold of an up to date guide book and get planning!

regards, ann

Thank you so much for your advice.

We definitely won't plan to do both Chania and Knossos on the same day.
--we'd like a guide for Knossos. do you have any recommendations for that?
-- is chania even worth a day trip from all the way in elounda?

Thanks for the charmless warning about AN, grandmere.

Annhig --Just got some guide books from the library and can't wait to go through them.

thanks again!
dina

Chania is lovely and a highlight of a trip to Crete. The Venetian seaport and the town with its Turkish influences are very interesting. There are so many good restaurants.
The beaches on the west coast of Crete are beautiful.

Agree, Chania is definitely worth a trip, and the beaches west of there are lovely.

I agree with the foregoing. A good day out is Knossos and the archeological museum in Iraklion. If you go on a Sunday, they're free.

There are guides at the gate at Knossos and you can pay a few euros to join a group they will lead- in English even.


It's been closed for renovations, but there's a small collection next door for you to see.

I've not been to Elounda or Ag Nik, but further east there are lovely beaches, and you should have a look at Vai (too crowded for me), and Chiona beach is lovely. You can combine that with a trip to Toplou Monastery- well worth a visit.

Do go to the south coast, and, whilst one can have enough of Minoan ruins you have the option to see the palaces at Palekastro, Malia, Kato Zakros and Phaistos and Agia Triada which is only about a mile away. But if you think Knossos is enough Palaces, DO NOT MISS Gortys, which was a town rather than a palace.

Take a day trip to the Lassithi plateau, which, whilst sadly lacking in windmills these days is still well worth the trip.

And don't miss Chania, which is super. Mind you, I don't think I'd go further west on a day trip

Ahhh! Knossis has been closed for renovations?

We will be in Crete in late June and we were planning to visit Knossis.

Do you think it will be reopen by late June 2009?

Thanks!
Laurie

I believe Sheila meant the archaeological museum in Heraklion is closed: http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/1/eh155.jsp?obj_id=3327

Here are the details for Knossos: http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/3/eh355.jsp?obj_id=2369

I did. Sorry if I wasn't clear.

Thank you for clearing this up, Heimdall and Sheila.

I am glad that we will be able to visit Knossis.

Would it make sense to rent a car in Iraklion to drive to Knossis and then on to Chania for 4 nights?

Or should we just rely on public transportation.

Sorry for hijacking this thread, but thank you for the information!

Laurie

thank you!

Laurie, that's a good plan. Both are easily accessible from Iraklion by public transport, but trying to do both on one day by bus might be tough.

Please note, that if you are searching you will need to spell it KnossOs, not Knossis.

I have a couple of questions -
I too will be spending about a week in Septemeber in Crete and wondered whether I should split my time between the western part(Chania) and the eastern part (Elounda).
This way I can get to see as much of the island as possible.
Also, I will probably have to fly into Athens and then make a connection. I will be in Cyprus first - then on to Crete.
Any suggestions???

Cyprus Airways has flights from Larnaca to Heraklion. Check out http://www.cyprusairways.com/main/default.aspx

I'd do 4 days based in Chania, and on day 4 I'd drive to Elounda, picking up Knossos en route

thanks, heimdale.
i checked, but unfortunately, cypressair doesn't have connections to the cities i need...

Hi dina4,

My Cyprus Airways suggestion was meant for Lolo12. Sorry I didn't make that clear. :-)

Or split your time between Chania, and the southern coast, Loutro, Frankocastello, etc.