Our second holidays in Crete. This time in the north east close to Chersonissos. So no big road trip and BnB-hopping this time.
Honestly, I would not recommend that you stay in one hotel for more than three days. When you want to go to the cities of Chania, Rethimnon, etc, go to the mountains for hikes, or swim in the sea at the south coast (which has nicer beaches than the north) you spend quite a lot of time in the car. Crete is very mountainous - so 50, 60 km equal 1.5 hours driving. So my personal recommendation is that you book several small BnBs and change the BnB after some days.
Lassithi Plateau
We hiked to the top of the Karfi mountain. The hike was taken from the Rother hiking book (hike nr. 51).
The plateau is very nice and you could do more hikes there. In the town of Tzermiado you find a small tavern called “Cafe Kronio”. The food there is good and the owner is a nice guy. He also runs a BnB…
Kritsa Gorge
The Kritsa gorge is one of the smaller gorges on Crete. The nice hike is described in the Rother (nr. 53) as well. The hike itself is pretty cool and not to hard. However, make sure that you stick to the route in the last part of the gorge. We derailed as there was some gate you actually should cross. The result was that we had to cross the top of a mountain to get back to the track. Not recommended ;)
Perivolakia Gorge
A quite big hike in a stunning area again described in the Rother (nr. 57). Be sure to bring lots of water. The gorge is flooded with sun and the heat is crazy - even in October.
You should NOT walk the same way down as up. Take the alternative way down via the small town of Perivolakia. There you also find a tiny tavern. The lady that runs the place cooks good food.
Spinalonga & Spinalonga Fortress
A tour inspired by GPSies with a slight variation: We crossed the island and walked this way back. Crossing the island is a little tricky as nobody (but us) does that. So you should bring a GPS and topographic cards. I have the track of our tour here. However, this is worth the effort as the other side of the island has a stunning coastline.
You can also visit the Spinalonga fortress, which has a quite long history. Its last usage was as a leper hospital.
Matala
The (world-famous) hippie-town of Matala. Even our latest Nobel price winner for literature has stayed there for a while.
Cretaquarium
Fish behind glass. Nice for bad weather.
Heraklion Archaeological Museum & Heraklion
Heraklion itself is not so great. However, the museum is worth visiting. The things shown are between 2000 and 4000 years old and were found on the island. Some exhibits are pretty stunning, such as the Ring of Minos or the lady dancing with the snakes.
