Crete: Exploring Greece’s Biggest Island

A quick guide to Greece’s most populous island and how to have your best possible Cretan experience

In June 2021, on the back of the famous pandemic year of 2020 in which we all had to abandon our travel plans for nearly a year, I decided to head to Greece and began a 3-week solo adventure.

My Greek Odyssey began in its capital Athens and from there, I continued onto its largest island, Crete in the eastern Mediterranean, from where, after a few days of exploring, I initially planned to continue my Greek island hopping up north towards the Cyclades. But, as it sometimes goes in life and especially when travelling, my plans changed when I touched down in Crete, and I decided to stay longer than expected and skipped the other islands I planned to visit.

So, when visiting Greece’s most populous and largest island, you’ve got a lot of choices in regard to where to stay or where to start your journey and of course, this all depends on what exactly you want to do.

You have to bear in mind that this island is pretty huge, and as some places, especially in the more remote south of the island, are quite remote, you’re firstly best of renting a car (something which I regret not doing) if you want to see every single inch that the island has to offer, and secondly, sacrificing as much time as possible to the exploration of this gigantic island, which is larger than Belgium from east to west.

Today, I am going to share with you my three-stop journey through Crete, which took me from the north-western city of Chania across the island to the north-eastern City of Agios Nikolaus.

1. Chania

From Athens, I took a cheap National flight to the island’s second-largest city, Chania, which is on the Western edge of the island, and which is home to a pretty harbour and lighthouse offering a mesmerizing sunset scenery.

Chania is actually quite a small port town, but it is nevertheless a pretty interesting place, offering quite a lot of cultural diversity besides its beautiful sunset settings!

As such, the city is home to a large Christian, Jewish and Muslim population, and across the picturesque harbour, you’ll find a huge mosque right next to a small Jewish quarter. The place is also quite popular among Israeli tourists, which is something that really surprised me, and a very friendly Israeli woman I met told me that Chania was one of the most popular holiday destinations for Israelis in Europe!

Chania is also a pretty authentic place, full of cute little typical Greek streets, and surrounded by awesome natural scenery and beaches. It is also full of great restaurants, most of them offering Greek cuisine obviously, but also many Israeli and Italian restaurants.

When it comes to costs, it’s safe to say that Greece, in general, is not one of the cheapest countries on this planet, and Chania is said to be the most expensive city on the island of Crete. Regarding the prices of food and drinks, truly, it is quite expensive, but like everywhere else in the world, if you don’t go to the most centrally located places, but are ready to take a little walk outside the more tourist centre, you’ll still find some quality, decent and cheap places to eat out.

Speaking of accommodation, yes hotels are quite expensive, in Greece in general, and as I went there just after the pandemic when people had just started travelling again and it was generally cheaper than during normal times, it was already quite expensive. Therefore, when I was in Chania, I stayed in a fantastic guest house, right next to the harbour, which even included breakfast at the next-door restaurant, and I quite honestly couldn’t fault the quality of the accommodation in regards to my paid price, I even thought it was really cheap!

So should you visit Chania when visiting Crete? Yes absolutely, it’s totally worth it! But, on the other hand, you shouldn’t plan to stay there for the entirety of your trip, as it gets quite boring after a few days, as the city is a bit small. On top of that, it is very far away from the other main attractions on the island, and the best thing you could do would be to rent a car upon arrival, stay in Chania for a few days, and then continue your tour of the island from there!

2. Heraklion

From Chania, I continued my journey towards the biggest city of the island, which is also its capital city: Heraklion.

As I didn’t rent a car, which you definitely should when in Crete, I got from Chania to Heraklion on a horrendous bus journey that lasted nearly 5 hours. It was quite cheap, I only paid about 5 euros for the ride, but it wasn’t comfy at all!

Anyway, upon arrival in Heraklion, I almost felt like being in a different country. First of all, Heraklion is a much much bigger city compared to Chania, and secondly, I realized that it was also much cheaper than Chania in terms of accommodation and food!

The capital city of Crete is mostly known for its close proximity (about 20 minutes by bus which cost under 2 euros for the round trip) to one of the birthplaces of European civilization: the ancient city of Knossos, or rather the ruins of Knossos.

Knossos is said to be the oldest city in Europe, and thus an absolute must for any history geek or a first-time visitor to Crete. It surely is an archaeological gem and one of the most impressive ruin sites I’ve ever visited.

The city of Heraklion itself is also definitely worth a visit, as it has a beautiful Venetian harbour with an incredible fortress which was used to defend the harbour for hundreds of years against its many enemies that arrived by sea. You can still enter the fortress for as little as 4 euros, and the amazing views of the city and stunning insight into the fortress are definitely worth it!

Another must do when in Heraklion is a visit to the stunning Archaeological Museum of Crete, and when visiting the ruins of Knossos, you’ll get a free entry ticket to the impressive museum in the city centre as well!

Regarding prices of food and accommodation, I’ve already mentioned that Heraklion, in general, is much cheaper than Chania, but obviously, as everywhere else, don’t go to the restaurants that line the rather touristic port area, but preferably those that are located in the backstreets, which is where the locals of Heraklion go out for their meals!

3. Malia and Agios Nikolaus

After a few days in Heraklion, it was time to move on, and again, I cannot stress enough to anyone planning to visit this beautiful but mammoth of an island, to rent a car! I decided against it, and thought I could do it all by bus, but no, I actually only scratched the surface of this gigantic island and only saw the northern part of it!

Without a car, it is quite difficult to get to the more remote south of the island, which offers quieter beaches and more laidback places, while the north is the more popular and touristic part of the island, but therefore also clearly the one with the better infrastructure and public transport connections! So if you want to see the more remote South of Crete as well, you’ll definitely need a car.

Regarding my own journey post-Heraklion, I headed east towards the city of Malia, which is renowned (or rather before the pandemic was renowned) to be the party and nightlife hotspot of Crete. Malia used to be especially popular among British tourists, and the streets, therefore, are lined with British pubs. When I was there though, just after the pandemic and the reopening of Europe, everything was still closed and many things had completely shut down. Speaking to locals of Malia, I even had the feeling that the place had completely surrendered to the pandemic measures, as the place completely depended on its mostly party-seeking tourism which had been completely stopped for over a year.

Apart from Malia being a nice place with beautiful beaches, I have to say that it was quite a depressing vibe surrounding the city and walking through its empty streets with closed down shops and bars felt like walking through a genuine ghost town!

I sincerely hope for the great local people of Malia I met back then that the place has since recovered from the devastating impact of the pandemic era.

My final destination after Malia was the city of Agios Nikolaus, which was far more lively than Malia and which seemingly hadn’t suffered the same impact from the pandemic!

Agios Nikolaus is a picturesque and quite authentic little city on the eastern shores of Crete, and definitely, your place to be if you want to explore, stay or start your journey in the eastern part of the island.

Agios Nikolaus is also blessed with one of the most beautiful coastlines and best beaches in all of Crete, and its quite huge port offers the possibility to head to many other Greek islands up north, or to the Cretan capital of Heraklion.

Regarding the east of the island, Agios Nikolaus is definitely the best place to stay, and in general, the place which surprised me the most on my exploration of Crete.

All in all, Crete, Greece’s largest and most populous island, is a mesmerizing, eye-catching and wonderful destination, offering incredible landscapes and natural scenery as well as a host of cultural gems! All the places in its North which I have visited, including its two major cities, are absolutely worth checking out!

But, if you want to explore more of this gigantic island, you definitely should rent a car, and I clearly recommend to anyone visiting Crete to start your journey in either Chania or Heraklion, and then rent a car and tour the whole island in the space of 3 weeks to a month!