Crete Travel Guide

The sea around Crete is so intensely blue that visitors' heartbeats will quicken and visitors will yearn to immediately dive into the clear waters and enjoy the clear, refreshing waters.

There is plenty of space for mile-long sandy beaches on the north coast and picturesque bays between the sheer cliffs in the south of the largest Greek island. Between these, mountains featuring wild, romantic gorges and fertile hillsides rise to heights of 2,000 m. Grapes and olives thrive here, and oranges and lemons release aromatic scents. In the banana plantations grow the tropical fruits for the mainland; in the flats, people make their living cultivating wheat and oats.

The first advanced European civilisation developed in this bountiful natural environment over 4,000 years ago: the Minoan civilisation is as impressive in ruins as the monumental palace of Knossos. The exhibits in the first-class Archaeological Museum of Heraklion bestow a greater understanding of the cultural achievements of this people.

The Cretans are accordingly proud of their ancestors and their homeland whose beauty they willingly show off to the visitors who return to the ink-blue bays, idyllic beaches, untouched villages and hospitable coastal towns time after time.