First a disclaimer – I haven’t been to every major beach in Crete (yet) and I don’t really call myself a beach person, I struggle to understand the whole point of laying on a beach all day as I’m not much of a swimmer and could easily sunbathe / read/doze at home in my garden!! (Blasphemy I know!).
However, I am a keen explorer, love nature and am always on a quest to take photos of new places, so beaches do feature on my places to visit, on occasion! Here’s my overview of a few of the many beaches of Crete…
Balos Lagoon
If you only go to 1 ‘famous beach’ in Crete, go to Balos – It’s as beautiful in real life as all the edited photos online show!
Agios Pavlos
One of the quieter, less famous, picturesque beaches on the island with a unique sandbank, cave, and geology rock.
Preveli Beach + Palm Forest
Are you fit enough to do it?! In Crete you have to trek to get to the best beaches! Preveli palm beach is at the bottom of (approximately) 350 steps.
Stavros
I’d heard people raving about Stavros beach but personally I felt a little disappointed, I guess I just wasn’t expecting the tourism. Where as the other beaches have stunning views from every angle, more or less, here it was definitely a case of finding the right angle, and the main beach full of bodies just wasn’t doing it for me! Better round the back but then you lack the ‘wow factor’ of the cliff.
