Moving on from Heraklion, I’m giving you snapshots across Chania and Rethymnon – two of the most popular tourist locations on Crete – each with a charming old town and plenty of interesting history.

One distinctive observation about Crete overall, is that compared to the smaller Cyclades Islands, Crete looks and feels very different, on the whole. Based on the areas I visited, Crete didn’t give me white buildings, blue domes, quaint little white washed villages….it didn’t have that type of post card image at all. Crete felt more built up and less ‘islandy’  – not surprising really, since Crete is a huge island in comparison, with a completely different personality to the Cyclades.

Out and About Chania

Chania is one of the most talked about areas of Crete, known for being one of the more sophisticated, characterful and charming locations to visit or stay in – you’ll quickly cotton that it’s a hot spot destination on Crete, prized as the larger, prettier and more expensive version of Rethymnon.  

The harbour is known for being beautiful at night, and a great spot for some idle people watching…..I only visited during the day but it was still very picturesque with a slow paced atmosphere.

Interesting fact: Chania used to be the capital of Crete until the somewhere in the 1970s. 

You can walk all the way around to the Egyptian lighthouse to get a sweeping perspective of Chania.

The domes on the building above might not be blue, but it’s still a beautiful piece of architecture and a landmark on the Chania harbour – it’s a mosque by the way.

If you love old elegant venetian style towns you’ll love spending time in Chania, pronounced “Han-ya” –  soaking up all of this lovely ambience. Quaint narrow streets packed with pretty restaurants and curious gift shops….what’s not to like!

I can’t be the only one who eats and unlimited number of omelettes for breakfast whenever I’m on holiday, and they’re always better abroad right?  😉

Kournas Lake

This is one of the most popular things to see when in the Chania region of Crete, it’s beautiful lake, and when you see pictures of it, it looks very relaxing.

I was expecting a very peaceful scene.

However, I wasn’t expecting to see all the plastic boats on the lake (made me think of theme park boat rides) – none of the marketing I’d seen showed this, it just looked like a vast empty lake in the pictures but in reality it’s very busy with people peddling around on the lake along with lots of people swimming and going into the water – not a bad thing, just different to what I expected.

Crete: Out and About Rethymnon 

By the time I got to Rethymnon I was wondering what unique things I’d be able to tell you about it. To be honest, when you’ve already visited Santorini, Naxos and Paros – it probably won’t feel as alluring as the latter (you’ve already been spoilt lol).

Rethymnon felt like a very easy place to have a bit of down time after a stretch of island hopping. It’s down to earth and more typically touristy on it’s long restaurant lined beach strip with no shortage of beach loungers. It’s an easy, no frills part of Crete to stay in, straight forward, popular for it’s long beach strip and cute old town crammed with little shops.

The Rethymnon strip lines both sides of a busy main road which is quite heavy with traffic.

You’ll find lots of hotels along the beach strip or in the old town – take your pick and lots of excursions and trips to sign up for if you want to tick off some of the popular ‘to do’ activities.

Classic cars for hire!!

Out and about the old town

Cute cocktail bar

When it’s too hot to do anything

The owner of this art shop was preoccupied with urging me to visit a place called Loutro. He said the places I was thinking of going on Crete were for tourists, and seemed unimpressed with me wanting to go to them and said Loutro would be a much better choice. I didn’t go but did Google ‘Loutro’ and it looks much less touristy and beautiful off island to visit – I think you can only get there by boat – maybe you’ve checked it out already if you’ve been, let me know what you thought of it.

Hop on Hop Off Bus 

There’ll be one more Crete post to come and then I think I’ve covered it all.

In the meantime, thanks for checking in, have a great week ahead and enjoy your travels if you’re on the move 🤗💫🙏