Chania, Crete Review

Last October I flew to Greece for a cousins wedding. The wedding was only 1 day but you cannot fly to Greece for the weekend, so I planned accordingly. Book for 2 weeks, arrive the day before the wedding. Go to the wedding. Now travel for 12 days. Sounds great. Keep in mind this trip for the wedding was a month after flying back home from my normal summer trip. So I already got my summer fix. I can’t just sit in Athens for 12 days. So I took a trip to Chania, Crete solo. It was early October, so tourist season is low, but so are the temperatures.

I arrived to Chania, cool temps and all. Jacket at night. (Rude awakening.)

It did not stop me from experiencing the Chania Trifecta of beaches: Seitan Limania, Elafonisi, and Balos. While the waters were cold, they were not cold enough from keeping me out. I got in for about 2 and a half minutes in each beach! It was cold.

Dinners by the limani in the Old Port were colder. You needed a jacket and when you were done with your food, its not like the summer were you just sit there and let time pass. The temp makes you want to tell yourself, ok, lets move on.

Fast forward to now.

95 degrees, trip to Chania!

Let’s start with that trifecta and talk a little more about them!!

Seitan Limania:

A swimming cove that tons gather to experience without the easiest access but still manages to fill up fast!! There are no sunbeds, or shops. Just an old man selling corn on the cob at the start of the descent. At the bottom, there are several goats ready to take it out of your hands. Literally.

The highlight of the beach was watching these goats casual strut the beach and put their nose and mouth into everyones bags and take their lunch!! People couldn’t help themselves but to just laugh it off. They walked over you, around you, through you, wherever they wanted to get to! I even witnessed someone pull a nectarine out of her bag, begin to eat it and as the goat approached and put his nose on it, she had no choice but to give it up…

The water was a wave pool this day. Some days you get calm clear waters, some days you get waves. The water temps were perfect and the waves were pleasant to swim through. Not your typical ocean waves, but more of a wave pool. The cove provides some climbing spots for divers! Be careful exiting the water, if you try laying down in the shallow during the waves, it will suck you in and throw you right back out!!

Elafonisi:

World famous Elafonisi! This bliss of a beach has shores coming at you in every angle. Extremely calm waters with pink sand coast lines. The vibe here is grab your seat, kick back, take a swim, sleep for a bit and then walk around the beach, see the other side that provides a 3 inch pool of water that you can casually walk through!!

If good food matters, bring your own food. Their snack stand is just ice cream, coffee and pre packed sandwiches.

Balos:

Balos beach is a tough beach to get to by car. So many take the Cretan Daily Tour Boats. The tour provides a ride to Balos, but along the way stops on a small island called Gramvousa. This island provides a crystal clear swimming experience or for the history enthusiast a climb up to a 14th century Venetian Fortress! The top of the Fortress has some of the most amazing views! You can see the Balos Lagoon from there!

After Gramvousa you arrive to Balos and Balos is a lot like Elafonisi, waters coming from every angle, swimming depths and walking depth waters on the opposite side! As for food, same situation as Elafonisi!

Bonus Beach: Falarsana!

Now on to Chania town.

One of the coolest areas I have experienced in Greece! Chania provides a venetian look, with restaurants all along the Old Port and narrow walk ways that you can walk for hours and continue to find things you did not know were there!!

As for the restaurants, two stood out!!

Number 1: Ta Xalkina! A traditional Cretan menu, with a live Cretan band brings you the best eating experience the area has to offer!

Number 2: Arismari, while this restaurant sits along the “touristy” strip of restaurants it does provide a great menu. Not your typical tourist taverna. No live music but still a great experience along the water.

Here is a photo of the Cretan salad!! Basically a Xoriatiki PLUS roasted potatoes, dakos and soft cheese!

Sites:

Chania has several sites to experience such as the Archaeological Museum and the Nautical Museum. Both give you a glimpse of the history of Chania, who and what lived there over the centuries. The area overall has historic input from the Venetians, the Ottomans, and the Egyptians.

Conclusion: Would I come back here? Absolutely! Chania quickly has become my favorite experience in Greece. That is saying a lot as I have a few places in Greece that I call the best!!

If you’d like to see more of my trip to Chania and all around Greece, follow me on social media! Instagram: @iamgreece

Lets rank the features:

Beaches 10/10 Food 10/10 Sites 9/10 Night Life 8/10 Evening Life 10/10 Island Score: 47/50 94%

Equipment used on this island:

Nikon D500 DJI Mavic Pro iPhone X GoPro Hero5

Any questions? Shoot me an email! info@greece-media.com