There are of course many incredible beaches around, this being the south coast of Crete. We keep this list to the ones most accessible in a short drive from the house, and the ones we actually go to. The second section is for the days you want to drive further.
The house is the green pin. Tap a pin to jump to its entry.
Our favourite. Long, sandy, and never really full. We usually walk over to the stretch in front of the Bunga Bunga beach bar, which opens at noon and does great beach food and cocktails. Kommos is also an archaeological site: the ruins of a Minoan harbour town sit right behind the sand.
Kommos is long. Aim for the church at Agios Panteleimonas on the road above to get your bearings, or you can end up a fifteen-minute walk up the sand from the tavernas. Map →
Famous for the ancient carved caves in its lovely rock face, and for the hippies who lived in them in the sixties. A proper beach town: swim, wander the caves, then eat and drink looking over the bay. Map →
From Matala you walk over the headland to Red Beach. More secluded, more wild, and worth doing. Guests come back pleased they went and honest about the effort: it is twenty to forty minutes each way, the climb out of Matala is steep, and the path is loose rock rather than a made-up track. Not a stroll. Proper shoes, water, and not in the middle of the afternoon in August.
One thing to know before you set off. If you ask Google Maps for walking directions from Matala it sends you an hour or more inland along the road, which is not the way anybody goes. The path is the one that climbs the headland from the south end of Matala beach, past the caves. Follow the people, not the phone. Map →
Protected from waves, though not from wind, and shallow for many metres going out, which makes it good for small children. Locals come in the evening but it rarely gets crowded. A few tavernas line the beach. Map →
Two things on the headland above the beach. Neither is a beach itself, and both are worth knowing about before you drive down to one.
The small church on the road above Kommos, and a useful thing to know about before you set off. Kommos is long, and if you come down at the wrong point you can find yourself fifteen minutes' walk up the sand from Bunga Bunga and the tavernas at the south end. Aim for the church and you will get your bearings.
It is also a good place to stop for photographs of the whole bay, and if the parking below is full you can leave the car up here and walk down. Map →
On the headland above Kommos, and a good place to be at sunset. Two ways to use it. Park outside and walk to the cliff edge for a view west along the south coast, being careful, because there are no guardrails and it is a long way down. Or go in and have a wine or a meal as the sun goes down. There is a parking area for the restaurant.
Google lists it as "Mystical View Kommos Kedraki". Map →
A gorge that opens onto a small beach with no road to it, walled in by cliffs. It is well worth doing, and it comes with a genuine complication.
You drive to the Odigitria monastery on tarmac. After that there are about six kilometres of dirt road down toward the coast. Nearly every rental agreement in Crete excludes unpaved roads outright: drive down there and your insurance is void, some companies add a penalty on top, and most cars now carry a tracker. That is not a scare story, it is what is written in the contract.
So there are two honest options. Take a car with proper clearance, knowing what you are accepting. Or park at the first parking area where the track gets rough, where there are usually other cars, and walk the rest. That walk is about twenty minutes down to the lower parking area, and then twenty-five minutes through the gorge to the sea. We have done it that way and it was worth every step.
Bring water. There is a small canteen at the lower parking area but nothing at all on the beach, and no shade anywhere. Map →
A small place on the south coast where you park outside the village and then spend your time walking between your room, the beach and the taverna. That is the whole appeal, and it is why it works better as two nights than as a day trip. If you do go for the day, leave in the morning and come back in the evening.
There are rooms in the village if you want to stay over, several places to choose from, and it is worth walking out along the front to look back across the bay. Eat at Manouraki. Map →
Not wild exactly, just quieter than the beaches nearer us. A stretch of sand, a taverna to sit in when you have had enough sun, and a small dock to jump off. This is the classic version of a Cretan beach day: arrive, settle, swim, eat, swim again. Map →
West along the coast, and busier than the beaches near us: a harbour, steep lanes and a lot of tavernas. Worth an evening. We do not know it as well as the places above, so ask us before you go and we will find out where to sit. Map →
Staying with us? We will point you to the right beach for the day's wind. It makes more difference here than the forecast. Check availability →