Covering beaches, choosing a base, day trips, eating, getting around, villages, where to stay. Newest first, each one carrying the date of its last check.
A small reservoir on an old marsh south-west of Chania, fed by White Mountain springs and protected twice over under Natura 2000 — an hour's flat walk among reedbeds and herons, a restored 1929 hydroelectric station, and a village whose prison is tied to the 1941 “Prison Valley”.
The valley of the Keritis river runs from its springs at Meskla, under the White Mountains, past the orange groves of Fournes and Alikianos towards Lake Agia. Above it sit Zourva and, on the Omalos road, Lakki. Birds, oranges, old churches, a short gorge loop and a hard 1941 history, most of it within 21 km of Chania.
Three monastic sites on the Akrotiri peninsula above Chania make one half-day: the easy, ticketed Agia Triada, the stricter working monastery at Gouverneto, and a stone path below it past a cave to the ruined Katholiko and a small cove. Here is what the hours, the dress code and the climb back actually mean.
Two low-key bases on the same stretch of north coast east of Chania, split by one thing above all: an open beach with currents versus shallow water inside Souda Bay. Here is how the sea, the buses and the day trips actually compare.
Two small sandy beaches on the Souda Bay side of the Akrotiri peninsula, 16–17 km from Chania, facing south and out of the summer north wind. Marathi is organised and has a Blue Flag; Loutraki is the locals' free alternative next door. What each is like, and the Minoan harbour under the water.
The airport is on the wrong side of Chania for almost everywhere you are going. What that costs in time, which transfer actually suits which resort, and the drive times nobody publishes.
Two names on the same golden ribbon west of Chania — the balanced family middle against the strip's engine room. Beach, noise, buses and evenings, compared.
Chania or Rethymno as your base in western Crete? Beauty against value, beach on foot against beach by car, airports, prices and day trips, compared.
A Greek city-state on a plateau 200m above Souda Bay, with Roman cisterns you can walk inside, an Ottoman fort and two German bunkers.
Souda Bay war cemetery, Hill 107 at Maleme, and the German cemetery above it. Free, quiet, and for a certain kind of visitor the most affecting half-day.
The Zorba-famous bay and its peninsula neighbours, twenty minutes from Chania — sheltered family water, the mountain of the film.
The west's answer to the Hersonissos corridor — long sandy beaches, Theodorou island views, full resort services.
The plane-shaded village at the top of a lovely gorge drive, where Venizelos raised his 1905 revolt.
How to eat brilliantly in the most touristed town in west Crete — the one-street-back rule, what to order here specifically, and the tourist-trap tells.
The zig-zag turquoise inlet on Akrotiri is a phone-wallpaper in real life — reached by a hairpin road and a goat path.
Crete's most beautiful city, quarter by quarter — where the noise actually is, what the harbour restaurants don't tell you.
The Venetian harbour is genuinely beautiful and genuinely mobbed. How to love Chania old town anyway.