Covering beaches, choosing a base, day trips, villages, where to stay. Newest first, each one carrying the date of its last check.
A pebble bay on Crete's far-east coast that no road reaches — about an hour and ten minutes down an easy gorge from the hamlet of Chochlakies, or a longer coastal E4 walk from Kato Zakros past the great Pelekita cave. Nothing to buy at the bottom, and that is the point.
A short walk through pine woods on the coast east of Ierapetra to the biggest of the Mylonas gorge's waterfalls — easy from below, a technical canyon above, and at its best in winter and spring.
A short, dry, boulder-strewn gorge that ends at a monastery wedged into the cliff above the Libyan Sea. Worth a cool morning, a swim and some forward planning — and it can be shut on red fire-risk days.
A short, narrow gorge just outside the village of Mythi, a few kilometres up from Myrtos, with water in it most of the year — pools, small waterfalls, a few scrambles and polished rock walls only metres apart.
Two real towns, ninety minutes apart, selling two different easts: the polished gulf against the working far east. Beaches, prices, drives and evenings, compared.
A mountain village of springs under a 200-metre rock, with a chapel in a cave at the top of 230 steps and both seas visible from the courtyard.
The far east rewards a base, not a day raid. Where to stay in Sitia, the beaches worth the kilometres, the day route I would actually drive.
The best-preserved Minoan town on the island — streets you can actually walk — plus the workaday bay village next door.
A dignified village on the Ierapetra–Sitia bend with a 3,000-year-old olive tree, Minoan refuge ruins in the hills, and Tholos beach below.
The green exception of the dry east — a shaded stream gorge from Exo Mouliana down to a waterfall and a pebble beach.
The upland shelf behind Sitia — windmill ruins, frescoed chapels, the ghost village of Voila and squares where visitors still get looked at twice.
The far east's working hub village and its wind-blessed bay — windsurf culture, Minoan digs, olive plains and honest tavernas.
The fortress-monastery of the east — heavy history, serious oil and wine, and the Itanos ruins-with-beaches nearby.
A long, genuinely shallow sandy bay with village life attached — the best family water on the south coast, and a base that trades excitement for ease.
The southernmost town in Europe and the golden islet offshore — what Ierapetra actually offers, how the Chrissi boats work.
A pocket of waterfront tavernas facing a Minoan islet, halfway between Agios Nikolaos and Sitia — the long-lunch capital of the east.
A scatter of white-sand coves at the island's south-eastern extremity — shallow turquoise, near-zero development, real driving to get there.
A Minoan palace by a pebble bay, reached through a gorge lined with burial caves — the end-of-the-world day the far east does best.
The famous palm-backed beach at the island's eastern tip — how real it is, how organised it gets, and the two-minute walk that fixes the crowd problem.
A pine-scented village terrace over the Libyan Sea with a walkable gorge connecting it to the coast.
The cove-and-headland stretch east of Ierapetra — sheltered pockets, a hotel zone that stayed low, and the pick of small beaches for escaping the wind.
A working roadside village between Ierapetra and Makrigialos with a forested park, a butterfly-famous gorge behind it, and beaches without ceremony.
The whitewashed, bougainvillea-draped village that long-stayers refuse to leave — laid-back to a fault, with a dark wartime history worn with dignity.