Covering beaches, choosing a base, day trips, villages. Newest first, each one carrying the date of its last check.
The hilltop city-state on a saddle between two peaks, three kilometres up through the olives from Kritsa, with its gate, workshop street, agora, stepped seating, prytaneion and views over the Mirabello gulf — what survives, what the ticket and winter hours are, and how to fit it into a morning with Kritsa and Panagia Kera.
Two working towns 36 km apart on opposite seas: the Gulf of Mirabello with Spinalonga at the door, or the south coast with Chrissi offshore. Beaches, boats, weather, evenings and prices, compared.
The cave above Psychro reopened in May 2026 after two years of works — new paths, new lights, a new price. What the climb, the steps and the ticket are like now, and how to see it without the coach tours.
A real harbour town against a luxury-resort enclave, eleven kilometres apart on the same gulf. Beaches, boats, prices and evenings — an honest side-by-side.
Which boat to Spinalonga — Plaka, Elounda or Agios Nikolaos? Crossing times, rough fares, the entry fee, and where to sleep nearby.
The dignified plane-square town the highway bypassed — almond milk, a big church, workaday kafeneia and zero tourism theatre.
The stone-and-pebble fishing village facing the leper island — ten-minute boats, waterfront tavernas with the view.
The big weaving village above Agios Nikolaos, its famous frescoed church, and the wild plateau road beyond.
The lake town, the luxury bubble, and the fortress island with the heaviest history on this coast — how to combine all three in one honest, unhurried day.
The mountain plateau an hour above the north coast — what's actually left of the famous windmills, how to do the Dikteon Cave properly.
The sunken-city causeway, the windmill channel and the pine-backed cove across the water from the luxury hotels — Elounda's free, walkable, better half.
The most photographed water east of Agios Nikolaos — white sand, absurd turquoise, roadside access.