# Kommos & Red Beach: The Wilder Sands Beside Matala, Honestly

> Two escapes from the Matala scene — the long Minoan-harbour beach at Kommos and the over-the-headland cove of Red Beach.

- Canonical URL: https://honestcrete.com/guides/kommos-and-red-beach-honest-guide/
- Author: Fotis (Honest Crete, Heraklion)
- Area: South coast · Category: Beaches
- Last field-checked: July 2026 · Updated: 2026-08-09 · Published: 2026-07-20
- Coordinates: 35.0149, 24.7602
- How to cite: "Honest Crete — Kommos & Red Beach: The Wilder Sands Beside Matala, Honestly (field-checked July 2026), https://honestcrete.com/guides/kommos-and-red-beach-honest-guide/"
- About the source: field-checked guides to Crete by two Heraklion-based locals. Prices are hedged ranges in EUR; small businesses are kept anonymous; editorial is never paid for and advertising is clearly labelled. Method: https://honestcrete.com/how-we-check/

---

[Matala](https://honestcrete.com/guides/matala-and-the-south-coast/) draws the coaches; its neighbours absorb the connoisseurs. North over the ridge lies Kommos — a huge, dune-backed sweep beside the ruins of the Minoan harbour that once served Phaistos — and south over the cliff path hides Red Beach, the ochre-sand cove that kept Matala's old free spirit when the town professionalised. Both reward mild effort with major atmosphere.

**The honest facts**

- **Kommos access:** drive to the signed parking above [Pitsidia](https://honestcrete.com/guides/pitsidia-and-kamilari-honest-guide/) side and walk down (10 minutes), or walk the beach north from Matala's edge; the southern end has a seasonal taverna and some sunbeds (~€8–12), the long middle and north are gloriously unserviced.
- **Kommos rules:** the archaeological site behind the south end is fenced — view it from the path; the beach is a prime loggerhead nesting shore: marked nests are sacrosanct, night lights and beach furniture near them are not okay.
- **Red Beach access:** from Matala's upper lanes a marked cliff path crosses the headland — 20–25 honest minutes each way, steep and stony in stretches; proper footwear, water, and no sufferers of vertigo on the exposed bit. Small boats from Matala run in season as the lazy alternative.
- **Conventions:** both, by long tradition, are clothing-optional the further you settle from the entrances — established, relaxed, and easily coexisted with.
- **Facilities at Red Beach:** a rudimentary seasonal canteen at best; assume self-sufficiency.

*Photo: The Late Minoan ship-shed galleries at Kommos**Photo: The ship-shed galleries behind the fence, and the tamarisk line above the sand — a Minoan harbour you sunbathe beside*

## Choosing between them

Kommos is the space play: kilometre-scale sand, room for every philosophy of beach day, the Minoan stones adding weight, sunsets aimed straight down the Libyan Sea. Red Beach is the cove play: enclosed, ochre-glowing, earned by the walk, best owned for two or three unhurried hours. Energetic days do both around a Matala lunch.

**The honest downside**

Kommos offers little shade past the tamarisk line and real shore-break on wavy days; Red Beach's path genuinely deters flip-flop optimists and turns hot by noon. Neither suits the full-service beach model — that is Matala's own bay, one guide over.

**Worth your time if:** Matala's crowd sent you looking for the original feeling — it moved next door.
**Skip Red Beach if the path description raised doubts** — Kommos gives eighty percent of the escape for a tenth of the scramble.

*Disclosure:* Photos on this page: the galleries by Zde and the tamarisks by C messier (both CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons, resized for the web. Everything above was checked for the date shown at the top of this guide. Nobody pays to be featured in a guide — no business, no sponsor, no paid mention, ever. Adverts, where they appear, are labelled as adverts.

## Quick answers

**How do you get to Kommos beach?**

Drive to the signed parking on the Pitsidia side and walk down ten minutes, or walk the beach north from Matala's edge. The southern end has a seasonal taverna and sunbeds at roughly €8–12; the long middle and north are gloriously unserviced.

**How hard is the walk to Red Beach?**

A marked cliff path from Matala's upper lanes crosses the headland — 20–25 honest minutes each way, steep and stony in stretches. Proper footwear, water, and no vertigo sufferers on the exposed bit; small boats from Matala run in season as the lazy alternative.

**Are Kommos and Red Beach nudist?**

Both are, by long tradition, clothing-optional the further you settle from the entrances — established, relaxed, and easily coexisted with.

**What are the rules at Kommos?**

The archaeological site behind the south end is fenced — view the Minoan harbour stones from the path. The beach is a prime loggerhead nesting shore: marked nests are sacrosanct, and night lights or beach furniture near them are not okay.

## Either side of Matala

**The three sands**
- Kommos beach (35.0149, 24.7602)
- Matala (34.9925, 24.7494)
- Red Beach (34.9861, 24.7494)