Rodakino & Korakas: The Honest Guide to the Coast Between
The twin villages and long dark-sand beaches on the empty road between Plakias and Sfakia — wartime escape history, tamarisk camps of old.
West of Plakias the tourism thins with every headland until Rodakino: twin villages (Ano and Kato) stacked on a gorge mouth, and below them the long dark-sand runs of Korakas and Polyrizos — beaches that hold three tavernas, scattered rooms and more history than infrastructure. It was from this shore in 1944 that the abducted German general Kreipe was spirited off the island; the commemorative marker stands where the story left.
The honest facts
- Position
- ~20 minutes west of Plakias on the increasingly cinematic Sfakia road; the villages sit above, the beach access roads drop steeply but paved.
- The beaches
- Korakas and its continuations — long, dark sand mixed with pebble, tamarisk clumps, sparse sunbed presence near the tavernas (€6–9 when present), open horizon to Africa. Usually room to lose your neighbours entirely.
- Eating & sleeping
- a handful of family tavernas at beach level and in the villages, simple rooms above them — value pricing, direct arrangements, genuine welcomes.
- The water
- clear, quickly deepening, exposed to south swell on rare days; no lifeguards, standard south-coast self-reliance.
- The history
- the Kreipe embarkation marker and the villages’ fierce wartime record give the place a weight the emptiness amplifies.
Who this coast fits
Solitude-first beach people with a car; Sfakia-road drivers wanting the swim-and-lunch that coach routes skip; and returners for whom Plakias now counts as busy. Families manage fine at the taverna-adjacent stretches; toddler-infrastructure seekers should stay east.
The honest day
Arrive late morning, claim tamarisk or open sand to taste, swim the deep blue, taverna lunch where the Greek tables cluster, siesta, one last swim as the light goes copper, and either back east or onward into Sfakia’s drama. Overnighting buys the empty-morning version few visitors ever see.
The honest downside
Dark sand runs hot by July afternoons, facilities are deliberately thin, and the beauty here is austere-open rather than cove-pretty — travellers wanting turquoise pockets should aim elsewhere. The steep access lanes also want calm brakes.
Worth your time if: “a beach with almost nobody and one good taverna” is your definition of success. Skip it if: you need organisation or scenery that performs — this coast underplays everything except space.
Photo on this page: the memorial by Derhuti (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.
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Villages and sands
Tap a name to open it in your map app. These are options, not an order — pick by the day you have.
Where is Korakas beach?
Below the twin villages of Ano and Kato Rodakino, about 20 minutes west of Plakias on the Sfakia road. The access roads drop steeply from the villages but are paved.
What are the beaches at Rodakino like?
Long dark sand mixed with pebble, tamarisk clumps, an open horizon toward Africa, and sparse sunbed presence near the tavernas at EUR6-9 when present. There is usually room to lose your neighbours entirely.
Is there anywhere to stay at Rodakino?
A handful of family tavernas at beach level and in the villages, with simple rooms above them - value pricing, direct arrangements and genuine welcomes rather than anything resembling a resort.
What is the wartime history at Rodakino?
The Kreipe embarkation marker is here - the point where the abducted German general was taken off the island in 1944 - and the villages have a fierce wartime record. The emptiness amplifies the weight of it.
Is it safe to swim at Korakas?
The water is clear and deepens quickly, and it is exposed to south swell on rare days. There are no lifeguards - standard south-coast self-reliance applies.
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