Beaches

The area is famous for the cave located close to the village, where in 1823 a large number of locals moved in the cave to escape from the Turks, but they massacred many of them after 15 days. Today, Milatos is touristically developed and hosts an important fishing harbor. The surrounding area is full with large olive groves and the coast is full of small rocky coves. Among them there are several beaches where you can swim.

The valley of St. George is located 3km west of Agia Galini, 69km southeast of Heraklion and 60km south of Rethymno. There are two small bays with wonderful pebbly beaches, which are separated by a rocky shore. The weather here is always mild, making the beaches ideal for swimming all year round.

The Pirates’ Fjord is located 33km south of Rethymnon, in a secluded cove south of Mouri or Karavos Cape, near Plakias. It is a very narrow cove, formed between enormous vertical cliffs. The tiny beach shaped here has sand at its starting point and doesn’t exceed 2m in width.

Kolimbari is fairly well developed, mainly due to the beautiful long beach that stretches in front of the village and extends east to Tavronitis. The beach in Kolimbari is sandy and in some places has small pebbles. The water is deep, but usually wavy (like all the open beaches of northern Crete).

Mononaftis is a beautiful pebbly beach, located 24km northwest of Heraklion and just 1km north of Agia Pelagia main beach. According to the tradition, a ship was sunk here once and only one sailor survived. This story gave the name Mononaftis to the beach, which means “One sailor”. However, Mononaftis is a huge rock floating just 50m off the coast.

500m west of settlement Xerokambos you will meet the first hotels in the area and the long beach of Mazida Ammos, the largest beach of Xerokambos. Mazida Ammos, falsely known as Amatos, is a beautiful un organized beach with white sand and turquoise swallow waters. It is well protected on the east by Cape Trachilos, on the edge of which there is a sealcave.

Ammos Beach is located 500m south of the center of Agios Nikolaos. It is a long beach which starts near the city's marina, at Nearchos Street. It runs near the stadium of the town and extends to the south, to the Municipal Beach. The part near the marina is a beautiful beach with umbrellas, sunbeds, showers, water sports, restaurants, and hotels around it. It is located near the city center and its stores. The water is shallow, ideal for little kids and the sea is usually flat.

The seaside village of Nopigia is located 6km east of Kissamos and 30km west of Chania. It is built on the east side of the Kissamos Bay, next to the basis of Rodopos Cape and after the east end of Drapanias beach.