Crete Villa Holidays
52 villas found

Chania, Crete’s second biggest town is on the North West Coast which is the greenest part of the island. The town is surrounded by a landscape of fertile plains, dramatic mountains, deep gorges and lovely beaches. It is a place of two halves: the buzzing modern town and the atmospheric Old Town, with well-preserved reminders of its Venetian and Turkish past. The ancient Venetian-style harbour with its lighthouse and fortress draws thousands of visitors to the town every day during the summer season. This is a great place to enjoy classic Cretan dishes and watch the sun go down over the water.

Rethymnon is an interesting town on the North Coast of Crete between Chania and Heraklion. It has all the right ingredients for your holiday – a rich history and culture, a romantic harbour and old town with great seafood restaurants and buzzing nightlife, a huge, central sandy beach with water sports galore, and impressive mountain scenery with charming villages to explore. Like most of the island, Rethymnon has a wonderful past, and this is clearly reflected in the architecture of the old town, where mosques and Christian churches are next to Renaissance buildings overlooked by a huge Venetian fortress. The Venetians also left their mark in in Arkadiou Street, where they built elegant mansions that reflected their wealth and culture. The town has many interesting shops and great places for a long lazy lunch.

The Firkas Fortress at the western point of Rethymnon harbour was built in 1629, but today it is the home of The Maritime Museum of Crete, full of paintings and models of ships, nautical instruments, historical photographs and war relics. Crete was ruled by Turkey until 1913, when the Turkish flag was exchanged for the Greek flag here at Firkas Fortress, when the whole island celebrated the union of Crete with Greece.

Kournas Lake, 17 miles west of Rethymnon, is the only freshwater lake in Crete. The little lake is a beautiful sight, fed by streams from the White Mountains that surround it. This important wetland is a protected environment, and home to ducks, eels, water snakes, terrapins, herons and cormorants. Temporary beaches appear in the summer months when the water level drops, and then the sun loungers, umbrellas and pedalos appear. You can make a full circuit around the lake during the summer, which takes no more than an hour.

Crete! The birthplace of Zeus the father of all gods, the island that has been central to films, books and TV series and the place where civilisation was born when the Minoans built stunning palaces with running water and flushing toilets!

Whether you’re a culture vulture, a twitcher, a rambler or a disco queen you will always find something which will make a good holiday into a great one!

The mild climate in the spring and autumn make it the perfect destination for those who want to go exploring the remote mountain villages and the unspoilt South Coast revealing the rugged beauty many never see. The Mediterranean Sea on the South Coast is always a few degrees warmer and the tavernas will prepare dishes which though simple in their ingredients are eaten only in that area.

The hot summer months may make getting around an exertion too tiring! But so many great things are right on your doorstep so just once get up and out early before the temperature soars and revel in a Crete experience!

What better way to spend your holiday than in the turquoise sea waters on the island of Crete. If that was not enough then you can take a stroll on the golden sand whilst breathing in the sea air.

There are many beaches in Crete for all the family and friends to enjoy from the North Coast stretching right across to the South Coast.