Five Best Beaches of Crete's Akrotiri Pensinsula

The island of Crete is a vacationer's paradise.  Why, you ask?

Beaches, fun, party, culture, and history = plenty of good life.

On the 'VFCs Travels' channel on YouTube, we've traveled up and down, back and forth along some of the best coastline that Crete has to offer.  Some spots are very remote, some not so much.  But there is something for everybody, if you're willing to look.

Loutraki Beach
as seen from the resort.

For those that can handle the winding mountain roads (some get nauseous, while others are just plain afraid of the steep drop-offs down the cliff-sides) through the White Mountains to the island's southern coast,  you will be able to find a bit more peace and tranquility than you will on the northern side where the party life is much more prevalent.  Although I've always used rental cars to transit down south, the bus rides do look fun and are an inexpensive option.  The drivers are certainly very used to the drive and handle the cliffs and curves like professionals while drinking water (or Mythos beer) as they negotiate the routes.

Seitan Limania Beach

Just kidding (I think) about the beer.  It's probably more like Raki in a water bottle.  Seriously, tho, if you're not willing to drive yourself, the bus is an option.  Chania and Hraklion are great starting points, depending on which airport you flew into.  I always recommend just renting a car yourself, tho.  This way you are on your own schedule and no one else's.  Funny thing is that many Americans cannot drive a stick shift these days and automatics are in limited supply in Europe.  If you can even find them, they are usually much more expensive, too.  It is comical watching Americans who can't drive stick trying to hassle with the car places for automatics, lol.

We can get into the excitement of the island's southern coast in another post - and we can definitely discuss Americans driving in Europe (how about them roundabouts? lol) at another time, but let's get back on subject and discuss the five best beaches of Crete's Akrotiri peninsula.  We'll start from VFC's rankings of these beaches from bottom to top.

Marathi Beach looking in from the crystal clear water.

#5 Marathi Beach
Marathi beach is a good time.  A relaxing time.  Split into to two sections, the main beach area offers you a beach bar with food, sun beds, white sand, beautiful water and a view of the touristy-popular Souda Bay (wave to the cruise ships as they roll through!).  Marathi is situated on the east side of the peninsula and faces pretty much straight south into the bay and at the coastline of mainland Crete.  Although Marathi provides quite the tranquil setting, it lands at #5 on my list for a couple of reasons.  Simply enough, facing into the bay isn't as cool as facing into the Mediterranean Sea, in my preference.  There are a couple of nice islands to look out at and you can watch the ships come and go from the comfort of your sun bed, but for some reason it doesn't quite feel like you are 'getting away'.  I don't want to see ships sailing by while sipping on a summer beverage.  Marathi is also just a little bit too mellow.  I love my peace and tranquility, but I'm a fan of little bit of action, too - some beach music maybe - and there's really nowhere to go for that on Marathi. 

Looking onto another section of
Marathi from the main beach.

On the plus side, tho, the food is good.  The restaurant / bar area is right on the beach, so you get that lovely beach bar feeling.  The beers are cheap, food is reasonable and the Raki will flow if you ask for it.  The water is crisp and clear - like bath water on the warmer days - and the sand is soft.  If you have a good book, this is the perfect location for reading it, and you're unlikely to be disturbed.  You'll have two choices of beach area - the one side that hosts the beach bar, as seen from the water in the picture above.  On the right you can see the second beach area, with the two sections separated by a short road where you'll usually find a tour bus or two parked.

You can enjoy Marathi for a day trip.  For anything longer, there are houses and smaller hotels for rent nearby, but nothing that you'll find right on the beach.  It's worth a stop-by, but I wouldn't make it my first stop.

#4 Stavros Beach

Stavros Beach, film location for
'Zorba the Greek'

Stavros Beach may have made it's way a place or two higher on this list, if not for the prices.  The beach beds were going for fifteen euro each for a day's rental, which is enough to drive away the casual tourist, although there is plenty of sand area to drop down a towel.  There are plenty of pluses to Stavros.  You have bar and food service available from the place right across the street, from where you'll also be able to hear some beach music.  The water is nice and you have both sandy and rocky areas to explore, if you wanted to take a little beach stroll.

Stavros is also known as 'Zorba's Beach," since possibly the most famous scene from the old-skool movie "Zorba the Greek" was filled right there on Stavros Beach.  So you get a little bit of history while you are chilling out, too.
What could be a plus or a minus for you are the small fishing boats that you'll be sharing the area with.  No, they don't bother you, but once in a while you'll get a little bit of a fishy smell and see the boats coming and going.

You'll be able to set up a home base in Stavros, if that's what you are looking for.  There are plenty of little hotels and apartments for rent and enough life to keep you going for a couple of days, or longer, if you take some day trips in and out of town. If you're looking to 'get away' without too much of a drive from the Chania airport, then Stavros may be for you.  In my preference, there are locations down on the south side of the island that you can 'get away' to with more of a vibe than Stavros.  Worth the day trip, tho - or even just a couple of hours if you are out exploring!

#3 Loutraki Beach

Loutraki main beach area.

Loutraki used to be just a little hidden beach in a cove not too far from the town of Sternes, which is very close to the Chania airport.  While still hidden to many, nowadays the cove is far from the hidden escape it used to be.  A resort now sits on the hillside of the beach, which attracts quite a handful of local and foreign tourists.  The main beach has some sun beds set up on the sand - with a convenient beach bar sitting there, too, and the resort area offers you sun beds on the grass and sit-down restaurant and bar area where you can, quite frankly, get lit if you'd like.  And you'll probably want to due to the party atmosphere created by the resort.  From the grassy area of the resort, there are ladders that go right down into the sea (the water is that crisp and clear blue of the Med that we love) and a few modes cliffs to jump in from.  Ok, probably not even worth calling them cliffs, but you can get a jump in.  If not staying in the resort, you'll drive a little bit for a place to set up camp for vacation - it's about 25 minutes to Chania, but Sternes is just up the road and you'll be able to book an apartment there.  Your probably best off treating this as a day trip, tho, as there's not much to do in Sternes.  Loutraki does make for a good day out, offers some life from the resort and gives you the authentic Cretan feel of a beach in a hidden cove.

Kalithas Beach
from the south entrance.

#2 Kalathas Beach
Kalithas is a pretty awesome beach day out on the Akrotiri.  It's proximity to Chania, maybe 15 minutes driving with no traffic, and vast beach area are bonus.  Located on the peninsula's west side, take a turnoff from the main Chania-airport road (on the way to Stavros) and you'll see signs for Kalathas.  Parking is sometimes a little interesting, as the small parking lot fills up quick, but you'll be able to find a spot (usually) along the side of the road where everyone parks for overflow.  Kalathas also offers you that 'great escape' feel - partly because the beach is big enough to set up a chair or umbrella away from any crowds, but also because you can swim out to an island that has a beach area of its own.

Kalathas Beach
from the north entrance.

The water - which is that beautiful crisp Mediterranean water that VFC loves - only gradually gets deeper, so you can wade about halfway out to the island; you also don't have to worry about young children playing in the water as there are no steep drop-offs and it take a while to get deep.  There is a great beach bar / restaurant for good, authentic Greek food and beverage.  Set back from the main beach area, you'll almost feel like you are taking a little relaxing break from your relaxing break.

There's a full area of sun beds set up on the beach, for rent, and plenty of additional area to lay a towel down.  A smaller beach bar on the south end of the beach is set up for you to buy light snacks and drinks to take back to your beach spot.  The crowd is usually a good mix of locals and tourists of all ages and you could find yourself passing many hours here, without a worry or concern about hitting anywhere else.

#1 Seitan Limania Beach (Stefanou Beach)

Cliff hike down to Stefanou Beach

Ya gotta love this beach.  You won't get any amenities with it - no beach bar, no restaurant, no music (unless you bring it on your own), but this is the authentic hidden cove beach that the Greek islands are known for.  Pretty much due west from the Chania airport, you'll roll through a couple of very small Cretan towns on the way to Seitan Limania - which means 'Devil's Harbor' - and then you'll navigate one of those sketchy switchback mountain roads with steep drop-offs on the side.  Once you do make it to the parking area (if you do, hahahaha - just kidding), you'll then have a nice cliff-hike down to the main beach area.  All of this is accompanied by a video display on the VFCs Travels YouTube channel.  Once you survive the rather casual cliff hike down, you'll have to find a spot to drop your towel, but you'll no doubt be impressed with the little cove where you're about to spend your day.

Cliffjumping at Stefanou.

The sandy area is not vast, but it's enough.  The water looks like the Heavens opened up and created this little spot, although the beach is called 'Devil's Harbor' (mainly called that due to the rough and rocky cliffsides that barrel down into the waters surrounding the beach - at least that's according to the Internet).  The water is so smooth and clear that you'll almost feel like you're in a salty pool.

Beach-goers will get up to everything here - you'll have those who are snorkeling, some just swimming and floating around, some jumping off the surrounding cliffs into the waters, and plenty just relaxing on a towel taking in that fabulous Mediterranean sunshine.  The summer vibe at Stefanou is incredible, tho.  Everyone there worked a little bit to get there and you can tell how happy everyone feels.  That's what the Good Life is all about.

Beach area of Seitan Limania
looking towards the water.

If you're anywhere close to the Akrotiri peninsula, I'd have to recommend making a stop here.  Unless your knees are pretty bad, this will give you a great 'Best beaches of Crete' kind of feel, especially if you can't make it down to the south side of the island where beaches like this are a little more common. You're looking at maybe a forty minute drive from downtown Chania, if that, and about 7-10 from the Chania airport.  Just look out for them scooters down that mountain road, some of the kids take those corners like crazy kids.

Ah yeah.  No life like the good life.  Subscribe to VFCs Travels on YouTube!

Full accompanying video to this blog post, click below!