To the West

Discovering South Crete

This part of Crete has for long remained undiscovered. Only a handful of hippies visited the quiet south and populated beaches present in abundance. Now it’s time to open up these areas for others.

To the west

The coastal road is mainly going westward along the sea and is only a few times changing direction inland, to the mountain scenery. With the sea always in your view, one feels actually on an island. Plakias is such a point, where the road crosses through the mountains. Through the village of Sellia, the road turns back to the coast again. You pass from Rodakino where the beach of Korakas is also located. Just past Rodakino you can find the beautiful beach of Kastro. It takes a walk to get there, but you will be greatly rewarded by the unique scenery once you get there.

The coast road then passes a number of small villages. Life here is lived day by day. It cares little for the transit visitor. The lush hillsides have now given place to sparsely vegetated plains, a pleasant change of scenery. The color palette is wide-ranged in this area; ocher yellow to dark brown are the colors that predominate.

On the horizon looms an imposing building. This is the fortress of Frangokastelo. It looks like an oversized sand castle and getting closer, it turns out to be very well preserved despite the centuries that have passed. This place is very popular among the Greeks. Many locals come here in the weekends with their family on the beautiful sandy beach.

Sfakia or Chora Sfakíon, is always very busy. The ferries come and go and the harbor seems to be always full. Here, the boat sails to and from Agia Roumeli and is mainly transferring hikers from the Samaria Gorge. This gorge ends in Agia Roumeli. Of course, someone can take the boat from here and walk a part of the gorge and return again to Agia Roumeli. The boat makes a stop in Loutro. This village is accessible only from the sea or on foot via a path. The port town is peaceful and is gathered around the harbor on the bay with picturesque white houses. The various taverns do good business. It is wonderful to be here “on a terrace on the water”.