Chania airport transfers and travel guide

Things to see in Chania

• 

  Venetian Harbour and Lighthouse

  Old town, Chania

  The old town of Chania sits next to the old harbour, the core around which the whole city grew. At the harbour entrance stands the lighthouse, a stone tower rising 26 metres above the bay. Egyptian troops rebuilt it in 1864 on the site of the Venetian original, of which only the base remains, and it has been a listed archaeological site since 1962. Behind the waterfront, the narrow alleys of the Topanas district are lined with old buildings restored as hotels, restaurants, shops and bars.

• 

  Samaria Gorge

  Omalos plateau, south-west Crete

  A national park since 1962 and a biosphere reserve, the Samaria Gorge is a major attraction of the island. It is 16 km long, starting at 1,250 m at its northern entrance and ending at the shores of the Libyan Sea in Agia Roumeli. At the Gates, the walls close in to a width of only four metres and rise almost 300 metres. The walk takes five to seven hours and can be strenuous at the peak of summer; visits are allowed from 1 May to 31 October.

• 

  Balos Lagoon and Gramvousa

  Gramvousa peninsula, north-west Crete

  Balos is a lagoon between the island of Gramvousa and the coast of Crete, off the Gramvousa peninsula, which forms the western part of Kissamos Bay. Through the lagoon runs Cape Tigani, Greek for “frying pan”. On Imeri Gramvousa stand the remains of a Venetian fort built between 1579 and 1584. Cretan insurgents captured it in 1825 and, besieged there for more than two years, turned to piracy to survive. North of Balos lie the ruins of the small Roman city of Agnion, with a temple to Apollo.

• 

  Elafonisi

  South-western corner of Crete

  Elafonisi — “Deer Island” — lies close to the south-western corner of Crete, and when the weather is fine you can walk across to it through the shallow water. The island is a protected nature reserve, known for its pink sand beaches, coloured by deposits of pigmented microorganisms that live alongside the native seaweed. A plaque at its highest point remembers Easter Sunday 1824, when Ottoman soldiers killed several hundred Greeks sheltering on the island, and a wooden cross marks the wreck of the steamer Imperatrix in 1907.

• 

  Rethymno Old Town and Fortezza

  About 70 km east of Chania

  Rethymno’s old town was almost entirely built by the Republic of Venice and is one of the best-preserved old towns in Crete, with 16th-century buildings, arched doorways, stone staircases and a small Venetian harbour. On the hill above it stands the Fortezza, the city’s citadel, designed by the military engineer Sforza Pallavicini and built between 1573 and 1580; 107,142 Cretans and 40,205 animals took part in the work. Its walls run for 1,307 m, and inside stands the Mosque of Sultan Ibrahim, once the Cathedral of St Nicolas.