About Crete, Greece

Welcome to CreteHoliday.info, the site to check out for great deals on your Crete holiday. Find cheap getaways, bargain luxury and great offers on summer holidays and accommodation.

Basic Intro to Crete

Crete is the largest of the Greek islands and is also home to Europe's most southerly town, Ierapetra. The island is made up of four prefectures, each with its own administrative capital. To the west ther is Xania / Chania / Hania and its capital of the same name. Xania has a major airport which serves the west of the island's tourist industry. Next to Xania is Rethymnon / Rethymno and its capital city which again shares a name with the prefecture. In the centre to the east is Heraklion / Iraklion / Iraklio. The capital, Heraklion, is also the capital of the whole island and has the main airport. In the far east of the island is the prefecture of Lassithi and its administrative capital Agios Nikolaos.

Crete is less than four hours from the UK by direct charter flight in the summer yet boasts a southern mediterranean / north African climate with temperatures topping 40 degrees during parts of the peak season. It has become a favourite with holidaymakers of all ages from youngsters looking for nightlife to older groups looking for a quiet getaway with stunning views and glistening seas.

There are many tourist destinations on the island, some of them include Gouves, Heraklion, Hersonissos, Malia, Agios Nikolaos, Elounda, Plaka, Sitia, Ierapetra, Matala, Agia Galini, Makrigialos, Rethymnon, Analipsi / Lyttos Beach, Sissi and Milatos Beach, Kalives, Xania plus many others. The island can accommodate tens of thousands of visitors at any one time in hotels and apartments from the budget self catering right though to five star luxury villas and exclusive suites at thousands of dollars per night. With many luxury hotels, complete with various sizes of venue halls, the island has also proved to be popular for corporate events and conferences.

The island has many international and local car hire businesses to choose from, plus retail outlets and tourist stores and in the main tourist areas the visitor will find no shortage of bars, restaurants and fast food outlets to keep them well fed and lubricated at reasonable prices. As with any part of the globe, the larger the city, more central and hip the venue, the higher the bill will be for obvious reasons of overheads. The European visitor will find it to be reasonably well in line with the rest of the EU and dinner could still be had in 2008 for less than 20 euros per head. Being a large island and at the south of the Aegean (here it has the Cretan Sea to the island's north and the Libyan Sea to its south) Crete has no shortage of marine and watersports businesses and leisure opportunities for the holidaymaker. There is an efficient bus service connecting most of the major towns and villages, although smaller settlements may lack a regular service, or indeed lack one altogether.

Crete's first inhabitants date back to prehistory, although it is the Minoans who are the first to have left a significant mark and what a mark they left! Crete is now home to a large number of sites of antiquity, a complex network of Minoan and Dorian cities and palaces. Knossos, the 'rebuilt' palace of King Minos (hence Minoan), made famous in the tale of Theseus and the Minotaur, now sits outside modern day Heraklion and Phaestos ( Festos / Phaistos ) is located in the south of the island, near Matala. Malia, Gournia and Driros plus Dorian Olous, Kavousi, Lato and Oxa are just a few of the other city states from the two millenia BC. Following Byzantine (Eastern Roman Empire) and Venetian occupation the island fell to the Ottoman Turks and its modern history as part of Greece only properly begins in the early years of the twentieth century. A few of its 'more modern' architectural wonders include the harbours and seafronts at Xania, Sitia, Ierapetra, Rethymnon and Heraklion plus the tiny island of Spinalonga with its huge Venetian fortifications and later incarnation as the last leper colony in Europe. Natural highlights include Samaria Gorge and the Lassithi Plateau. Crete is a land of natural contrasts with stratified rock formations soaring up from blue seas. Far from being a flat island Crete's highest peak, Mount Psiloreitis, soars up to approx 2456 m (~8058 ft) and snow persists on many mountaintops well into late spring every year. The waters from such mountains and their springs are essential for the agriculture and population on the island. Crete produces a large amount of fruit and vegetables for both the island's domestic consumption and export to the Greek mainland or abroad. There are still many olive groves throughout the island and large scale commercial tomato farming in huge plantations of polythene greenhouses is a sight to see on the south coast near Ierapetra.

The population of the island is in excess of half a million people. Although many of these live in or around the major urban centres of the north coast, served by the E75 road, or Ierapetra on the south coast, there are many other larger villages and small towns dotted throughout the island. Sitting at a kafenio, enjoying a coffee and watching Greek life do what it always has done is one of the least demanding yet most rewarding ways to spend an hour of your vacation.

Just add to all of this a host of charming coastal and mountain settlements and small villages, natural flora and fauna, ancient buildings and churches, the unique Cretan character, first class seas and beaches and almost guaranteed summer sun and they all go to ensure Crete's enduring popularity with visitors from all over the globe.

Find Crete Holiday Bargains plus basic Information about the island's nightlife, accommodation, beaches, hotels, bars, clubs, restaurants, shops and your stay in Crete with CreteHoliday.info