SITIA

On the Waterfront This coastal city averages 300 days of sunshine a year, making it one of Greece’s sunniest spots. The seafront is crowded with tavernas, rakadika (spots serving raki and tapas-like dishes) and cafés.

Good eateries on the promenade include Zorba’s Taverna and the quieter Rakadiko Inodion. Mitsakakis is the pick of the seafront cafés and has great pastries. Order a kafe ellinikos (Greek coffee) in the Café Drosoulites and you’ll pass for a local. Check out artifacts from Neolithic, Minoan and Roman times at the Archaeological Museum of Sitia.

In July and August, the city hosts the Kornaria Festival, featuring musical performances and theatrical shows.

ITANOS

Once Mighty, Now Serene

Just three kilometers from Vai at Itanos, you can have an idyllic beach to yourself, even in peak season. There are no sun loungers, but the pretty coves are shaded by tamarisk trees.

The ancient Minoan site of Itanos, once a prosperous trading post inhabited from 1500 BC, lies inland. Its heyday was in Hellenistic and Greco-Roman times, when it had its own currency and rivaled Ierapytna, (the ancient name of Ierapetra). Ancient Itanos began its decline around 800AD, following an earthquake and attacks from Arab invaders, and was finally abandoned in the 15th century.

There’s a good taverna, Metochi (Tel. (+30) 28430.610.71), on the road to Itanos near the Vai turn-off.

ELOUNDA

A Five-Star Destination

Elounda’s tourism industry dates back to the interwar years, when the British airline Imperial Airways used Elounda as a stopping point for flights to India, but the city really took off as a resort in the 1970s. During the ‘80s and ‘90s, Elounda was a frequent choice for international summit meetings, which gave the city a certain aura of grandeur which remains to this day. The first luxury hotel to open here was Elounda Beach, followed by several luxury resorts, hotels and villas, which extended the city’s boundaries almost up to the shoreline.

If you want to see what all of Elounda was once like, head towards Epano Elounda, a well-maintained settlement that has preserved a traditional atmosphere and which follows its own leisurely pace of life.

CHRYSI

The Cretan Caribbean

This small island, with its alluring turquoise waters and golden sand, is currently experiencing an unprecedented rise in visitor numbers. You can get to Vouyiou Mati by small caique from Ierapetra, and from there you can walk to the white sand beach at Belegrina, crossing sand dunes dotted with prickly cedar trees.

The shoreline is strewn with millions of tiny seashells, and the beach boasts a refreshment stand as well as beach umbrellas.

IERAPETRA

Napoleon Was Here

This is Crete’s fourth largest city and Europe’s southernmost. The town’s development was spurred on in the 1960s by the development of a modern agricultural industry, when farmers began putting up commercial PVC greenhouses. Today, more than 15 square kilometers of plastic-sheeted greenhouses make it one of the most productive regions for fruit and vegetables in Crete.

Ierapetra’s seafront, from where boats depart for Chrysi Island (see above), is charming. At sunset along the promenade, locals gather to talk at café tables perilously close to the water’s edge. Try the Casablanca Café; this restored 1908 residence with retro detailing and a quiet courtyard is great. Head to Taverna Napoleon for fine traditional Greek and Cretan favorites. The taverna took its name from Ierapetra’s most famous visitor. According to legend, the French emperor stayed here one summer’s night in 1798, on his way to Egypt.

SPINALONGA

A Best-Selling Island

“The rock of Spinalonga is no longer a military fortress as it used to be in its time of glory, nor a humble Turkish village. With equivocal healthcare interests in mind, the Cretan Government has transformed it into a lepers’ hospital, without any concern for historical memory,” wrote Giuseppe Gerola, an Italian archaeologist, in 1906.

Almost a century later, this chapter in the history of this place – the period it was used as a leper colony – would provide the inspiration for British author Victoria Hislop’s award-winning international bestselling novel “The Island,” which has been translated into more than twenty languages. Today, Spinalonga is the second-most visited site on Crete, after Knossos.

MONASTIRAKI

Country Cooking

On one of the western slopes of the Thrypti Mountains lies a tiny village near one of Crete’s most beautiful ravines, the Ha Gorge. Here, the Papadakis family have converted their ancestral olive mill into a serene taverna with beautifully appointed rooms – To Monastiraki (Tel. (+30) 697.284.7432). Looking across the plain from the tranquil stone terrace here while savoring delicacies such as omelettes with fresh wild greens or rabbit in a wine sauce is simply heaven.

KRITSA

At the Source

Just 10km southeast of Aghios Nikolaos in the foothills of the Dikti Mountains, the village of Kritsa is home to a large agricultural collective of families with olive groves in the area, who produce some of Crete’s finest olive oil under the “Kritsa” brand. The Kritsa producers have an almost religious devotion to their product, 70% of which is exported.

A pleasant place for a stop on a stroll through the village is the Kafenio Saridakis, a café under the old plane tree.

KAVOUSI

Rooted in the far past

Along the road that climbs to Azoria, you’ll find one of Crete’s most ancient olive trees. Believed to have been planted between 1350 and 1100 BC, this now-enormous tree has a trunk circumference of more than 22m at its base. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, Japan’s gold medalist marathoner Naoko Takahashi was presented with a victor’s wreath made from a branch of this ancient tree.