Crete

Heraklion

Check out the usual booking sites such as www.booking.com or www.hotels.com. We stayed at the Olive Green Hotel, a very cool modern build hotel, handy when there is an earthquake which there was when we stayed, it is in a great location.

Rethymno

Check out the usual booking sites such as www.booking.com or www.hotels.com. Staying in the old part is best for exploring however it is worth bearing in mind the old part is traffic free from 11am to 6 pm if you are using a taxi.

Chania

Check out the usual booking sites such as www.booking.com or www.hotels.com. The old town has some beautiful small boutique hotels and we were delighted with our choice of  the lovely Sette Venti, www.sette-venti.com, beautifully designed and great service.

Restaurants

Heraklion

There is a huge range of places to eat and drink and it can be hard to find a table at the weekend so booking can be a good idea especially with some of the more upmarket places. 99% of places give you free desert and raki after a meal.

O Tempelis, Milatou7, excellent old school taverna with lots of outdoor tables, good service, good quality dishes, and incredible value. They also have the restaurant opposite with a similar menu, see below.

O  Magos, Milatou 6, owned by the same people as O Tempelis, again great old school taverna, very good food, service and house wine excellent, again incredible value.

Koukouvagia, Milatou 13, we ate here twice as the menu featured some twists on tradition dishes and really enjoyed the food, service was mixed but all in all definitely worth a visit.

Pesekesi, Kapitan Heralampi 6-8, this was on my list to try and when it was recommended by a local that decided us and we booked a table. I loved the food and the place itself, it is a stunning conversion of an old building, not the easiest to find, we did have a couple of hiccups with the service. They have a fabulous selection of local wines, reasonable priced and I would definitely return.

Oyzepi, Marinelli 1, there are a number of restaurants on the waterfront and on a windy day this seemed the best choice, food fine, service a bit offhand and there are comments about being overcharged we didn’t find this. On a warmer day would have chosen the one opposite.

Meze Bar, 1866 Street, on this market street there are 2 local Meze bars serving small plates, the one on the right as you walk down from Lion Square is top notch.. The owner produces 7 small plates using what was fresh in the market, it was excellent and he has excellent local wine as well as ouzo, great with the meze, and excellent beer. It is amazing value and the service is so friendly.

Rethymno

Othonas Taverna, Mavrokordatou Alexandrou 27, is one of a row of inviting restaurants but glad we chose here on our first night as the food and service was excellent and we returned for our last night in Rethymno, booking recommended as very popular with both locals & visitors.

Raki Baraki, Arampatzoglou 17, is a cool looking restaurant in one of the narrow main streets and is owned by the same people as the upmarket Avli. We really enjoyed the dishes we shared at lunchtime, they had a twist on traditional recipes.

To Parastratima, Diogeni Moschovit1 12, directly behind the Rimondi fountain, we found this by accident and loved the food and the hospitality, we went for lunch and again for dinner and stopped for a drink on another occasion before they got busy.

Lemonkipis, Ethnikis Antisaseos 100, was recommended and looked lovely and we booked a table but were disappointed at the end of the meal. The food was good but not outstanding but the service was not great and when looking at the wine list of some lovely local wines the manager says I don’t know anything about wines that is shocking, felt at the end it was overpriced for what is was.

Sofra, Epemenidou 6, this was attractively set out in a lovely narrow lane and the service and food were good as was the wine list. It was priced at the higher end of the places we ate in but overall worth the money.

Haris Creperie, Mesolgiou, they seem to have two places in this street, the one nearest the fountain is open, the other is not. Very popular for pancakes & waffles which we didn’t try they also do excellent sandwiches and very reasonably priced drinks and the service was great.

Gelato It – Love Life, Mavrokordatou Alexandrou 1, is a fabulous take-away with a few tables, the cakes & pastries are fantastic as apparently is the ice cream, they also do a small selection of savoury snacks.

Chania

Taman, Zampeliou 49, a hugely popular & stylish taverna in a converted Turkish bathhouse, they also have outdoor tables in the narrow lane which divides the two parts of the restaurant. We checked it out the first night and got our hotel to book it for later in the week. The food was excellent as was the service and we really enjoyed our visit.

Ela, Kondilaki 47, this was our local taverna for breakfast, drinks and dinner on one evening. The inner part is another really interesting use of an old building, but there are lots of outdoor tables. Although it may look like a tourist trap we were impressed with the food when we ate and the service was always very friendly.

Kouzina EPE, Daskalogianni 25, is a modern style taverna that only opens during the day and does a large selection of traditional dishes as daily specials and also other dishes. We really enjoyed the food and the service, it is slightly out of the main old part but there are some other highly rated restaurants nearby.

Enetikon, Zampeliou 57, looked attractive and we tried it for lunch one day and were very impressed with the quality of the food and the service was very good. This is definitely one to try again on any future visit.

Kritamon, Kondilaki 38-40, we booked this as a special dinner to try some good Cretan wine having enjoyed a drink here one evening. We thought the food was excellent and the wine selection as good as we hoped, reasonably priced for the level of food and service.

Amfora, Akti Kountourioti 49, being at the Venetian Harbour we chose carefully as Amfora made a point of saying they did not try and get customers in unlike many others. We thought the food was good and of course the view is wonderful, one of the better restaurants on the waterfront.

Bars & Cafes

Heraklion

Fix Café, Aretousas 2, is on the corner of the lovely square and share the garden part of the square with a couple of other places. Good range of drinks and friendly service. The Olive Green Hotel also has part of the garden as part of its bar terrace also serving food.

Central Park, Arkoleontos 19, just at the side of El Greco Park this very popular café services a great selection of drinks and food, service is excellent and they keep an eye on customers waiting for tables.

There are lots of very cool trendy bars around the old centre, some with fabulous cocktail menus abd there is also a wide selection of old school cafes serving drinks.

Rethymno

Galero Café at the Rimondi Fountain is a great place for a drink and to do some people watching, they also do food but we didn’t try it. Very popular and tables can be hard to get and service varies but a good place to have a break from exploring.

Arokaria Bar, Salaminos 7, is a very cool, hip bar sadly we only visited once but loved the atmosphere and the service.

Bonobo Bar,  Eleftheríou Venizélou 47, this is one of many bars & restaurants along the town beach area and we went for breakfast and for drinks and enjoyed the atmosphere, very popular with locals.

Chania

Galileo Café, Akti Kountourioti 49, was our go-to bar on the waterfront, we went on the first night and were impressed with the drinks, service and prices. We always found the service friendly and good and we had a couple of snacks there which were fine and of course the view is stunning.

There are two or three small bars in Kondilaki Street just before the junction with Zampeliou, one is part of the Hotel Doge, that are worth trying, great for people watching and close to the harbour.

Drink

Ouzo is of course probably the best known Greek drink and while still seen being drunk with meze it has apparently lost popularity presumably as people change their drinking habits and more cocktail type bars open up.

Cocktails are popular both in the cities and on the islands, and many of the island waterfront bars are great for happy hour drinks.

There are some good draught lager type beers such as Mythos & Alpha which have been around for a long time but ESA is one to look out for available as a lager & a pilsner. Also keep an eye out for Mammos and Fix they are usually found as bottled beer. There are increasingly bars focusing on small craft breweries with more ale type beers such as IPA’s.

Lastly wine and in more informal eating places house wine by the litre is both cheap and drinkable with white, rose and red usually available however the white is normally the best option for quality. If you are going to try more upmarket wine then it is worth doing some homework before you go to learn about grape types.

Crete has around 80 wineries, most in the Heraklion Region and there are a couple of local grape varieties to look out for white Vidiano & Plyto and red Liatiko. Other grapes varieties to look out for are Assyrtiko, Moscofilero, Roditis, Athiri and Malagusia, you will also come across well known grape types like Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc but why not try traditional Greek ones. Red ones to seek out include Agiorgtiko, Xinomavro and Augoustatis.

 

 

Heraklion

As previously mention the Archaeological Museum and The Palace of Knossos are the heavy weight attractions however you shouldn’t miss out on just wandering and seeing the lovely Morisini Fountain and the Venetian logia. Outside the city the wine country has many wineries that can be visited.

Rethymno

Rethymno is more about wandering around the narrow streets of the old town and less about the Venetian harbour than Chania. The harbour is pretty but not as pretty and more restaurants than cafes and bars. There are a number of sites to visit including the fortress and various small museums. There is also a small town beach close to the harbour and further out there is a long stretch of sandy beach with large resort hotels.

Chania

Chania is beautiful to wander around, the Venetian Harbour, the old shipyards and it also has a good selection of small museums in old buildings that have been converted. It has popular for people intending to explore the Samarian gulf and also has beaches within easy reach of the town. Leather goods are a speciality and one street is called Leather Street packed shops, some with really high end examples of leatherwork.