Crete

Crete is a country of its own: the largest Greek island, three hundred kilometres long, with two international airports, two big cities, mountains high enough for snow in April and a south coast that stays warm into November. A week is not enough, which is why people who come once come back to a different part of it.

The island divides naturally into four. Chania in the west has the Venetian harbour, the old town and the beaches everybody has seen in photographs: Balos, Elafonisi, Falasarna. Rethymno in the middle has a smaller Venetian town, a long town beach and the road south to Plakias and Preveli. Heraklion has Knossos, the archaeological museum and the resort coast east to Hersonissos and Malia, with Agios Nikolaos and Elounda beyond. The south coast, from Matala to Ierapetra, is where Crete slows down.

Our villas are mostly in the Chania and Rethymno prefectures and around Elounda: stone houses in villages ten minutes from the sea, modern villas with heated pools on the hills above Georgioupoli and Almyrida, and a few on the sand. Every one is booked directly with the owner and comes with a local concierge who arranges the hire car, the transfer, a boat to Balos or a table in a mountain village taverna.

Getting around needs a car: distances are long and the interesting places are not on the bus routes. Chania airport serves the west, Heraklion the centre and east; a villa near Rethymno is an hour from either. The transfer table below has the current prices per vehicle. Tell us your dates and what you want from the island and we will shortlist within a day.