Rethymnon holidays are like an ice-cream cone with a double scoop of flavours. One minute you'll get the tang of a beach holiday, and the next you'll taste some of Crete's top historic sites.
Best of both
Rethymnon does the splits between old and new. Open-air cafés and restaurants tack onto the beachfront, and the sandy shoreline’s got what it takes for lazy days and watersports alike. Flip the coin, and you’ll see a dot-to-dot of age-old architecture that’s been left over by settlers from centuries gone by.
Time-warp sites
Rethymnon’s a great place for history buffs, with a scroll of must-sees as long as your arm. The clifftop Venetian Fortress tops the pile, with its intact battlements and views of the north coast. Plot a course for the narrow streets of the old town, and you’ll plod through a crumbling entrance known as the Big Door. Market stalls surround it now, but it was once the opening for a mighty castle. Pencil enough time in your day planner, and the 17th-century Rimondi Fountain, Ottoman baths and Neratze Mosque can all be added to the been-there, done-that list.