Holidays to the Chania area serve up ancient sites, glitzy harbours and blue flag beaches in equal measure – it's one of Crete's top holiday spots.
Superstar sands
The Chania Area plays a strong hand in the beach game. It’s got more Blue Flags prodded into its sands than Santorini and Samos combined – with the sun-splashed total standing at 12. They start at low-key Platanias, and tick off the likes of Aghia Marina and Kalamaki as you follow the shoreline towards a mushroom-shaped peninsula. The peaceful curve of Stavros Beach is the last of the bunch, but it’s anything but least.
Signature sights
This place is more than just a one-trick-pony, and the beaches have learned to share centre-stage with Chania Town’s heap of historic baggage. The old quarter’s neatly wrapped by weather-worn Byzantine walls, and there’s a Roman Catholic cathedral squirrelled away among the peach-coloured rooftops. Artisan crafts and teetering tables of food line the covered market. The port’s a real looker, too. A Venetian lighthouse – one of the oldest in Greece – peers down on the café-strewn promenade, and long-standing stone dock buildings huddle around the water’s edge.