Plakias village

Plakias is a working village that happens to have a very good beach in front of it. It is not pretty in the postcard sense — no Venetian lanes, no boutique everything — and that is rather the point. People come back for thirty years.

The walk from us takes ten minutes along the sand. You arrive at the western end where the tavernas start, and there are perhaps twenty of them strung along the front and the little harbour. The rule of thumb that has never failed us: the ones with the fewest photographs on the menu are the ones to sit down at. Fish is priced by the kilo and you choose it before it is cooked, which is normal here and not a tourist ritual.

For provisions there are two or three well-stocked mini-markets, a bakery worth the detour in the morning, a pharmacy, a couple of cash machines and several places renting cars and scooters. That is genuinely the full list, and it is enough. Anything you cannot buy in Plakias you will find in Rethymno.

In the evening the front fills up slowly and stays busy until about eleven. There is no nightlife to speak of beyond a few bars, so if that is what you are after, Plakias will disappoint you and we will not pretend otherwise.

Practicalities

The bus to Rethymno runs a few times a day and takes about an hour through the Kourtaliotis gorge — a spectacular ride in its own right, and worth doing once even if you have a car. Most people hire a car for at least part of their stay: the beaches east and west of here are the reason.

Afternoons are windier than mornings on this coast, reliably so in July and August. If you want flat water, swim before lunch.