Nea Kydonia Holidays

Nea Kydonia is a region on the northwest coast of Crete. It’s an all-in-one kind of place that takes you from swathes of sand at Stalos and Kalamaki to vineyard-backed villages like Galatas. The green hillsides are scattered with tiny, hidden-away tavernas doing a roaring trade in Greek classics, while waterfront restaurants make freshly-netted fish their centrepiece. There’s all this, and the shops and bars of Chania close by.

Nea Kydonia boasts a coastline dotted with full-sized sandy beaches and little scalloped coves. The main beach is Kalamaki, a Blue Flag bay surrounded by lush green hillside and topped with sunloungers and umbrellas along the shoreline. A little further along is the long, quiet stretch of Stalos, which comes with some near-deserted patches. And not forgetting Agii Apostoli Beach – here, a sandy path takes you across to a secluded peninsula with tiny coves.

Wherever you are in Nea Kydonia, you’re never more than 15 minutes’ drive from Chania. There’s a really Venetian feel to the place as you’ll see from the narrow streets that tumble down to the harbour. There’s a 17th-century fortress here, and inside it you’ve got a maritime museum filled with wreck finds, navigational instruments and seashells. The main square of Eleftherios Venizelos has lots of café-bars, though most people can’t resist the buzz of the harbourside restaurants.