Beaches in Western Crete?

[sniffydog]

We're looking at Crete this year and I'm trying to find the perfect area. For some reason the flights into Chania are much cheaper than Heraklion so western end of the island would be easiest. We'll have 4 teens (DDs + a friend each) and DS (10) so trying to keep everybody happy! We'll get a villa and hire a (big) car so can poottle about anywhere. The wish list...

• a choice of a few sandy beaches
• nice tavernas we can (ideally) walk to
• no too built up/resorty
• within say 1 hr of Chania Airport

Any suggestions appreciated.

Falassarna beach is absolutely lovely.

Kalives is a nice resort

Thanks for the replies. Anyone else? I should have titled the thread 'Resorts in Western Crete' but it won't let me edit 🙄

We stayed at Platanias near Maleme to the west of Chania and it was good. It is quite built up along the beach side from Chania, but some good beach bars and restaurants to choose from. Not the prettiest place we have been to, but we had a lovely holiday there. Lot of history round there too as that area is where the Germans invaded in WW2. Chania has a brilliant harbourside, could sit there drinking coffee for hours.

Try going east from Chania to Kalives, Almyrida, Plaka and around the coast to Georgiopolis. All lovely laid back small resorts and more villa-y areas than package holidays so plenty of choice. All have safe shallow beaches, beach bars, tavernas, watersports, and the inland area is also lovely with lots of little villages with tavernas to explore. Plaka has a pretty square, Kalives and Almyrida are more beachy, Georgiopolis is a slightly bigger town with more to do. If your teens like horse riding you can swim with horses there. Chania town is amazing, very foody with beautiful Venetian architecture. The town beaches aren't too pretty though. If you based yourselves on this area, you'd also have the option to explore Rethymnon which is another beautiful Venetian town. Falasarna is over an hour's drive from Chania airport and as it's on the far west coast there's more driving to do if you want to go anywhere else. It is really beautiful though I suspect a bit isolated for your teens.

We've stayed in Almyrida a few times and with a hire car, had trips out to the glass blowing studio, the water park, Rethimno, and various stop offs along the coast road. There's loads of museums and interesting places to visit as well as lots of activities - as an example we've booked a trip on a jet boat to go snorkelling further out on the opposite coast (from Almyrida). There are plenty lovely restaurants lining the beach, it's so lovely.

We've also stayed in Daratsos which is on the other side of Chania Town, there are great beaches there and it's easy to catch the bus into Town to spend time there. Balos Bay is well worth a trip (best to go really early in the morning), it's so stunning. If you don't hire a car you can still go on excursions but the car is worth it to be able to explore more widely. There are a number of gorges in Crete as well, if your teens are up for a challenge...

This is Balos Bay

Looks amazing