Beaches & coast

Crete has more than a thousand kilometres of coastline, and almost every type of beach you can imagine: shallow turquoise lagoons in the far west, pink-tinged sand at Elafonisi, palm-fringed river mouths on the south coast and tiny coves you reach on foot. As a rule of thumb, the north coast is easier to reach and well organised, while the south coast (the Libyan Sea) is wilder, quieter and often calmer when the summer meltemi wind blows from the north.