Dörfer & Städte

Ano Viannos

Viannos, Heraklion · Free

Highlights & amenities

Entry: Free

About

A historic village on the slopes of Dikti.

Ano Viannos is the main village of the Viannos area, built on the slopes of Mount Dikti in the south-east of Heraklion. It has old churches with frescoes, plane trees and wide views towards the Libyan Sea.

In September 1943, German troops killed more than 500 people in the villages of Viannos in reprisal for the resistance. A memorial remembers the victims.

The village is a good stop on the way to the south coast beaches of Keratokambos and Arvi.

The region of Viannos is green and mountainous, with olive groves, chestnut trees and views to the sea. The churches of Agia Pelagia and Agios Georgios in Ano Viannos have fine frescoes. A monument outside the village remembers the victims of the 1943 massacre, one of the worst events of the German occupation in Crete.

Around Viannos

Nearest town: Malia, about 34 km by road
Nearest airport: Heraklion airport (HER), about 49 km by road

Heraklion is the heart of Minoan Crete and the island’s busiest region. Knossos and the Heraklion Archaeological Museum are the two places almost everyone visits, and they work well together on one day. In the south, the wide Messara plain holds the palace of Phaistos, the Roman ruins of Gortyna and the famous caves above the bay of Matala. More about Heraklion