Clean Monday customs, Gerani and Armenoi
Two villages near Rethymno end the carnival with old Lenten customs, satire and lagana bread.
Add to calendarFestivals in Crete
Food and harvest festivals, culture and music festivals, and carnival.
Festivals through the year
Every season has its festivals. Villages celebrate their own product with a day of food, music and dancing, towns put on summer festivals with theatre and concerts in fortresses and open-air venues, and before Lent the island dresses up for carnival.
Food and harvest festivals
From cherries in early summer to chestnuts in autumn, many villages have a festival for what grows there: olive oil, cheese, figs, grapes, sardines and more. They are local and friendly, with tasting, cooking, live music and dancing, and they are a great way to see village life.
Culture, music and carnival
In summer, towns organise festivals with theatre, concerts and exhibitions, often in old fortresses and open-air theatres. In the weeks before Lent, carnival brings costumes, parades and street parties; Rethymno has the biggest carnival on the island.
Must do's
28 Feb (Usual dates, check locally) Rethymno Carnival
Crete's biggest carnival: weeks of themed parties, a treasure hunt and a huge parade through the town.
31 Oct (Usual dates, check locally) Chestnut Festival
Roasted and boiled chestnuts, honey, pork and new wine in the chestnut villages of western Crete.
1 Aug (Usual dates, check locally) Kornaria Festival
Theatre, concerts and exhibitions in the Venetian fortress of Sitia.
20 Jun (Usual dates, check locally) Cherry Festival
A village celebration of the cherry harvest with sweets, raki and Cretan dancing.
4 Sep (Usual dates, check locally) Sardine Festival
Free grilled sardines, local wine and dancing by the sea.
16 Aug (Usual dates, check locally) Sultanina (Raisin) Festival
Piskokefalo celebrates the grape harvest with sweet wines and raisins.
Guide Cretan food: what to eat
Dakos, kalitsounia, staka, snails, gamopilafo and the dishes you have to try, region by region.
Guide Cretan wine
Native grapes, wine regions and how to visit wineries.
Coming up
See the full agendaMarch 2027
May 2027
Saint George: the shepherds' feast
Shepherds bring thousands of sheep to the church to be blessed and milked; the milk is boiled and shared with everyone.
Asi Gonia · Anogia · Zoniana · Plakias
Add to calendarJune 2027
Klidonas: midsummer bonfires
Neighbourhoods burn the May flower wreaths in bonfires and people jump over the flames for luck.
Pompia · Semprona · Sitia · Rethymno old town and 1 more
Add to calendarGood to know
- Programmes are published only a few weeks before; check the municipality or the organiser.
- Village festivals are busy after dark; parking can be far from the square.
- Bring cash for the stalls and the tables.