Festivals in CreteDietmar Rabich · CC BY-SA 4.0

Festivals 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 agenda
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Chania 45 Rethymno 20 Heraklion 47 Lasithi 5

20 places

Nightlife× Rethymno× Clear all

Many bars and clubs in the resorts open only in summer (about May to October), and some city bars close for a while in winter. Always check the opening hours before you go.

Clubs · Rethymno

Louvro The Club

  • Salaminos 18, Rethymno
  • Opening times change with the season. Check the opening hours before you go.
Map

Clubs · Rethymno

ICE

  • Salaminos 22, Rethymno
  • Opening times change with the season. Check the opening hours before you go.
Map

Bars & pubs · Rethymno

Store 311

  • Eleftheriou Venizelou 73, Rethymno
  • Opening times change with the season. Check the opening hours before you go.
Map

Bars & pubs · Rethymno

Chaplins

  • Eleftheriou Venizelou 52, Rethymno
  • Opening times change with the season. Check the opening hours before you go.
Map

Clubs · Rethymno

Queens Room Restaurant Club

  • Eleftheriou Venizelou 11, Rethymno
  • Opening times change with the season. Check the opening hours before you go.
Map

Bars & pubs · Rethymno

Lux Cafe

  • Eleftheriou Venizelou 65-68, Rethymno
  • Opening times change with the season. Check the opening hours before you go.
Map

Bars & pubs · Rethymno

Nafpigio

  • Arkadiou 254, Rethymno
  • Opening times change with the season. Check the opening hours before you go.
Map

Clubs · Rethymno

Minibar

  • Ioulias Petychaki 6, Rethymno
  • Opening times change with the season. Check the opening hours before you go.
Map

Bars & pubs · Rethymno

Antika Irish Pub

  • Arampatzoglou 42, Rethymno
  • Opening times change with the season. Check the opening hours before you go.
Map

Good 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.