Feast of Agia Ekaterini
A mountain feast in Koustogerako that remembers the rescue of wartime resistance fighters.
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 agendaNovember 2026
May 2027
Feast of Agios Dikaios, Elos
A small mountain feast with a wide view, in the chestnut village of Elos.
Add to calendarAgios Ioannis Theologos in Sfakia
An authentic mountain feast in Sfakia with rizitika, the old unaccompanied songs of western Crete.
Add to calendarPanagia Thymiani, Sfakia
A historic church in Sfakia, linked to the 1821 uprising, celebrated on the last Sunday of May.
Add to calendarJune 2027
Saints Peter & Paul at Gramvousa
A feast for the coastal communities of the north-west, below the Venetian castle of Gramvousa.
Add to calendarJuly 2027
Feast of Agios Antonios, Charei (Sougia)
A beach chapel reached on foot or by boat, with an overnight feast by the Libyan Sea.
Add to calendarFeast of Agios Kirikos, Lissos
A pilgrimage to ancient Lissos, on foot or by small boat from Sougia.
Add to calendarFeast of Agia Marina
One of the biggest summer panigiria; in Voni the fields turn into an open-air market and taverna for thousands.
Voni · Agia Marina, Chania · Mochos · Exo Mouliana and 1 more
Add to calendarPanigiri of Agia Paraskevi, Vamos
The Apokoronas market village celebrates at the springs below the village.
Add to calendarFeast of Agia Paraskevi
Village feasts famous for huge pots of gamopilafo, the Cretan wedding rice.
Ziros · Adele · Gonies · Vamos and 1 more
Add to calendarAugust 2027
Panigiri of the Transfiguration, Xirosterni
A small Apokoronas village with a faithful two-night feast for the Saviour.
Add to calendarTransfiguration of the Saviour
Summer feasts in Zakros, Tymbaki and the pottery village of Margarites.
Zakros · Tymbaki · Margarites · Xirosterni and 4 more
Add to calendarDormition pilgrimage, Chrysoskalitissa
The white monastery on the rock near Elafonisi holds the big Dormition feast of western Chania.
Add to calendarPanigiri of the Dormition, Fres and Litsarda
The Apokoronas plateau is full of 15 August feasts, a few minutes apart.
Add to calendarDormition of the Virgin Mary (Panagia)
The "summer Easter" of Greece: almost every village celebrates the Virgin Mary with a feast.
Chrissoskalitissa monastery · Theriso · Meskla · Fres and Kefalas (Apokoronas) and 20 more
Add to calendarEniamera of the Panagia
Nine days after the Dormition, a second wave of feasts for the Virgin Mary.
Add to calendarAgios Ioannis Rigologos (Gionis)
A pilgrimage to the remote chapel of Agios Ioannis Gionis on the Rodopou peninsula.
Agios Ioannis Gionis, Rodopou · Douliana · Kournas · Ziros and 1 more
Add to calendarSeptember 2027
Birth of the Virgin Mary
A big pilgrimage to the monastery of Antifonitria in Myriokefala.
Myriokefala (Antifonitria monastery) · Lefkogia · Gavalochori · Tzitzifes and 2 more
Add to calendarFeast of the Holy Cross
The feast that traditionally closes the summer and opens the autumn farming season.
Axos · Topolia · Nipos · Rodovani and 1 more
Add to calendarFeast of Agios Nikitas, Frangokastello
A seaside chapel near the castle, famous for its horse-riding games.
Add to calendarOctober 2027
Feast of the Holy Fathers, Azogires
The village of the Holy Fathers cave celebrates its 99 hermits.
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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.