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
December 2026
Feast of Agia Anna, Piskokefalo
A December feast in the raisin village just outside Sitia.
Add to calendarJanuary 2027
Feast of the Three Hierarchs, Psychro
A winter feast on the Lasithi plateau, below the cave of Zeus.
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Agios Ioannis Theologos in Sfakia
An authentic mountain feast in Sfakia with rizitika, the old unaccompanied songs of western Crete.
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Panigiri of Agia Triada (Pentecost)
The first big panigiri of the Sitia summer, on the evening of Pentecost.
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Feast 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 calendarFeast of Profitis Ilias
Feasts at hilltop chapels of the Prophet Elijah, with views over the island at night.
Archaia Eleftherna · Mesa Mouliana
Add to calendarPanigiri of Profitis Ilias, Mesa Mouliana
The wine village on the old Sitia road celebrates with lyra music and local wine.
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 calendarPanigiri of Agia Paraskevi, Ziros
The largest village of the Sitia hinterland feasts in its park with a full dinner and live music.
Add to calendarFeast of Agios Panteleimon
Mountain panigiria with live lyra and antikristo, lamb roasted around the fire.
Fodele · Fourfouras (Amari) · Adele · Chromonastiri and 3 more
Add to calendarAugust 2027
Transfiguration of the Saviour
Summer feasts in Zakros, Tymbaki and the pottery village of Margarites.
Zakros · Tymbaki · Margarites · Xirosterni and 4 more
Add to calendarPanigiri of Afentis Christos, Zakros
Upper Zakros, at the top of the Gorge of the Dead, celebrates the Saviour in the village square.
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 calendarPanigiri of the Dormition, Armeni (Sitia)
A few kilometres inland from Sitia, Armeni holds the area's best-attended 15 August glenti.
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 Agia Ariadni, Tzermiado
A feast found nowhere else in Crete, on the Lasithi plateau.
Add to calendarFeast of Toplou Monastery
The fortified monastery near Vai celebrates Agios Ioannis Theologos.
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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.