# The Cretan Crawl



## Don_Madge

THE CRETAN CRAWL
21ST MARCH TO 30 APRIL 2010

In our crawl around Crete we clocked 1097 miles in 41 days. We circled the island in a clockwise direction starting at Heraklion. The places are listed as we found them; we either stayed overnight, lunch stopped or checked their suitability for night stops or longer stays. As we are loners/isolationists some of the places are remote mountain stops or secluded beaches.

We only used two campsites (Camping Greta and Camping No Problem) both were found adequate but a bit pricy for the facilities they offered. We paid €120 site fees for seven nights and free camped for 33 nights with no problems at all except for one night when we were parked on a high cliff and the wind became troublesome!!!!! We relocated in a valley by a river still windy but much safer. 

We have not listed all the ancient sites as these are readily available in guides like the lonely planet. The ones we have listed are suitable for over night stops. We have also listed watering holes that have space for a motorhome to fill up safely, large supermarkets and service stations selling LPG. 

The ferries for Crete depart from the port of Piraeus (Athens) which is a huge place, for Crete sailings you enter by Gate E3 (N37.94514 E23.63495) Wifi is available on the port complex.

HERAKLION PORT
N35.34167 E25.14551 We spent the first and last night on the port area parked next to the port police building. There is wifi available at the café in the passenger terminal, we parked in the vicinity of the port police building and got a good signal in the van. 

GOUVES.
N35.3329 E25.29182 Camping Greta we spent three nights at the site (€16.00 per night) as we found the 1170 mile journey from Turkey rather tiring.

PLAKA. N35.30231 E25.72644.
A small fishing village 10 miles north of Agios Nikolaos. There is a large car park at the far end (north) of the village with sea views. There are fish tavernas with a water front setting. 

AGIOS NIKOLAOS.
Lidl. N35.18008 E25.69293

ISTRON. 
Small village with supermarket and tavernas.
Water N35.13115 E25.71582
Karavostasi beach signed on west of village long beach with plenty of parking space.

THOLOS. N35.15239 E25.86093
Small bay with taverna, fair amount of parking area. The turn off the main road at Kavousi is at an acute angle and is best approached from the west.

MOHLOS. N35.15240 E25.86093
Small ex fishing village, many fish tavernas. Only parking available in field car park, not suitable for motorhomes over 6 metres due to narrow streets and tight turns.
Water available at church at the junction of the E75 and turn off for Mochlos. N35.15771 E25.89439

SITIA.
Lidl N35.20208 E26.08597

MONI TOPLOU MONASTRY.
N35.22096 E26.2157 Large car park ideal for overnight stop.

AS FAR NORTH AS YOU CAN GO IN CRETE.
N35.28792 E26.29032 Over night stop on a narrow strip of land between two bays. This is one of the most isolated spots that we have stayed at. 

ITANOS RUINS.
N35.26406 E26.26184 Secluded sandy/shingle beach plenty of parking but not right on the beach.

VAI PALM BEACH. 
N35.25292 E26.26472 Quite a nice sandy beach with palms, plenty of parking behind beach out of season. Obviously marketed as a tourist attraction and would be very crowded at times. Defiantly not our scene.

KOUREMENOS BEACH.
N35.21485 E26.26751 Long beach good for windsurfing. Small harbour at one end, OK for overnight stop at harbour.

HIONA BEACH.
N35.19760 E26.27650 Small bay with fish tavernas on beach OK for over night stop. 

ZAKROS
N35.09697 E26.23525 Water tap is situated by the footpath at the start of the Zakros gorge walk. There is a water tap on edge of village but there is a parking problem as the road is narrow.

KATO ZAKROS.
N35.09598 E26.26318 Shingle beach with fish tavernas. Parking is quite limited. 

XEROKOMBOS
N35.04049 E26.23273 Ambelos (north) beach small remote beach with limited parking.
N35.03648 E26.72042 Mazidas (south) large remote beach limited parking good for wind surfing. 

MONI KAPSA MONASTRY
N35.01978 E26.05136 Water at the end of the Perivolakia Gorge below the monastery.
There are several spots that are convenient for a night stop between Moni Kapsa and Goudouras. 

IERAPETRA.
N35.01539 E25.74434 Lidl. N35.01166 E25.74980 APIADNH (ARIADNE) Supermarket Parking for motorhomes is limited at these stores.

Water at War Memorial on E97 about 13 miles west of Mirtos N35.03904 E25.44295
Water on road between Ano Vianos and Keratokambas at N35.01492 E25.41388 and N.35.00304 E25.39094
There are two or three water taps in Keratokambos/Kastri.
Night stop in Keratokambos/Kastri behind church N34.99663 E25.36946.

TSOUTOUROS.
N34.98550 E25.28665 Small fishing village with fish tavernas, small harbour with water available good for overnight stop.

MATALLA.
N34.99384 E24.75081 Very touristy, reasonable parking out of season. It is an attractive bay with caves in the cliffs and a good beach, but its fame is more due to the occupation of the caves by the Hippies of the 1970’s.

KOMMOS BEACH.
N35.01240 E24.76039 Good over night stop but limited parking.

KAMILARI.
N35.03192 E24.79078 Water tap situated in the square.

KALAMAKI VILLAGE.
N35.02946 E24.75866 Limited parking at beach, several fish tavernas.

AGIA GALINI.
N35.09548 E24.68844 parking at harbour, water available. 
Camping No Problem N35.10460 E24.69528 we paid €18 per night Inc elec & wifi. Excellent taverna on site with very reasonably priced menus.

AGIOS PAVLOS.
N35.10331 E24.56367 secluded beach with bar but very narrow roads in the villages to get there. Suitable for over night stop.

SPILI.
N35.21818 E24.53515 Large mostly sloping car park with water and toilets suitable for over night stop. 
Water N35.20461 E24.54331 1 mile south of Spili on right.

MONI PREVELI MONASTRY.
N35.15712 E24.45770 Large car park suitable for over night stop 
N35.15656 E24.46453 War memorial car park suitable for over night stop, 1 mile from the monastery. 

PLAKIAS.
N35.18608 E24.39955. Long beach suitable for overnight stop.

FRANGOKASTELLE.
N35.18253 E24.23475 Castle car park suitable for over night stop.

KOUTELOS BEACH.
N35.20014 E24.18992 Secluded beach suitable for over night stop.

HORA SFAKION.
N35.19893 E24.13894 Excellent night stop on commercial quay. Water available on quay. Tavernas around village harbour.

FILLIPOS. 
N35.36481 E24.19882 Water at church/cemetery.

SOUDA BAY.
N35.50028 E24.05988 British war cemetery, well worth a visit, parking limited.

STAVROS.
N35.59209 E24.09175 Good over night stop on beach. 

N35.52620 E24.07245 Spar supermarket with large car park on Stavros – Hania road.

AGIA.
N3547348 E23.93343 Water in front of church, wooded parking beside church.

LAKKI.
N35.39687 E23.94133 Water tap in village square.

SAMARIA GORGE.
N35.30828 E23.91801 We spent the night in the large car park at the entrance to the Samaria Gorge at an altitude of 2250 metres.

DERES/NTERES
N35.41970 E23.84729 Water tap. Also two other water points in village.

KOLIMBARI.
N35.54097 E23.78689 Ideal for over night stops
N35.54629 E23.77817 Harbour area excellent stop over, water available.

TOPOLIANO GORGE.
N35.41852 E23.68697 Gorge viewing area suitable for a night stop.

PALEOHORA.
Night stop in harbour area and general vicinity. Fair size town with supermarkets. There’s a 2 ton weight limit in the town centre. There’s a bye pass (of sorts) as you approach the from the north the bye pass goes off to the right. When we were there the sign had been obliterated by gun fire. Follow the Camping Grameno signs and the turn left when you get to the sea.

KOUNTOURA.
N35.23447 E23.63818 Grameno beach, good for night stops or longer. 

KAVALARIANA
N35.32845 E23.75249 Water; this is a spring not a tap.

SOUGIA.
N35.24775 E23.80855 Excellent place for night stops or longer. There’s a long beach with a harbour to the west and to the east plenty of parking on the beach. There’s water at the harbour and at the east beach as well. There are tavernas and a supermarket in the village centre. This is an ideal spot to have some R&R. The local tavernas are good value and some have wifi as well.

VATHI
N35.35869 E23.59347 Water tap in village square.

ELAFONISI
N35.27522 E23.54432 Beautiful sandy beach with ample parking space but the last 400 metres is a very rough track making it unsuitable for vans with a long rear overhang or vans with low ground clearance. Some of the available parking is difficult to access. The easy parking area is part of a nature reserve where over night stays are forbidden. Excellent beach for windsurfing.

PAPADIANA.
N35.36239 E23.58997 Water tap.

KERAMOTI.
N35.37013 E23.56233 Water tap.

KAMPOS.
N35.39082 E23.57386 Water tap in village square.

SFINARI
N35.41566 E23.56150 Shingle beach, about three fish tavernas. Limited parking.

PLATANOS.
N35.46404 E23.59910 Water tap in village.

KISSAMOS.
N35.49762 E23.64785 Carrfour Supermarket. Parking not suitable for large motorhomes.

FALASARNA.
N35.47588 E23.56473 Long sandy/rocky beach, several coves, plenty of parking and suitable for long stays.

GEORGIOUPOLI.
N35.36379 E24.26123 A fair sized village, a bit touristy. Parking in sea view car park. There is also additional parking around the harbour area. 

LAKE KOURNAS.
N35.33273 E24.28049 Limited parking around the lake, many tavernas which are very busy on a weekend if the weather is fine.

RETHIMNO.
N35.36231 E24.44526 Lidl Supermarket.

LASITHI PLATEAU.
There are several free parking spots on the Plateau, there are many tavernas with parking areas if one uses there services. We stayed on a piece of waste ground at N35.18119 E25.50204 as we were quite late getting to the Plateau. The plateau is about 900 metres altitude.

KNOSSOS.
N35.29960 E25.16225 Knossos ancient site. Large car park suitable for over night stop.

LPG.
Before we left Athens we topped up our LPG bottle at the BP filling station at GPS co-ords N37.99304 E23.69742 as auto gas is hard to come by in Crete. 

There are only two outlets selling LPG on Crete, one in Heraklion and the other in Galatos near Hania both had the claw gun dispenser. It was a very stressful experience locating them as the GPS co ord’s I got from the www were way out. 

The Galatos outlet is an EKO service station, they had no additional adapters. 
Galatos. EKO N35.49961 E23.96641 LPG is €1.04 per litre. 

Heraklion. Avin N35.30461 E25.11587 LPG was €0.95 per litre
The Heraklion outlet is an Avin service station were they had additional adapters so might be able to refill other bottles. 

OBSERVATIONS.
This information applies to the time we were in Crete (21 March to 30 April) during that period Orthodox and non Orthodox Easter (2/4 April) fell on the same weekend. There were not the crowds that we expected in fact it has been fairly quiet all-round. 

ROADS.
We found the roads to be in a lot better condition than we expected. There’s one big drawback, many of the roads are very narrow going through some towns and villages so if you are not happy with manoeuvring your van in confined spaces and are not happy driving on narrow mountain roads Crete might not be for you. I know some drivers are very reluctant to use first gear on mountain roads but in Crete it is a necessity in places. In many tight spots there are large mirrors situated so you can see if the road around the corner is clear.
Road signing is a nightmare in many places, usually the direction signs appear first in Greek and then in English. That works out OK except like Corsica the Cretans use the road signs as target practise and often make reading the sign almost impossible. Even with the Sat Nav and a good map we had problems. We used the Marco Polo map of Crete.

The E75 main northern coast road that runs from Hania to Sitia can be a very dangerous road. It changes from single carriageway to dual carriageway and back again with no warning at all.

WATER
At the water sources we have recorded there is sufficient room for an average motorhome to stop.

FREE CAMPING. 
We found it was not a problem free camping on the island. There were many no camping signs but they just showed a caravan and tent, anyway the Greeks never bother if they want to camp they just do it. I think it would be impossible in June, July and August to free camp in some of the places we used.

WEATHER.
It was sunny and warm most of the time, sometimes windy. Average day time temperature was 22C. It rained a couple of times overnight. All in all the weather was very good.

PRICES.
Greece is no longer a cheap option for a holiday. On Crete we paid €1.28 for a litre of diesel, about €1 for a loaf of bread. On the mainland diesel was €1.20 per litre. In Athens LPG was €0.69 per litre. 

ATM’s
There were plenty of ATM’s mainly in the towns and villages that were large enough to support a bank. There were also ATM’s at some of the larger supermarkets.

CREDIT CARDS.
We found that most of the larger supermarkets were taking the plastic but many service stations it was cash only. Some tavernas were accepting the plastic.

We departed Crete as we arrived on the Minoan day sailing; this saves the cost of a cabin on the night sailing. We also had two nights free parking on Heraklion port.

We arrived at Piraeus at 18.15 and decided to stay the night on the port area before heading north for Albania.

If I can be of any help regarding Crete please get in touch.

Safe travelling,

Don


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## Codfinger

*Crete*

Nice one Don would love to follow in your footsteps (read tyre tracks) one day as Crete is a lovely island with great people too, we have fond memories of our holidays on the south of the island.
Chris


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## bognormike

good info there, Don.............woudl love to get there some time :roll: 8)


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## zulurita

Thanks Don for the info.


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## peejay

Some very handy info there Don, thanks for that.

Would you mind if I added the stoppovers to my Google wildcamping map & POI set ?

Pete


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## Don_Madge

peejay said:


> Some very handy info there Don, thanks for that.
> 
> Would you mind if I added the stoppovers to my Google wildcamping map & POI set ?
> 
> Pete


Hi Pete,

Here's another for your list also a water point.

N37.97312 E23.36137 Pachi Harbour west of Athens excellent night stop. Avoid at weekends if the weather is fine.

N39.34297 E20.43549 Water, spring not tap. About 20 miles south of Igoumenitsa on the E55.

Enjoy your trip.

Don


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## peejay

Thanks;

I've got the Pachi one on the map :wink: 

The water point could come in very handy though.

Have a safe trip through Albania.

Pete


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## manvan

*crete ferry and other things Greek*

thanks for your excellent Crete coverage Don. How much did the ferry cost and what would you recommend as the best ferry port on the mainland coming direct from Athens?

Also anyone, if I do not sell my motorhome soon (see classifieds for Peugeot Hymer) I am looking at driving from Britain/Calais direct to Athens in late november. Any tips as to the best route and so forth would be much appreciated.

Also, any tips about the legalities of selling a British registered lift hand drive in Greece?


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## Don_Madge

*Re: crete ferry and other things Greek*



manvan said:


> thanks for your excellent Crete coverage Don. How much did the ferry cost and what would you recommend as the best ferry port on the mainland coming direct from Athens?
> 
> Also anyone, if I do not sell my motorhome soon (see classifieds for Peugeot Hymer) I am looking at driving from Britain/Calais direct to Athens in late november. Any tips as to the best route and so forth would be much appreciated.
> 
> Also, any tips about the legalities of selling a British registered lift hand drive in Greece?


Hi Manvan,

Glad to hear you found the info on Crete useful.

For us the cheapest and most convenient crossing from mainland Greece to Crete was the Minoan day sailing from Piraeus (Athens) to Heraklion (Crete) See HERE They don't run every day but it is cheaper than taking a night sailing.

For the Italy - Greece ferry I would suggest using the short sea crossings from Bari/Brindisi to Igoumenitsa/Patras.

Although camping on board officially ends on the 31st October

Endeavor Lines HERE

Agoudimos Lines ]HERE

Those two lines will let you stay in your M/H on the overnight crossings, don't ask just do it.

European Sealines HERE
I have no personal experience of this company so I can't comment.

Ventouris Ferries would also allow you to use your van but I can't find any sailing details for 2010.

If you use Bari port don't use the sosta outside the port for an overnight stop use the car park in front of the Station Maritime inside the port complex.

At Brindisi one parks outside the port gates this is a very quiet location with plenty of trucks to keep you company.

Our winter route to Bari/Brindisi is Hull - Rotterdam, Luxembourg (cheap fuel), Strasbourg, Basel, St Gothard Tunnel, Milan, Bologna, Ancona and Bari/Brindisi.

This is our personal choice you might get alternatives from other travellers.

Safe travelling.

Don


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## nicholsong

Don 

I follow your info on Greece with interest.

I have had a boat in Greece (Poros) for 20+ years and last year acquired a MH and next year hope to marry them up down there.

I find the info you give out just exactly what one needs for touring Greece - basic and practical, 

Thanks for sharing, but I hope you kept back some quiet spots. There are plenty for all of us.

where you now?

Geoff


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## manvan

*crete tips*

many thanks for your generous sharing of information Don, I will look into all this.


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## SaddleTramp

Thanks Don, That is one island I want to do but never got round to, I have been there many years ago but went the boring way By Plane.

Have you ever had a problem at Brindisi?, Reason I ask is about 4 years ago we were on the park outside the port and we had a group (about 4-5) pestering us to let them in, they had awoken us trying the door handles (quietly) and when I shouted at them they started saying all sorts of stuff to get us to open the door, Which we obviously ignored, I informed them I was calling the Police and sounded my horn they left and so we moved right to the side of a small group of lorries, which we thought we were close enough to anyway but apparently not.

Next morning I saw that they had been trying to get in as there was some minor damage to the door near the lock and also near side window.

What we tend to do now when we are departing Brindisi is we stay overnight at Campeggio Meditur which is about 10 mile away, It is expensive but wife sleeps ok there, she doesn't feel safe on car park there now.


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## Don_Madge

Hi Les,

We have used Brindisi on and off since the late 80's and never had a problem even when the ferries sailed from the port in the old town.

We have only stayed over night late December early January when the nasty people don't seem to be about.   

Safe travelling.

Don


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