Last Updated on: 31st January 2023, 08:04 am

The most popular tourist destinations are famous for something. Meteora, in Greece, for instance, is well-known for its monasteries built on top of huge rocks. But what makes Chania beaches, or any other beaches in the world for that matter, special? Their size? Their pink sand? Their blue waters? The luxury beach resorts with their beach parties? It’s hard to name that one feature that makes millions of tourists and Greeks alike flock to these beaches each summer.

Chania is one of Crete’s prefectures, located in the northwestern part of the island. Chania Town, the capital city of this prefecture, has its own airport and it boasts am impressive Venetian-like architectural style. Chania has dozens of sandy beaches, some organized, some wild. Elafonissi Beach, Stefanou Beach, Balos Lagoon, Falassarna Beach and Agia Marina Beach are only a few of the most famous stripes of sand in Chania, Crete.

This is a list of the best beaches in Chania ranked by my own feelings. I’ve put on top of the list the Cretan beaches I’ve visited and tried by myself during the time I’ve lived there, as well as during my summer holidays.

You’ll learn about Menies Beach, Stefanou Beach (also known as Seitan Limania), Stalos, Marathi and Elafonissi. From Blue flag beaches to wild and secluded ones, you have a wealth of choices within reach from Chania Town.

Feel free to add to my list and to tell me which is your favorite beach in Crete and why. Would you rather choose a Greek island hopping vacation or to visit one island at a time?

Before we start, let me remind you that a good snorkel set is an absolute must, as you’ll see plenty of fish in these crystal clear waters.

beach view in Chania, Crete

Menies Beach (Which Will Test Your Off-Road Driving Skills and Your Endurance)

Located only 45km north-west of the town of Chania, Menies beach is a tough nut to crack. First of all, you should know that a 4×4 vehicle would be much better than your average car. As long as you drive on asphalt roads, you’re going to be fine. However, once you pass Rodopos, you’ll be driving on a 23 km dirt road which is bumpy and challenging.

You’ll probably need about two hours to get there, so make sure you start your trip very early and you have a full tank of fuel. My friends and I had rented a Suzuki Jimny, which was perfect for the dirt roads among olive trees, rocky hills and scattered goats seeking for grass. As for the fuel, we barely had enough to return to civilization. This made our day trip from Chania to Menies a bit tensed. Eventually, we managed to get back to our hotel without any problem, but we learned our lesson to fill up the fuel tank before such adventures.

suzuki jimny crete chania beaches

This is our gang in the rented Suzuki Jimny, ready to take on the province of Chania. I am the one with the Instagrammable hat 🙂

Menies - one of the most beautiful Chania beaches

Menies – one of the most beautiful Chania beaches

On Menies beach, you can sleep in a tent

On Menies beach, you can sleep in a tent

Menies Beach is perfect for nature lovers, and for all those who hate the so-called “organized beaches” that are the norm of our modern tourist resorts in Greece and in any other seaside destinations.

There’s nothing “organized” about the beach of Menies. You can’t even buy a bottle of water, so make sure you bring food and drink with you. Also, don’t forget your sunscreen, your snorkel, your umbrella and anything else you may find useful for a great day on the beach. There is no natural shade here, as everything that grows on this rocky soil are a few scattered bushes. This vegetation is barely suitable as natural toilet.

menies beach rv camping

Some people prefer to sleep in their RV on Menies beach. To the left, you can see the only bushes on the beach.

menies beach goats

These are Cretan beach goats, big fans of apples and peaches. They are unbelievable acrobats, able to turn around on the smallest rock available.

If you aren’t used to such conditions, you’ll find this spot annoying, so you’d better seek for a town beach nearby Chania Town, where you can find man-made toilets, bars, restaurants and shops.

Elafonisi and Marathi beaches (see my reviews below) have sunbeds, umbrellas, food stalls, proper toilets, and they are accessible by any type of car. Stalos is also one of the best Chania beaches for people who want to enjoy long morning walks in the sand and to sip their coffee on a seafront terrace.

Seitan Limania (Which Will Put Your Rock Climbing Skills To Test)

What we found out about Seitan Limania online was that it was one of the hidden and isolated Chania beaches. Located on the Akrotiri Peninsula, a bit closer to Chania Town than Menies, this beach is indeed in a secluded golf. You have to leave your car in a parking spot nearby the road, and test your balance and your mountaineering skills by climbing down a tiny path between steep rocks.

As of today’s date, [todaysdate], there are protection rails alongside the descending rocky path to the beach. By the time I visited it, safety on this trail was non-existent.

As you can easily imagine, we were wearing flip-flops, so the descent was even more challenging. This spot surely deserves its name. Seitan comes from Turkish, and it means Devil, and Limania means Haven. I’ve walked down the path to the Devil’s Haven, but wearing my water shoes instead of my flip-flops. The descent is a crazy 10-15 minute ride, as the path is extremely narrow and the rocks are sharp. I made the mistake to wear my sunglasses on my head.

At some point, they fell and I instinctively looked down. This was enough to make me stick to the rock and not want to take one single extra step. I had to push my limits very seriously to move down the path to the beach. The most amazing thing was that I saw a woman with a small baby on the beach. I have no idea how she’s managed to carry the little one on those rocks. The other amazing thing were the countless adrenaline junkies who were climbing the rocks to dive into the golf from an impressive height.

I guess the golf is very calm during most days. Nonetheless, we’ve visited Seitan Limania when the sea was rough, after a stormy day. On such weather, the waves can be incredibly powerful. Getting inside the water is a challenge, as the big waves push you towards the rocks. This was definitely my most impressive experience with Chania beaches.

seitan limania crete

Seitan Limania, view from the road. At this moment, I had no idea yet that I was going to do down this hill to get to the beach.

How to get to SEitan Limana, one of the secluded Chania beaches

Here we go in line, one step after another, carrying all beach accessories on us. This isn’t recommended to acrophobia sufferers.

Just like Menies, Seitan Limania is a natural beach, with nothing man-made on it. There is no shadow for the most part of the day, so you’ll need an umbrella and lots of sunscreen. Whatever you want to drink or eat, you have to bring it with you. Even climbing back to the car is difficult, so you should make sure you don’t forget anything up there.

Since my visit, there’s now a delivery service from a nearby taverna to the beach, so you can order drinks and sandwiches by phone and have them delivered to you right on the sand.

seitan limania crowds

The hidden and secluded Cretan beach was actually the most crowded I’ve ever seen. It was also the beach with the youngest crowd, most people being teenagers or very young adults.

seitan limania rocks

This is the whole beach, surrounded from three sides by rocky mountains.

seitan limania beach path

Hard work to get back on top of the cliff. Heavy use of your “full traction” gear is a must.

Special tip: Climbing is easier on the rock by the back side of the beach, rather than on the narrow path everyone takes.

Stalos Beach, Chania

If you don’t want to spend hours in a car or test your balance on sharp rocks, you can choose Stalos Chania Beach, with its fine sand, sunbeds, umbrellas, beach bars and coffee shops. The fact that it’s an “organized beach” doesn’t make it less good. There are huge portions without sunbeds, so you can enjoy laying down on your beach towel, if so you wish.

Stalos beach in Crete is home to Caretta Caretta turtles, so there are several protected areas where the turtles nest. This beach is so long that you can walk for at least 30 minutes along the shore, on the sand. It’s perfect for morning walks interrupted by a coffee stop and perhaps a bath or two. Beaches like Stalos make Crete one of the best islands to visit with kids.

chania beaches blue flag

Kato Stalos is one of the blue flag beaches in Chania. You can walk on the beach to the neighboring villages, Platanias and Agia Marina.

stalos beach crete

Me during one of the long morning walks on Stalos Beach.

There aren’t any water sports on Stalos Beach. Nonetheless, ten minutes of walking or two minutes or driving will take you to the Agia Marina beach, where you’re going to find water-jets, bananas and other such stuff. Agia Marina boasts some excellent fish restaurants scattered alongside the promenade.

Where to Stay in Stalos

If you fancy the idea of a relaxing beach holiday, you can stay at the Cretan Dream Royal Hotel in Stalos. I’ve stayed here for one week and loved every minute of it. Everything is clean, the garden and the infinity pool are perfect, and the staff is very welcoming and helpful.

I also enjoyed their buffet food choices. We only had the breakfast included with our accommodation, but we were able to join their lunch or dinner buffet for about 14 Euros per person. One evening, we had a very nice fish dinner – they allowed us to choose our own fish and then they cooked it for us. The tuna steak was delicious!

infinity pool sunset

The pool at Cretan Dream Royal in the sunset. Click on the photo to see the current deals for this hotel on Booking.com

The beach is just in front of the hotel, but you have to cross the main road to get there. As there’s no pedestrian crossing, you may want to walk a little to the right of the hotel, and use the underground passage to the beach. If you want water sports and tavernas on the beach, walk to the left until you reach Agia Marina.

Click here to explore accommodation options in Agia Marina, near the above mentioned beach.

Marathi Beach

Located in the southern part of Akrotiri peninsula, Marathi Beach boasts two waveless beaches and lots of amenities such as cafes, tavernas and shops. This is the place to come to if you want to enjoy an absolutely calm and clear sea. Don’t forget your snorkel, because there are lots of fish that come very close to the shore. The shallow water makes Marathi beach a great option for families with children. As this place is only 16km away from Chania Town, there are taxi drivers willing to take you here.

The beach is crowded during the peak season, so you need to show up early in the morning, if you want to find a sunbed and an umbrella. If you want to have dinner at one of the restaurants, you’d better make a booking by lunchtime. If you hate crowds, stay away from this beach. The sea is amazing, but the sand is too full of people with children yelling and zooming around like hummingbirds. This permanent noise makes it hard to hear your thoughts, let alone reading on the beach. I’ve spent almost all the time in the water, snorkeling and swimming. This is why I don’t have a photo of this beach.

Elafonisi Beach

When you search the web for Chania beaches, Elafonisi with its pink sand will pop up among the top results. You’ll see stunningly beautiful photos of a pristine beach with miles of pink sand and clear waters.

Don’t let yourself fooled by those images. If you go to Elafonisi in August, the first thing you’ll see will be an ocean of cars parked all over the place, on dirt, between trees and earth dunes.The place is huge, so you’ll probably find parking rather quickly. What you may not expect is to find thousands of people occupying every square inch of this beautiful beach.

If you have accommodation near Chania Town, you’ll need to drive quite a long while to get to Elafonisi. There are 70-90 km, depending on your location. You’d better start early in the morning, in order to arrive before the hoards.

There’s another option you may like, which is to take an organized day tour from Chania to Elafonisi, like this one, here. If you take into consideration the car rental and the fuel costs, you might come to the conclusion that a tour is a better option.

 

elafonisi pink sand

This is the only pink sand stripe I was able to find. It has a beautiful color, but not quite as the one I’ve seen in those artistic photos on the web.

The water is awesome, just like everywhere in Greece. I tried snorkeling, but I didn’t see any fish. Elafonisi beach has food and drink stalls, very clean public toilets, heaps of umbrellas and sunbeds, and some water sports opportunities. Don’t expect to find any natural shadow, though.

elafonissi trees

The biggest tree on a range of several miles around Elafonisi

These are the Chania beaches I’ve tested and tried. This took me about one week. My conclusion is that a short vacation isn’t enough to explore the region of Chania. It surely deserves at least one month, preferably off-season.

If you needed some reasons to travel to Crete, the beaches of Chania can be a very good one. Beware, though, Crete is a very big island, so you’ll probably need one month or several shorter trips to explore it properly.

To end this article in a funny note, here’s a photo of a Chania beach I don’t remember the name of. Can you name it for me, please?

Chania beaches What beach is this? Hint: It is located somewhere on the Akrotiri peninsula, not too far from Chania Town.[/caption

Where To Stay in Chania

Chania Town is perhaps the most romantic place on Crete.

Find your best accommodation in Chania here:


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Violeta Matei
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