Denis spent the first week of June in Platanias, the small Chania-adjacent resort town that millions of European travelers pass through every summer. He drove to Balos, walked across to Elafonisi, and ate at five restaurants — and came back with the kind of nuanced opinion you only get from actually going. Crete is Greece’s largest island, and the eastern and western coasts are basically two different trips — Denis kept his to the west. Below, in his own words: what worked, what didn’t, and whether western Crete deserves a week on your shortlist.
I’d been hearing about Crete from friends for years before I finally went. Most of them said different things, which usually means a place is more complicated than the brochures admit. I went in early June because I wanted the water warm — it was 22 to 23°C, which is the upper edge of comfortable for me — without the August heat or the August crowds. It turned out to be the right call on the weather and a partly-right call on the crowds.
One thing to flag up front, because it matters more than the guidebooks make it sound: I’m writing about western Crete. The island is enormous. If you base yourself in the west and want to see the east coast, you’re looking at half a day of driving in each direction. Pick one half of the island and commit. I picked the west.
Where I stayed: a quiet, family-run hotel a step back from the main strip
A friend pointed me at the Hotel Kallitsakis Beach in Platanias, a small resort town a short drive west of Chania. A double room came out to €500 for seven nights — which, at June 2026 prices, is a deal you do not see anymore. The room was clean, had a small kitchenette and a balcony, and was a two-minute walk from both the beach and the main road. The staff were unobtrusive and helpful when you needed them. For the price, I had no complaints.
Hotel Kallitsakis Beach · Platanias 730 14, Greece · +351 [sic — corrected:] +30 2821 068078 · 4.5 on Google (92 reviews)
Platanias itself: not the village you’re picturing
Platanias is essentially one main road lined with restaurants, beach-equipment shops, beauty salons, and tourist conveniences. It is loud, it is busy, and at the height of summer it feels less like a Cretan village than a permanent open-air market — cars, scooters, dust, plastic chairs, neon signs, the smell of grilled meat. If you came to Crete expecting a whitewashed village and stone alleys, you didn’t come to Platanias.
What it is, though, is a functional base. Chania is twenty minutes east; Balos and Elafonisi are reachable in a day; the beach itself, while not the island’s prettiest, is right there and serviceable for the hours between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. when the sun is too direct for anything else. Sunbeds run €3.50 to €15 a day depending on the section of the beach.
I spent most of my afternoons reading, swimming, and napping. If that’s what you came for, Platanias delivers. If you came for atmosphere, base yourself in Chania’s Old Town instead and day-trip to the beaches.
The two day trips that justify the week
Balos — the lagoon you’ve already seen on the postcard
The single best day of the week. Balos is a turquoise lagoon at the northwestern tip of the island, framed by sand dunes and the small islet of Imeri Gramvousa. It is the beach you’ve been looking at on Crete tourism material for years without quite knowing where it is.
You can reach it two ways: by boat from Kissamos, or by car. The boat option is easier on the body, but you miss the famous view down into the lagoon from the cliffside — which is the version of Balos you actually came to see. We drove. The road is fine for most of it, but the final 10–15 km is unpaved — clay, rocks, and a slow, jolting descent that demands a decent car and the right shoes (forget sandals, bring trainers or hiking shoes).
Goats are everywhere along the way and on the descent itself; they’re tame, friendly, and disproportionately interested in any food you brought. Take water. Plenty of it. There’s a single bar at the beach, but the hike back up in the afternoon heat is not optional.
We spent the entire day at Balos. I’d do it again tomorrow.
Balos Beach · Kissamos area, Crete · 1.5–2 hours by car from Platanias · parking €1–€2
Elafonisi — beautiful, but go in the off-season
Elafonisi is the other lagoon western Crete is famous for — a small island connected to the mainland by a knee-deep, walkable stretch of water, with the same impossibly turquoise color and patches of pinkish sand made of crushed shells. The drive is easier than Balos: a winding road through the interior of the island past endless olive groves and small villages, which is its own quietly beautiful experience.
The problem is the destination. By the time we got close, traffic was at a near-standstill. Huge parking lots (€3–€5), then a small town’s worth of supermarkets, bars, and restaurants pressed against the beach.
The water is gorgeous; the crowd, even in early June, was already dense enough to make finding a quiet spot difficult. I walked, I swam, I admired the color, and after about an hour we left. If you’re planning Crete for July or August, I would skip Elafonisi entirely — or come at dawn — and double down on Balos instead.
Elafonissi Beach · Kissamos 730 01, Crete · about 2 hours by car from Platanias · parking €3–€5
Eating in Platanias: where we’d go back, and where we wouldn’t
We ate around the town for a week, and the spread between the best and worst meals was wider than it should be in a place this dense with restaurants. A few notes, with the caveat that picking the right kind of place matters as much as picking the right restaurant.
The clear win — Sonio Restaurant-Bar
My favorite by some distance, and we went back four times. Sonio is a beachfront restaurant on the western edge of Platanias with the kind of view people travel a long way to find — the Cretan Sea right in front of you, the sun setting straight ahead.
The food matches: I had the moussaka (excellent), the grilled sea bream (some of the best I’ve had anywhere), and the seafood spaghetti (huge portion, very good). The staff are warm and unhurried. Prices are in line with the other restaurants on the strip — but the quality genuinely is a step above. Reservations are recommended in the evening; it gets full fast in season.
Sonio Restaurant-Bar · PEO Kissamou Chanion 323, Platanias 730 14, Greece · +30 2821 068440 · 4.7 on Google (1,047 reviews) · reservation recommended
The breakfast win — Mathioulakis Bakery
After two underwhelming café breakfasts, we found Mathioulakis — a small family-run bakery on Demokratias Street with traditional Greek pastries (the cheese and spinach pies are the right order), croissants, sandwiches, and real coffee. Affordable, fast, exactly what a Greek breakfast should be. We ate there every morning after the first couple of days.
Mathioulakis Bakery · Demokratias St, Platanias 730 14, Greece · +30 2821 068215 · 4.4 on Google · open 6 a.m.–11 p.m. daily
The nice-view, fine-food option — Nisos
Nisos sits right on the beach in Platanias with a good view of the sea. The food is solid Greek-restaurant standard — tzatziki, souvlaki, salads — without being especially memorable in either direction. If you want a casual lunch or sunset dinner with your feet near the sand and don’t want to commit to the higher quality (and pricing) of Sonio, this is a reasonable middle-ground.
Nisos · Platanias 730 14, Greece · 4.3 on Google (426 reviews)
Two we’d think twice about — with one important caveat
A note on a couple of places where my experience was not great, but where I’d encourage you to look at the broader picture before crossing them off.
New Planet Cafe in Platanias is — I realized after the fact — primarily a sports bar, not a breakfast spot. We ordered breakfast at 10 a.m. and got something minimal, with instant coffee. The reviews tell a different story for the evenings, where the owner Giorgos runs a warm, popular hangout with international sports on the screens and decent late-night food. So: skip it for breakfast (go to Mathioulakis); revisit it for an evening drink during a match if that’s your scene.
New Planet Cafe · Platanias 730 14, Greece · +30 697 825 0559 · 4.8 on Google (532 reviews) · best for evenings, not mornings
Mitsos Seaside Restaurant Bar in nearby Agia Marina was where I made the classic visitor mistake: we ordered chicken gyros and fries at what is — looking at the menu and the 2,500+ reviews more carefully — a seaside seafood restaurant. The gyros and fries were not great. But the swordfish, shrimp risotto, and grilled octopus that the regulars rave about are clearly the actual reason to come. The location alone — directly on the seafront, with a beach access — would be worth the visit on its own. Order the seafood. Don’t order what we ordered.
Mitsos Seaside Restaurant Bar · PEO Kissamou Chanion, Agia Marina 211, Chania 731 00, Greece · +30 2821 060867 · 4.6 on Google (2,522 reviews)
Will I go back?
Honestly? Probably not soon, and almost certainly not to Platanias. The base-town choice shaped the trip more than I expected — and if I were doing western Crete again, I’d stay in Chania’s Old Town and use it as the launchpad for the same day trips. The Old Town has the Venetian harbor, the cobblestone alleys, the actual Cretan atmosphere — everything Platanias does not.
That said: Balos was genuinely one of the best beach days I’ve ever had. Sonio was one of the best dinners I’ve had in Greece.
And the water in early June was perfect. If you want sun and sea, western Crete delivers, especially before peak season. If you want something quieter and more authentic, you might find it in southern Crete (the Libyan Sea coast, near Rethymno) — or you might find more of what you’re looking for on a smaller, less-touristed Greek island altogether.
For more ideas, our Greece guide is a useful place to start, and for those who came specifically for the surf, our Greece surf guide covers western Crete in more depth.
So: is Crete worth a week? Yes, if you set your expectations right and pick the right base. Just maybe not Platanias.
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