CalmBeach Greece
Beaches in Chania
All 90 beaches in Chania, in one list. 43 of them are not exposed to the meltemi, which gives them the better odds on a windy day. Open any of them for live wind and waves.
The beaches
- Argilos Sandy - Moderate access
- Voulolimni Pebbles - Passable dirt road
- Vrysi Pebbles - Easy road access
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Gialiskari
Sand & pebbles - Passable dirt road
The shore at the mouth of the Anydri gorge — Gialiskari lies about four kilometres east of Paleochora, on the south coast of Chania, where the Anydri gorge meets the sea. It is a small cluster…
- Kalamaki Sandy - Easy road access
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Kalyvaki
Sandy - Easy road access
The sandy strand at the mouth of the Almyros — Kalyvaki is the westernmost beach of Georgioupoli, in Apokoronas of Chania, beside the mouth of the Almyros river, which flows all year round. The…
- Kouloura Pebbles - Easy road access
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Krios
Pebbles - Easy road access
Three coves at the cape of Selino — Krios lies about 10 kilometres west of Paleochora, on the southern coast of Selino in Chania. It takes its name from the homonymous Cape Krios, on…
- Kyani Akti Sandy - Easy road access
- Levki Paralia Sand & pebbles - Moderate access
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Loutraki
Sandy - Easy road access
The enclosed cove of Akrotiri — Loutraki lies on the southeastern side of the Akrotiri peninsula of Chania, next to Marathi, about 16 kilometres from town. It is an enclosed cove…
- Lykos Pebbles - Easy path
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Marathi
Sandy - Easy road access
The fishing harbor with traces of ancient Minoa — Marathi lies on the southeastern shore of the Akrotiri peninsula of Chania, about 17 kilometres east of town, looking across the bay of Souda towards…
- Mavros Molos Sandy - Easy road access
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Machairida
Sandy - Easy road access
The white cove by the knife-shaped cape — Macherida is a small cove of white sand on the Akrotiri peninsula of Chania, Crete, near Chorafakia and Tersanas. Its name is attributed to the sharp…
- Methexis Pebbles - Easy path
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Menies (Diktynna)
Pebbles - Passable dirt road
The beach of the ancient sanctuary of Diktynna — Menies lies on the northeastern coast of the Rodopou peninsula in Chania, about 45 kilometres from the city, at the exit of the Foundas Gorge. The…
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Nea Chora
Sand & pebbles - Easy road access
The city beach with the fishing harbor — Nea Chora is the town beach of Chania, a few minutes' walk west of the Venetian harbour. It takes its name from the namesake quarter, the 'new town'…
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Orthi Ammos
Sandy - Easy road access
The dunes of the Drosoulites — Orthi Ammos stretches beside Frangokastello in Sfakia, Crete, about eighty kilometres south of Chania. It owes its name, 'upright sand', to the tall…
- Paralia Agia Marina Sandy - Easy road access
- Paralia Agiou Charalampous Pebbles - Easy road access
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Paralia Agion Apostolon
Sandy - Easy road access
The sandy coves with the chapel of the Twelve Apostles — Agioi Apostoloi beach stretches about three kilometres west of Chania town, on the north coast of Crete. It is a series of sandy coves wrapped around…
- Paralia Vlite Sandy - Easy road access
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Paralia Glyka Nera
Pebbles - Difficult access (path)
The shore of the freshwater springs — Glyka Nera hides between Chora Sfakion and Loutro, on the south coast of Chania, at the foot of steep slopes that drop from the Lefka Ori mountains…
- Paralia Domata Sand & pebbles - Difficult access (path)
- Paralia Thanasis Sand & pebbles - Easy path
- Paralia Kalamia Sand & pebbles - Easy road access
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Paralia Koum Kapi (Kum Kapisi)
Sandy - Easy road access
The city sands below the Gate of the Sand — Koum Kapi is the town beach of Chania, just east of the Venetian harbour, in front of the historic quarter of the same name. Its name comes from the…
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Paralia Koutalas
Pebbles - Passable dirt road
The rocky cove with the sea cave — Koutalas lies at the tip of Cape Drepano, just north of Kokkino Chorio in Apokoronas, about 25 kilometres east of Chania. The small cove forms at the…
- Paralia Koutelos Pebbles - Easy road access
- Paralia Lakki Pebbles - Easy road access
- Paralia Lissos Pebbles - Difficult access (path)
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Paralia Marmara
Pebbles - Difficult access (path)
The white sculpted rocks of Aradena — Marmara lies at the mouth of the Aradena gorge in Sfakia, about five kilometres west of Loutro and far from any road. It takes its name from the…
- Paralia Meltemaki Sand & pebbles - Easy road access
- Paralia Plakaki Pebbles - Easy road access
- Paralia Sentoni Pebbles - Difficult access (path)
- Paralia Telonio Sandy - Easy road access
- Paralia tou Maleme Sand & pebbles - Easy road access
- Paralia Trachilos Pebbles - Passable dirt road
- Paralia Trochalou Pebbles - Easy road access
- Paralia Trypitis Pebbles - Difficult access (path)
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Paralia Fragkokastellou
Sandy - Easy road access
The sands beneath the Venetian castle — Fragkokastello beach stretches out in front of the Venetian fortress of the same name, on the south coast of Sfakia, about twelve kilometres east of…
- Paralia Chalepa Pebbles - Easy road access
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Paralia Psilos Volakas
Pebbles - Easy road access
The great boulder west of Paleochora — Psilos Volakas lies about one and a half kilometres west of Paleochora in Chania, beside the road leading towards Koundoura and Krios. It takes its…
- Paralies Vatalou Sand & pebbles - Easy road access
- Pachia Ammos Sandy - Easy road access
- Pachia Ammos Stavrou Sandy - Easy road access
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Platanias
Sandy - Easy road access
The long sandy shore facing Thodorou — Platanias stretches about 11 kilometres west of Chania town, a long sandy shore facing the islet of Thodorou. Its name is attributed to the tall…
- Rapaniana Pebbles - Easy road access
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Sitan Limani
Sand & pebbles - Difficult access (path)
The "Devil’s Harbours" — A narrow, fjord-like cove wedged between tall white cliffs on the Akrotiri peninsula, with dazzling turquoise water against bare rock. It is also…
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Sougia
Pebbles - Easy road access
The ancient seaport at the mouth of the gorge — Sougia lies on the south coast of Chania, at the mouth of the Agia Irini gorge, about 70 kilometres from the city. Its long beach, roughly 1.5…
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Sougia (gymniston)
Sand & pebbles - Easy road access
The naturists' cove among the rocks — At the eastern end of Sougia's long beach, on the south coast of Chania, the shore ends in a small cove hidden among the rocks. This stretch, of fine…
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Stavros
Sandy - Easy road access
The bay of "Zorba" — This is where the famous final scene of "Zorba the Greek" (1964) was filmed, with Anthony Quinn dancing the sirtaki against the mountain. Partly…
- Sfakiano Ammoudi Pebbles - Passable dirt road
- Tersanas Sandy - Easy road access
- Trachili Pebbles - Easy road access
- Filaki Pebbles - Passable dirt road
- Chalikia Pebbles - Easy road access
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Afrata
Pebbles - Easy road access
The pebble cove of Rodopos — Afrata beach opens onto a small pebble cove on the Rodopos peninsula of Chania, about one kilometre east of the village of the same name and 3.5…
- Aghios Pavlos Beach Pebbles - Passable dirt road
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Agios Onoufrios
Sandy - Easy road access
The Akrotiri coves with the little chapel — Agios Onoufrios lies on the Akrotiri peninsula of Chania, Crete, about eight kilometres from the city, near Kounoupidiana. The small settlement and…
- Alonaki Sand & pebbles - Easy road access
- Ammos Sand & pebbles - Easy road access
- Aptera Sandy - Easy road access
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Aspri Limni
Sand & pebbles - Passable dirt road
The white lake beside Chrysoskalitissa — Aspri Limni lies at the southwestern tip of Crete, in Chania, a few hundred metres from Chrysoskalitissa monastery and close to Elafonisi. It owes…
- Astropelekitá Sand & pebbles - Difficult access (path)
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Balos
Sandy - Passable dirt road
The turquoise lagoon of Gramvousa — A shallow, turquoise lagoon forms between the Gramvousa peninsula and the islet of Tigani, at the northwest tip of Crete. The sandbar shifts shape…
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Chrysi Akti
Sandy - Easy road access
The golden sands just west of Chania town — Chrysi Akti sits just a few kilometres west of Chania town, in Nea Kydonia, right next to Agioi Apostoloi. It owes its name to the golden colour of…
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Elafonisi
Sandy - Easy road access
The pink sand and the lagoon — At the southwest tip of Crete, an islet is joined to the mainland by a shallow lagoon (~20-40 cm) you wade across on foot. The sand takes on a pink…
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Falasarna
Sand & pebbles - Easy road access
The white sands of the ancient harbour — Falasarna sits on the west coast of Crete, at the base of the Gramvousa peninsula, about 59 kilometres from Chania. The great shore is in fact a…
- Finikas Pebbles - Easy path
- Georgioupoli Sandy - Easy road access
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Grammeno
Sand & pebbles - Easy road access
The peninsula of the seaside junipers — Grammeno stretches along a low peninsula a few kilometres west of Paleochora, on the southern coast of Chania, Crete. The headland forms shores…
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Ilingas
Pebbles - Easy road access
Pebbles and sea caves at the gorge mouth — Ilingas lies about two kilometres west of Chora Sfakion, on the road to Anopoli, at the mouth of the gorge of the same name, also known as the Kavi…
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Kalami
Sand & pebbles - Easy road access
A shore below ancient Aptera — Kalami sits on the southern shore of Souda Bay in Apokoronas, Crete, about fifteen kilometres east of the city of Chania. The beach spreads below the…
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Kalathas
Sandy - Easy road access
The Akrotiri bay with the little islet — Kalathas sits on the west side of the Akrotiri peninsula, about 12 kilometres northeast of Chania town, at the heart of an open natural bay. The…
- Kalyves Sandy - Easy road access
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Kedrodasos
Sandy - Passable dirt road
The white dunes with the coastal junipers — Kedrodasos lies at the southwestern tip of the Chania prefecture, about one kilometre east of Elafonisi, facing the Libyan Sea. It owes its name to…
- Kera Sandy - Easy road access
- Limnionari Pebbles - Difficult access (path)
- Platanakia Pebbles - Passable dirt road
- Stomio beach Pebbles - Easy road access
- Tavronitis Sand & pebbles - Easy road access
- Timios Stavros beach Pebbles - Easy path
- Apokoronou Almyrida Easy road access
- Nopigia Beach Moderate access
- Korfalonas Beach Moderate access
- Paralia Drapanias Moderate access
- Paralia Livadia Rocky - Moderate access
- Kolymvari Sand & pebbles - Easy road access
Pick by what you are looking for
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Meltemi options
The coves that face away from the prevailing wind — the shortlist for a windy day.
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Family beaches
Organised, not hard to reach, and recorded as shallow in our data.
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Snorkeling
Rockier seabed and clearer water, where there is something to look at underwater.
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Organized
Sunbeds, umbrellas and somewhere to eat or drink nearby.
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Secluded
Quieter and harder to reach — dirt track, a walk, or boat only.
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Sunset
West-facing, so the sun goes down over the water in front of you.
- Sandy
- Beach bars
- All beach guides →
Good to know
Which beaches in Chania are more sheltered from the wind?
43 of the 90 face away from the meltemi, meaning less open water in front of them for a wave to build across when it blows. It is not a guarantee — the same beach changes character when the wind turns. Check the live reading before you drive out.
How is this list ordered?
By how well known each beach is, not by a score of ours. Which beach is good on a given day changes hour by hour and cannot be printed on a static page — so this page carries the list and the things that do not change, and the live map carries the conditions.
When is the sea calmest here?
Across 89 of the beaches on this page, the open water in front of them is typically 0.53 m in June, 0.57 m in July and 0.58 m in August when the meltemi is at its strongest, and 0.61 m in September. June is the calmest month of the season. We calculate these figures ourselves from European Copernicus wave-model data at 4.2 km resolution. They describe the sea offshore, not the shelter of an individual cove — a bay protected by a headland will usually be calmer than this.
How warm is the water, month by month?
Off 89 of the beaches on this page the sea is typically 19.3 °C in May, 22.6 °C in June, 25.2 °C in July, 26.1 °C in August and 25.3 °C in September — ideal at the height of summer, mild in June. In October it is still 23.3 °C — warmer than June. August is the warmest month. Satellite measurements, 1995–2024, from a sea cell about 5 km offshore; shallow bays usually run warmer than this.
Weather and sea conditions change. CalmBeach uses the app view for live beach recommendations.