CalmBeach Greece
Family beaches
Family beaches in Rethymno
11 shallow, organised beaches in Rethymno: all with easy access, picked for young children. Check live wind & waves on CalmBeach.
- 11beaches
- 11organized
- 7with photos
Travelling with young children in Rethymno? We picked these 11 beaches because they are organised, not hard to reach, and recorded as shallow. How quickly the water deepens varies from beach to beach, so check wind and waves in CalmBeach before you go.
The beaches
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PreveliThe palm grove at the river mouth — On the south (Libyan) coast, where the Megalopotamos river leaves its gorge, a palm forest and a freshwater stream form a channel you can swim up…
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Livadi beachBali's first, broad sandy beach — Livadi is the first and largest sandy beach at Bali, on the north coast of Rethymno in Crete. It spreads along an open bay at the entrance to the…
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Damnoni
The bay with hidden coves — A wide bay with turquoise water and coarse white sand, ~5 km east of Plakias. The western end is organised (sunbeds, sports, diving), while the…
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SchinariaThe little cove below Lefkogeia — Schinaria lies on the south coast of Rethymno in Crete, in the Lefkogeia community of the Agios Vasileios municipality, a few kilometres east of…
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KaravostasiThe natural anchorage in Bali's last cove — Karavostasi is the easternmost and last beach of Bali, on the north coast of Rethymno in Crete, about 33 km from the town. It forms in a small…
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Plakias
The resort at the foot of the gorge — About 1.3 km of fine golden sand shelving gently into the bay, backed by mountains and facing the Libyan Sea, ~21 km south of Rethymno. The name…
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Paralia Episkopis
The long sands of the old bishopric — Episkopi beach stretches along the north coast of Rethymno, Crete, about 14 kilometres west of the town, in a fertile plain that runs down to the…
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Photo credits
- Preveli: Olaf Tausch, CC BY 3.0
- Schinaria: Uoaei1, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Karavostasi: Александр Спиридонов, CC BY 3.0
- Varkotopos: Yanemail, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Paligkremnos: Olaf Tausch, CC BY 3.0
Good to know
Which beaches in Rethymno are family-friendly?
Every beach on this list meets three criteria: it is organised, it has no difficult access, and our data records its water as shallow. How fast the seabed drops away underfoot is not something any map can guarantee — for small children, pick a calm, sheltered day as well.
How do I compare sea conditions?
CalmBeach checks wind, waves and exposure, so you can compare less exposed beaches and more comfortable visiting times.
When is the sea calmest here?
Across 11 of the beaches on this page, the open water in front of them is typically 0.50 m in June, 0.59 m in July and 0.62 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 11 of the beaches on this page the sea is typically 19.6 °C in May, 23.3 °C in June, 25.8 °C in July, 26.5 °C in August and 25.3 °C in September — ideal at the height of summer, mild in June. By October it is 23.3 °C. August is the warmest month. Satellite measurements, 1995–2024, from a sea cell about 5 km offshore; shallow bays usually run warmer than this.
Wind and waves change every day. See live conditions for any of these beaches before you drive out.
Open the live map →