Round trip through Crete - conclusion

In summary, the round trip through Crete in May 2017 was truly a wonderful vacation! Everything went smoothly with the car and hotel search, better than I had expected. We saw a lot and the weather was perfect, except for the last three days. The Cretans are all very friendly and nice. We mostly ate well, although I can't stand any more raki :D

Crete is a truly beautiful island with a good mix of beautiful beaches and stunning landscapes. I would do it again and highly recommend a round trip through Crete to everyone :)

In our opinion, the most beautiful city in Crete is definitely Chania! Rethimnon is definitely worth a visit too, but if we had to choose, it would be Chania :)

We found our most beautiful and also one of the cheapest hotels in Xerokampos with Villa Petrino. This place is our absolute insider tip and should be visited by everyone looking for peace and picture-perfect beaches. Xerokampos is definitely one of the places we would visit again if we ever return to Crete.

On the other hand, Ierapetra is probably the only place we wouldn't visit again. It can definitely be skipped. Crete has much more beautiful spots to offer.

We circled the whole island in two weeks and still didn't see everything. Here is our route and the places we visited (our overnight stays in bold):

Heraklion - Rethimnon - Preveli - Balos - Elafonisi - Plakias - Falasarna - Chania - Samaria Gorge - Agia Roumeli - Matala - Ierapetra - Chrissi Island - Xerokampos - Vai - Agios Nikolaos - Elounda - Lassithi Plateau - Kritsa - Malia

Crete anytime!