The most beautiful beaches of Crete are found on the south coast. Specifically from the prefecture of Rethymno you have easy access to most, because it is a very narrow prefecture, in the middle of the island and the route to the south is not blocked by enormous mountains (the road network -"Ai Vasilis Road" - passes between White Mountains and Psiloritis). The waters are deep blue, crystal clear and clean.
Because of the morphology of the terrain in southern Crete (mountains that go down abruptly to the sea) there is no road that connects directly between the beaches, (fortunately because we would have destroyed them!), like the National Road in the north. Thus you have to go back inland a few kilometres every time in order to go from one beach to another, thus passing through a wide variety of beautiful landscapes. Another reason why"development" is slow reaching and conquering southern Crete, is that the very powerful north winds that prevail in the summer (in any case they do not heighten the waves because they blow from the land to the sea), are much more powerful than the winds (meltemi) on northern coast. Of course, modern "culture" will not be long in overcoming these obstacles and for this reason you should hurry and visit them to enjoy all the unique Cretan landscapes!
Organise your excursions and visit:
Saint Pavlos, Triopetra, Ligres, Kerame, Ammoudi in Drimiscos, "Lake" Preveli, Shinaria, Ammoudi (big and two small), Damnoni, Plakias, Souda of Plakias'.
Do not forget:
The Kourtaliotis gorge, the monastery of Preveli, the gorge of Kotsyfos. Also, more westwards: Rodakino, Saint Marina, Fragkokastello, Lutro Sfakion - Finikas-Lykos-Marmara (only by boat- frequent itineraries from Chora Sfakion) and more eastwards: Saint Galini, Matala, Lentas.
