Honeymoon in Chania Crete
Out of all the islands we went to in Greece, Chania was by far our favorite! It was the perfect combination of relaxation and adventure. If you want to take a break from all the tourists you will be around in Santorini or Mykonos, then put Crete in your itinerary! Our blog will show you unique experiences and places to stay that I promise you will not find in a simple google search.
We spent a total of 5 days/4nights in Chania!
Day 1: Getting There
If you are thinking about going to Crete, you are probably debating whether you should take a ferry or a plane there. Well, we took a plane and would advise you to do so as well! Island hopping on planes in Greece is close to the same price as a ferry but with way less hassle and way less time traveling. Also, if you get to Crete through the airport, you can easily rent a car (which we highly recommend) and take a beautiful drive into Old Town Chania. (We used rentalcars.com)
First Stop
Okay we are about to tell you one of our favorite experiences on our entire trip to Greece......
It was our hotel in Chania, La Maison Ottomane!
I take that back. La Maison Ottomane is not just our favorite hotel in Greece, but it has been our favorite hotel so far ever! This boutique hotel is in the heart of Chania and is literally walking distance from everywhere you would want to see in the city. It also has free parking available which is so rare to find in Chania!
When you step into your room of the hotel, it is like stepping back in time to the 17th century with its intricate architecture, vintage furnishings, and Turkish culture. It is definitely the most beautifully decorated hotel we have stayed at. The owner Andreas is the kindest soul you will meet, and he goes out of his way to make your stay extravagant. From the drinks when we arrived, to the 5 star breakfasts each morning, to the luxury beds and rooms, you can not hesitate to book this hotel!
Next Stop
After we settled into our hotel it was getting late and we were hungry! So, we walked about 5 min and were surrounded by a ton of restaurants where you can eat outside. All of them that we tried are so good so honestly just pick one and enjoy! Here are some of the restaurants we loved when we were there:
- Kariatis Restaurant - amazing pizza and wine!
- Koutourouki - great pastas and appetizers!
- Oasis - oldest and best souvlaki place in Chania!
- Pallas - best sushi we found in Greece and amazing views!
Day 2: Ring Making
First off, we started our day a little hungover from all the excitement and good food. It also didn't help that most restaurants give free raki (Crete's most famous alcoholic beverage) after each meal!! If you are going to Greece do yourself a favor and get liquid iv. We always have this one wherever we go.
After our amazing breakfast we went on an awesome adventure which was to drive outside the main city to Manousaki Winery and become goldsmiths for the day! If we could recommend one thing to do in Crete that is outside the ordinary, it would be this experience. You get to sand cast your own jewelry at a beautiful winery while drinking the best wine on the island. It doesn’t get much better than that. We made our wedding bands while we were there!
Not to mention, you also get a full Cretan feast served by the restaurant (which is delicious) and it is all included in the price of the experience. Again, do not hesitate to book this experience! Here is a link to their website.
Part 2:
After becoming blacksmiths for the day, we got back into old town Chania and did another super fun experience!
We signed up for a local tour of Old Town Chania which gave us such good insights to the best places to see and eat. Our guide even took us to her favorite bar and ordered drinks for us! It was a fun experience, and we highly recommend to do it early on your trip so learn about the culture of the island before you explore on your own! One of the best parts about the tour is we got to go to this hidden viewpoint that would be impossible to get to unless you were a local and knew the streets.
Note: you will be doing a lot of walking in general in all of Greece so make sure you wear comfy shoes. We both have these and they are heaven!!
Day 3: Beach Day
If you have even thought about traveling to Chania, you have probably seen that the island has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world!
The most famous beaches on the west side of Crete are Elafonisi Beach and Balos Beach, however..... we did not go to either. Since you came to our blog to find out of the ordinary experiences, we had to go to out of the ordinary beaches and we are so happy with our decision!!
The first beach we went to was called Kalathas Beach and it was a very short drive from Chania. I kid you not, we were the only non-locals at the beach, and it was so much fun. There was a little shack that made beach cocktails and the water was crystal clear.
The next beach we went to was a little more of a drive (about 1 hour from town) and it was called Falasarna Beach. This beach is a little more known but does not even have close to the number of tourists you would see at Elafonisi and Balos Beach. The drive to the beach was so beautiful and we got to stop at multiple little huts that sold honey on the side of the road (Do this!!)
The water at Falasarna Beach was even more clear than Kalathas and we also ordered cocktails and food on our rented lounge chairs. If you want to be surrounded by cruise ships and tourists go to the main beaches, but if you want something unique with the same amount of beauty follow our recommendations. (Btw we were recommended both these beaches by the locals who gave us our tour)
Since we gave you our walking shoes recommendation here is also our travel water shoes! We use these basically anywhere we know our feet might get wet!
Day 4: New Hotel!?
So, day four was our last morning at La Maison Ottomane eating an incredible breakfast while watching the street cats walk by. Yes, I know it’s sad. However, the next hotel we checked into for our last night in Chania was also so much fun and so nice!
We wanted to spend at least one night in a hotel that had a nice pool and beach view, so we chose Thelasa Beach Resort! This resort was like a little slice of heaven. It is an adult only resort with a swim up bar and private beach.... After we checked in, we spent the rest of the night just relaxing and enjoying the resort.
We highly recommend spending a minimum of one full day in Greece just relaxing because you can get tired fast with all the activities and walking you do. The hotel has its own restaurant, which was very good, but there are also lots of restaurants surrounding the resort that you can explore.
Day 5: Wrapping Up
We were both so sad knowing it was our last day in Chania before we moved on to Athens because we honestly fell in love with the island. Kaylie was especially sad leaving Thalasa Beach Resort. We ended up eating breakfast on the hotel deck overlooking the ocean and spending the rest of the day relaxing before he went back to the airport.
We know we didn't talk a lot about what we did to explore the city and walk around to see the sights and that is because you can find all that stuff in any other blog about Chania. We wanted to focus on the more unique opportunities we got to do and spent a lot of time researching and finding.
We had an amazing experience being in Chania Crete and wouldn't change a thing about our trip. We are definitely going to be back one day, and we already have two experiences we want to do on our list:
Explore the White Mountains of Crete which we heard great things from some other travelers we met at dinner one night.
and
Crete Wine and Olive Tour - olive oil was a huge deal here so we think it would be really fun to try out this tour!
To leave you, here are our top 10 quick tips for Chania, Crete.
- Rent a car
- Eat as much Souvlaki as you can!
- Try Raki
- Avoid the restaurants right on the water
- Wear comfortable shoes
- Do a local tour
- Get fresh honey
- Go to at least one beach
- Stay at La Maison Ottomane and Thalasa Beach Resort
- Do at least one thing completely outside your norm