The island of Crete

Crete is mountainous island with an elongated shape, 260 km long from east to west and between 15 and 60 km wide. The coastline is over 1000 km long and consists of both sandy beaches and rocky shores. The island has several high mountains ranges between which lie semi-mountainous zones which cover the greater part of the island. There are also a few low lying plains as well as a number of high plateaux.

Crete has about 600.000 inhabitants, of which over a third live in the towns of Heraklion, Chania and Rethymnon. The rest of the island is sparsely populated. The capital Heraklion has a population of 140.000.

Until about 20 years ago agriculture and animal farming (essentially sheep and goats) were the main source of income for most Cretans. Gradually, tourism provided more and more work and has now become the main 'industry' although agriculture (30 millions olive trees, large plantations of citrus fruit as well as some areas devoted to greenhouse agriculture) remains a big source of income for many people.

Most of the 3 millions yearly visitors to Crete come by charter to Heraklion or Chania airport and the majority stay in resorts on the North coast of the island so that it is still very easy to find quiet seaside villages with very low key tourism if you prefer those.

East Crete and especially the area located between Heraklion and Agios Nicholaos boast the highest density of hotels and various other accommodation but at the same time East Crete also has some of the least developed areas in Crete. You just need to get yourself to the South or East coast. And of course, any place away from the sea is still likely to remain pretty unchanged by tourism. You can have the best of both world.