Crete 2010: Falassarna

Last Wednesday (4 August) was the first day with the car, and we spent it at the beach. From Kamisiana we drove West on the old road to the beach at Falassarna (Φαλάσαρνα).

The old road is quite slow, but as you come down the mountains heading towards Kissamos you get a good view; once you get into Kissamos itself the road improves as the new motorway meets the old road.

To get to Falassarna, you drive through the town and continue heading West. At the village of Platanos (Πλάτανος), turn right; its well signed and I think there are a couple of turnings – just in case you miss one.

You will make your way down the mountain through a series of hairpin bends; you get a great view of the coastal plain below, where the local farmers use plastic greenhouses to grow things like tomatoes and melons.

There are actually two main beaches at Falassarna – the Southern one is the largest, or if you follow the road until the car park at the end then you can walk through a taverna towards the smaller beach. Take a look at my Google Map to see exactly where Falassarna is.

Sunbeds are available if you want, or go to the end of the beach if you’d rather sit away from the crowds.  It can get crowded during high season – especially on Sundays, when all the Greeks are out and half of Chania’s population head to the various beaches in the region! But it is sandy, and shallow for quite a way out, so good if you have young children.

Here’s a video I took at the Northern end of the beach:

After a few hours at the beach, it was lunch time. There are tavernas next to the beach itself, or you can do what we did – get in the car and drive back up the mountain. There are a range of tavernas all the way back up the mountain heading towards Platanos.

We ate at one on the mountainside with a good view of the plain and the sea down below… Unfortunatley, I can’t remember what its name was, but I enjoyed my meal and they were very pleased when we spoke to them in Greek.

On the way back, we drove on the new road – the motoway A90, which was a lot quicker – Kissamos to the Kolymbari junction took less than 20 minutes!

So that’s it for today; tomorrow I’ll be writing about Elafonisi and the interesting route we took to get to there.