Spinalonga: Fortress, Colony, Bestseller

From the waterfront at Plaka, Spinalonga looks almost ornamental: a small fortified island a few hundred metres offshore, ringed by walls the colour of the hills behind it. Few places this size carry this much history. Venetian gun platforms, an Ottoman village, and the last leprosy colony in Europe all occupied the same few acres, and a twenty-first century novel then carried the story to readers in dozens of languages. The boat ride takes minutes; the visit stays with people for years.

The fortress

Venice fortified the islet in 1579 to guard the entrance to the natural harbour of Elounda, and built so well that Spinalonga held out for decades after the rest of Crete fell to the Ottomans in 1669, finally surrendering by treaty in 1715. Under Ottoman rule a village grew within the walls, its merchants trading along the gulf. The bastions, gates and curtain walls survive in remarkable condition, which is why the island ranks among the most visited archaeological sites in Greece.

The colony

In 1903 the Cretan state designated Spinalonga a leprosy hospital, and for the next 54 years people with Hansen's disease were brought here from across Crete and later all of Greece. They built a community in spite of everything: shops, a school, marriages, a church congregation, and eventually electricity before some mainland villages had it. Effective antibiotics ended the medical justification, and the colony closed in 1957; the priest stayed on until 1962 to honour the dead. Walking the restored main street today, past houses that were homes rather than exhibits, is moving in a way few ruins manage. Victoria Hislop's 2005 novel The Island, set here, turned that quiet history into a global bestseller and a beloved Greek television series, and the visitor numbers have never looked back.

Doing the visit well

Boats run all day in season from Plaka, five to ten minutes across, from Elounda in about twenty, and from Agios Nikolaos as a longer cruise down the gulf. Go on the first boats of the morning or after four, when the light softens and the groups thin out. Allow ninety minutes ashore for the perimeter path, the street, the small exhibitions and the cemetery. There is an entrance fee for the site and no shop worth relying on, so carry water; hours shift by season, so check locally.

Building the day around it

Plaka itself rewards the wait for the return boat, with pebble-beach swimming in startlingly clear water and tavernas grilling fish a few metres from the slipway. The wider area makes one of the best bases in Crete, equal parts village and luxury; our Elounda guide explains how that balance works, and a transfer from Heraklion Airport to Elounda takes a little over an hour. For the broader sweep of the gulf, lake and coast, see our east Crete overview.