Sitia and the Far East: Palm Forests, Dead Cities and Empty Roads

Beyond Agios Nikolaos the tour buses thin out, the road starts to wind along the cliffs of the Mirabello gulf, and Crete saves some of its strangest landscapes for the people who keep going. Sitia, the last town of any size before the island runs out, is the unofficial capital of this far east: a relaxed amphitheatre of streets above a long sandy beach, with a small Venetian fort called the Kazarma on the hill, a harbour promenade of unhurried tavernas, and a justified reputation for some of the best olive oil and sultana grapes in Greece.

Sitia town

Nobody performs for tourists here, which is the attraction. The waterfront cafes serve a town that works for a living, the archaeological museum holds the Palaikastro Kouros, an extraordinary ivory and gold Minoan figurine pieced together from fragments, and August brings the sultana festival with wine, raki and dancing on the harbour. The town beach stretches east for three kilometres, rarely more than scattered with people. Sitia even has its own small airport with a handful of domestic and seasonal connections; check locally what operates when you travel.

Vai and the cape

Half an hour east, the palm forest of Vai is the landscape nobody expects from Greece: thousands of native Cretan date palms packed into a valley behind a golden beach, the largest natural palm grove in Europe. Legend blames Arab pirates spitting date stones; botany says the palms are indigenous and ancient. Arrive before 10am in summer, because the beach is finite and famous. Just north, the scattered ruins of ancient Itanos sit above two quiet coves where you can swim beside Hellenistic walls with nobody checking tickets. The fortified monastery of Toplou, dark and severe on its windswept plateau, guards the road in between, with a museum of icons and engravings and a celebrated winery at the gate.

Zakros and the Gorge of the Dead

The far southeast hides the fourth great Minoan palace at Kato Zakros, the only one never looted, which is why its treasury turned up intact in the 1960s. The setting beats even the archaeology: the palace sits a few steps from a pebble bay with three tavernas and nothing else. Walkers reach it on foot through the Gorge of the Dead, named for the Minoan burial caves in its walls, a two-hour descent from Zakros village that ends, correctly, with a swim. Our Minoan itinerary guide shows how Zakros completes the set of four palaces.

Making it work

Sitia lies about 70 minutes beyond Agios Nikolaos on a corniche road built for slow appreciation, roughly two hours and a quarter from Heraklion in total. A transfer from Heraklion Airport to Sitia removes the only tiring part of the journey; once here, distances are short and the roads are empty. Base in town for tavernas and the museum, or out at Palekastro for the beaches. Either way, pack for an older, quieter Crete, and compare the rest of the island's bases on our destinations page before you decide how long to stay. Most people wish they had allowed longer.