We had an amazing holiday in Crete over Easter, where we were completely spoilt by SeaCrete Hotels at Kiani Beach Resort. It was from here that we went on two excursions and hired a car from Kalives Travel to explore the beautiful island.

Exploring Crete by Car

First off, Kalives Travel let us explore Crete in one of their cars in exchange for our honest review. There was a simple handover both when we received the car to when we handed it back. It was clean, full of fuel and ready to go. It had air con too, which was a dream in the 28 degrees heat. Kalives Travel are offering any of my readers that want to use them a discount, woohoo, all you need to do is use the promotional code crete401 on the website.

We drove around Chania to the north of the island where we stumbled up on some wonderful beaches. Our first stop was Stavros beach, it was recommended by my uncle who has been here before and said it is a good, local, beach and therefore not too many tourists. We bumped into some very cute cats when we arrived, I could have sat there all day fussing them. The children had fun in the sea, as did Daddy and we had a nice time just relaxing. It was so peaceful.

After our pitstop at Stavros beach, we drove around to another beach called Kalathas beach. We had seen this en route to our first stop and we were completely pulled back to it. We stopped and had lunch in the traditional Greek Taverna on the beach.

After lunch we pitched up and spent hours playing. Daddy and the children swam over to the island. It was about 2 football pitches away from the shoreline. It was also quite shallow for most of the way across. We built sandcastles and had a wonderful time as a family, it was the perfect beach for us.

After our beach pitstops we drove into the old Venetian port at Chania, it was breathtaking. It really didn’t feel like we were in Crete at all. We walked along the harbour and took in the sights. You can see it a little better in our video below. Car rental is a brilliant idea when you are in a beautiful island like Crete.

Exploring Crete by boat

This was one of the greatest days as we have never done a private tour before, let alone in a boat. We really got to see some places that we would had never have found by car, or on our own. Our tour guide was really friendly and gave us so much information about Chania. It’s such a beautiful part of the island.

We stopped at two beaches, they were hidden away in the cliffs and you could only see the openings as you approached them. It was like something out of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie! The first was called Satans Beach, which was only accessible by boat up until quite recently when hikers made a trail down to it by foot. As the beach came into view it had golden sands and clear blue waters, it looked absolutely perfect. I can see why it was something the locals talked about.

We then sailed round to another beach which had hundreds of goats on it. We couldn’t believe our eyes. These goats were wearing bells, some of them as big as my head. They all jangled with every step and it was actually quite calming listening to them. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

After our beach adventures we stopped at another cove and the boys jumped into the sea. Hubby almost lost his breathe when he jumped in, as it was so cold, but treading water kept his body temperature up. Noah jumped in and immediately got back out again, bless him, the shock was all too much for him. But at least he tried. These kids have no fear.

Exploring Crete by bus

The most beautiful place I have ever seen, Preveli beach. It is not accessible, but because you have to work hard to get there it makes it more worth while. The beautiful natural palm tree forest really amazed me, again, it felt like I wasn’t in Crete at all.

We started off in the mountains where our guide took us to see where the water comes off the hills and creates a river. We drank water straight out of the land and it tasted amazing. We walked down, then back up 345 steps to see it. The kids love counting steps!

This water created a river that feeds into the sea, this is why there is a natural palm tree forest. It is the most southern point of Crete and nearest to Africa so it is a little more tropical. Our tour guide said on a clear day (and with very good binoculars) you can see Africa from this beach.

The boys went snorkelling in to a cave. Noah did really well, but as he got into the cave the water felt a lot colder so he came back to land. It was so hot that day, you couldn’t walk bare foot on the sand! After lunch we walked along the river in the palm tree forest.

I was completely mesmerised, there’s something quite magical about it and we spotted a few turtles basking in the sun too. To think that nature has created this amazing place, it completely blows my mind.

You can watch a video of our excursions below, I hope it’s inspired you to visit Crete. It really is amazing place and full of beauty. I cannot wait to go back and explore some more.

We received these excursions in collaboration with Kiani Beach Resort and Kalives Travel to enable us to see more of Crete and show it off to my readers. All images, video and opinions are my own.

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