Rethymno Beach

13 km long from to probably the longest beach on Crete via tourist resort Platanes to Skaleta. It is a very beautiful beach with mostly fine, golden yellow sand. The part of the long beach in Rethymno is often called "New Town Beach". It is one of the most visited beaches on the island of Crete. Despite its enormous length, the beach can become narrow in summer. This is especially true for the sections in the city and in the very touristy suburb of Platanes. In between there are also in the high season many quiet beach sections.

Beach promenade: At the first about 2.5 km of the city beach of Rethymno there is a road next to the beach. Between the road and the beach there is a promenade with a wide pedestrian path.

At the beginning the street is called "Sofokli Venizelou", further away from the city centre "Ari Velouioti". Further away from the city of Rethymno, there is no street along the beach anymore, only a few cul-de-sacs. On the other side of the road, there are over kilometres of hotels, restaurants, fast food, supermarkets, bars and the like. The area of Rethymno is called Neo Poli (New Town). The center of the city is called the Palio Poli (Old Town). Accordingly, the long city beach is called "New Town Beach" or often simply "Rethymno town beach".

Water sports: Several companies offer various types of water sports directly on the beach. One of them is "Ikarus Watersports" almost at the beginning of Rethymno Town Beach. Here gibt´s for example water ski, parasailing, kite surfing, jet ski, banana boats and much more. Popeye Watersports" has a similar offer about 100 meters further along the city beach, for example Crazy Sofa and other trendy sports.

Other sports: Beach volleyball courts can be found in several places on Rethymno beach. Besides beach volleyball, beach tennis is also very popular at the moment. Of course you can also swim in the sea or go jogging along the beach.

Hiking on the beach: There is also the possibility to walk along the whole 13 km beach or a part of it. This is a very sportive performance, because walking on the beach is very difficult. On a road that runs mostly some hundred meters parallel to the beach, there are buses every 30 minutes during the season. Thus, one does not necessarily have to walk back. A nice distance for hiking on the beach is from Rethymno to the tourist suburb Platanes.

Sunbeds and parasols: dozens of providers rent out sunbeds with parasols during the season on the beach of Rethymno. Compared to Italy and Spain, this is still inexpensive in Crete. Two sunbeds and a parasol (package for 2 persons) at Rethymno Beach usually cost 5 euros (as at the beginning of 2018). Some have a WC and free WIFI (WLAN). So you can surf the beach for free with your mobile phone, tablet or laptop.

Camping site: About 4 km after the beginning of the beach you come to the camping site Elisabeth. It is a very nice complex, which also rents beach bungalows. Elisabeth Camping is often the cheapest provider of rooms on Booking.com in Rethymno.

Wind and waves: The most frequent wind on Crete and in the whole Aegean Sea is the north wind, also called Meltemi. With a stronger, longer wind from this direction, the waves on the north coast of Crete are high. Then bathing at the unprotected Rethymno beach is very dangerous. But there are also many days in summer without much wind and waves.

Tip: On this page we have compiled a list of the most beautiful beaches on Crete.