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Sandy beaches in Crete
75 beaches in Crete with sand underfoot. Re-ranked live, so the one with the flattest sea today comes first.
These are the beaches on Crete tagged as sand on the map: soft underfoot and easier for children and bare feet than pebbles. Sand says nothing about the sea, so the live ranking checks today's wind for each of them.
All 75 sandy beaches on Crete
| Beach | Faces | Surface | Meltemi shelter (0–100) | Lifeguard | Bars | Tavernas | Toilets | Parking | Resort |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammos | south | Sand | 96 | 1414 bars and cafés | 2525 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Parking | ||
| Anatolika Beach | south-west | Sand | 96 | 11 bar or café | |||||
| Argilos Beach | south-west | Sand | 96 | ||||||
| Damnoni Beach | south | Sand | 96 | 33 bars and cafés | 33 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Parking | ||
| Elafonisi Beach | south | Sand | 96 | 33 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Beach resort | |||
| Karavostasi beach | east | Sand | 96 | 33 bars and cafés | 44 tavernas and restaurants | Parking | |||
| Kefala Beach | south | Sand | 96 | Toilets | |||||
| Maherida Nudist Beach | south-west | Sand | 96 | ||||||
| Mogli's Beach | west | Sand | 96 | ||||||
| Pachia Ammos | south-west | Sand | 96 | ||||||
| Paralia Vlite | east | Sand | 96 | Parking | |||||
| Skinias Beach | south-east | Sand | 96 | ||||||
| Triopetra Beach | south-west | Sand | 96 | 11 taverna or restaurant | Parking | ||||
| Alatsolimni beach | south-east | Sand | 95 | ||||||
| Botzalaki beach | south-west | Sand | 95 | Parking | |||||
| Fotinari Beach | south | Sand | 95 | Parking | |||||
| Kalimera Beach | west | Sand | 95 | 11 taverna or restaurant | |||||
| Matala Beach | west | Sand | 95 | 1111 bars and cafés | 2929 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Parking | ||
| Mazida Ammos beach | south | Sand | 95 | Toilets | Parking | ||||
| Orthi Ammos | south | Sand | 95 | 44 tavernas and restaurants | Parking | ||||
| Preveli Beach | south | Sand | 95 | 11 taverna or restaurant | Toilets | ||||
| Schinaria Beach | west | Sand | 95 | 11 taverna or restaurant | Parking | ||||
| Souda Beach | south | Sand | 95 | 33 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Parking | |||
| Vatalos Beach | south-west | Sand | 95 | 11 bar or café | 33 tavernas and restaurants | Parking | |||
| Ammofolos Beach | south-west | Sand | 94 | 11 bar or café | 11 taverna or restaurant | Parking | |||
| Ammoudi | east | Sand | 94 | Lifeguard | 66 bars and cafés | 44 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Parking | |
| Plakias | south-west | Sand | 94 | 1616 bars and cafés | 2121 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Parking | ||
| Red Beach | south-west | Sand | 94 | 22 bars and cafés | 11 taverna or restaurant | ||||
| Balos Beach | north-west | Sand | 92 | 11 bar or café | |||||
| Melissa Sandhills | west | Sand | 92 | 11 bar or café | 11 taverna or restaurant | Parking | |||
| Mirabello | north | Sand | 92 | 88 bars and cafés | 22 tavernas and restaurants | Parking | |||
| Stavros Beach | north-east | Sand | 92 | 44 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | ||||
| Itanos Beach | east | Sand | 91 | Parking | |||||
| Kalathas | north-west | Sand | 91 | 33 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Parking | |||
| Paligremnos Beach (Nudist) | west | Sand | 91 | 11 bar or café | Toilets | Parking | |||
| Falasarna beach | west | Sand | 88 | 11 bar or café | 66 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Parking | Beach resort | |
| Palm Beach Vai | east | Sand | 88 | 44 bars and cafés | 22 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Parking | Beach resort | |
| Meatemaki Beach | east | Sand | 83 | 11 taverna or restaurant | Toilets | Parking | |||
| Kommos Beach | west | Sand | 80 | 11 bar or café | 77 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Parking | ||
| Schisma | east | Sand | 76 | 1717 bars and cafés | 2222 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Parking | ||
| Almyros | east | Sand | 31 | Lifeguard | 22 bars and cafés | 22 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Parking | |
| Kalami Beach | north-east | Sand | 29 | 11 taverna or restaurant | Parking | ||||
| Golden Beach | north-east | Sand | 27 | 33 bars and cafés | 55 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Parking | ||
| Voulisma | north | Sand | 21 | 22 bars and cafés | 66 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Parking | ||
| Eastern Gulf | north | Sand | 7 | 11 bar or café | 33 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Parking | ||
| Karoumes | east | Sand | 7 | ||||||
| Nea Chora beach | north | Sand | 7 | 88 bars and cafés | 2222 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Parking | ||
| Vourlia beach | south-east | Sand | 7 | 22 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Parking | |||
| Krinakia beach | east | Sand | 6 | Parking | |||||
| Vlihi Nero beach | north | Sand | 6 | 33 bars and cafés | 77 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Parking | Beach resort | |
| Psili Ammos | north-east | Sand | 4 | 44 bars and cafés | 22 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Parking | ||
| Aelos Beach | north | Sand | 0 | 1717 bars and cafés | 1313 tavernas and restaurants | Parking | Beach resort | ||
| Agia Marina Beach | north | Sand | 0 | 1313 bars and cafés | 4848 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Parking | ||
| Ammoudara Beach | north | Sand | 0 | 55 bars and cafés | 77 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Parking | ||
| Aptera | north | Sand | 0 | 11 bar or café | 11 taverna or restaurant | Toilets | Parking | ||
| Blue Coast | north-east | Sand | 0 | 33 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Parking | |||
| Chiona beach | east | Sand | 0 | 22 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Parking | |||
| Episkopi beach | north | Sand | 0 | 22 bars and cafés | 66 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Parking | Beach resort | |
| Fodele Beach | north | Sand | 0 | 66 tavernas and restaurants | Parking | ||||
| Georgioupoli | north-east | Sand | 0 | 2020 bars and cafés | 2222 tavernas and restaurants | Toilets | Parking | Beach resort |
Showing 60 of 75 beaches. Use the beach finder above for the full ranked list.
Crete: how busy is it, month by month
Crete is busiest in August. In May and October there are about half as many visitors, or fewer. For a flat sea and fewer people, the best months are May and October.
Visitor levels are nights spent in tourist accommodation in the Crete region (Eurostat, average of 2023–2025), compared with its busiest month. They show when the area is busy, not how many people are on a given beach.
Frequently asked questions
Where are the sandy beaches in Crete?
75 of the 268 mapped beaches on Crete are tagged as sand, for example Ammos, Anatolika Beach, and Argilos Beach. The ones best sheltered from the meltemi are listed first.
Is a sandy beach also a sheltered beach?
Not necessarily. Sand tells you what is underfoot, not what the sea does. A long open sandy bay can have waves when the wind blows onshore. The live ranking above shows which sandy beaches are flat right now.
How do you know which beaches are sheltered?
For every beach we measured how much open sea lies in each of 16 compass directions, using OpenStreetMap coastlines. Waves build over open water, so a beach with land close by in the direction the wind comes from is sheltered. Today's wind forecast from MET Norway is then applied, and the result is refreshed every 2 hours.
Are the forecasts reliable?
They are estimates. The model does not include swell from distant storms, and local gusts can be stronger than forecast. Always follow lifeguard flags and local warnings.