Anywhere in Crete can be windy - the trick is to be in the right place at the right time. We spent a fortnight travelling along the southwest coast starting 7 September this year and most days weren't windy - on 2 or 3 nights though, the wind howled.

The north is equally as windy as the south (I think) and the south is less commercialised - obviously avoid anywhere that is recommended for windsurfing (Paleohora, Plakias)

Have a look at Loutro - no yobs, tiny beach in the village but excellent swimming, other pebbly/shingly beaches can be reached by daily boats. Reasonable costs. And sheltered from the wind!!!

We crete a few years ago. We went on "The best of the East" coach trip from Stalis, and our boat trip from the South to a little un-named/unknown island to the south was cancelled because of the wind. We had no problems with wind in Stalis, and the tavernas were excellent. Food and staff everywhere in Stalis were spot on. The only problem was that it was a sandy beach!

I believe that Aghios Nik is pebbles/shingle or Elounda, but neither are far from great tavernas.

Anywhere in Crete is fine, and nowhere near as windy as Rhodes.

Crete is windy all over, the meltemi, a persistant north wind. The south coast is the roughly the same as the north coast, though the proximity of mountains and valleys make for local variations. South coast wind depends on where you stay. Paleochora is about 0.5 mile from the mountains so the wind is blustery, further along at Loutro, right up against the mountains it is sheltered, at Frangokastello 2 mile from the foot of the mountains has a consistant north wind, much the same as the north coast.

There are loads of places with pebble beaches, the majority of beaches are, on Crete.

Just in the southwest - Paleochora has a sandy beach west of the peninsular and a pebble ones on the east side. Shuffling along the coast with the ferry there is Sougia, Ag. Roumeli, Loutro, Chora Sfakia. Ag.Galini. Other places are between Ierapetra and Makri Gialos(not the resorts themselves). Kolimbari west of Chania. Some of the beaches near Ag.Nikolaos/Kalo Chorio/Istron.
All these areas have plenty of 'rooms for rent' and are not too commercialised (excl. Ag.Nik), the large package companies don't go there.

http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/LGIR/2006/8/1/MonthlyHistory.html
http://www.sailingissues.com/meltemi.html

That just about sums it up Ouzo!

Hi,

I would like to thank you all for the replies which you have worked hard to supply.

what a shame that this island offers what sounds like ideal beaches for us (Pebble) but looks like it will be windy, I'm affraid I can't stand windy beaches which is a great pitty.

Thanks once again for all your help

Kind regards

Steve

Hold on before you dismiss it - we had 2 weeks of swimming in flat calm water for 12 days out of 14! The wind normally comes up in the afternoon and it's not always a howler more a breeze. That said I have beend sandblasted at Frangokastello in July!

Thanks

It is beaches that we are most interested in, a breeze is ok and is always welcome, but anything that would blow the towel off the sunbed is too much

Cheers

Steve

To get an idea of the weather conditions in South West Crete have a look at Wolfgang Kistler's "webcam" which he maintains when he's in Sfakia (normally May/June and September/October) http://www.wkistler.de/snap6/actweb79.html- he

Thanks very much will look at the webcam

Ok Thanks for all your help so far,

We are getting very close to booking now, can anyone please tell us which resort we should go for based on the following criteria.

1) We are 47 age

2) We like to stay in a resort which has plenty of nice taverna's and a few bars(Not remotly interested in Disco's)

3) We are not bothered about beaches in the area we stay as we always hire a car and travel, however our favourite type of beach is Pebble and would be great if this type of beach was at our resort. but most important for us is the resort MUST have nice taverna's and a few bars within walking distance of accomodation

4) A central location would be good to help with us travelling around the island.

A resort which has a top notch hotel is always good for us also.

Would be grateful if someone could advise us on the resort that will suit us please.

Many thanks again

Steve

Steve - this is where I need to bow out - most of the places I go have nothing approaching a top-notch hotel....think room, balcony, fridge.....

The Tasia Maris in Hersonissos is supposed to be very nice.
We stayed at the Belvedere and were quite happy with that, but the Tasia is two steps up from that.
Hersonissos is very good for accessing most parts of the island ( in the north)

Hi
Thanks for all your help everyone.

We have now booked and after alot of research have found Elounda will be just right for us and The Elounda village hotel is where we are going to stay.

We made an exhaustive search last night online (Knackering) and Elounda kept coming up trumps

Hope we have made the right choice

Yasas

Steve

Hope that you have a great time!

Thanks Elinitsa

Just an addition to the post regarding the Elounda Village Hotel. This is part of the Aquila chain. We have stayed at the Porto Rethymno which is one of the sister hotels, the hotels are lovely, the staff brilliant, food excellent. Go enjoy and have a fantastic holiday