12noon,

Rethymnon is a lovely resort with plenty of bars and restaurants. It's quite a big place though so it's difficult to answer your questions without knowing where you'll be staying. It's a good place for self catering with the number of bars and restaurants around plus there's shops to stock up on essentials. I wouldn't say the beaches are fluffy yellow sand, they are a little courser than that but not gritty. It's easy to get around the island, just hire a car. It's not a club 18-30 type resort, you do get some of that but it's more of a relaxed atmosphere unless you want more. I preferred Crete over Corfu personally but each has plenty to offer.

Darren

I was in Rethymnon Crete this summer, stayed at the Aquila Beach Hotel, there are two, but was a great hotel, we went half board however, and had breakfast, lunch in the hotel and went out every night in the old town for dinner. The old town has a ton of different restaurants, as it is right on a fishing harbor lots of fish/seafood restaurants, amongst others, we had traditional Greek food, but there was the option for vegetarian restaurants, and other more commercial restaurants, but a lot offered traditional Greek food. The old town was very lively and busy at night with street entertainments and can get late night deserts/pancakes which was nice. As the hotel had its own private beach I cannot talk about others, but our beach was nice white sand, was a bit gritty, did not bother us as we stayed by the pool mostly.
To use the buses you have to buy tickets from newsagents type shops, which we were not aware of first as the drivers would not let us pay once we got on the bus, but they always ran on a schedule, every 20 minutes and was extremely cheap to get us in an out. We booked a trip to the south island, a coach collected us and then we took a boat, lots of small travel agents shops that can help arrange this all varying prices.

We did not find any drunken people at night, we did not feel it was that kind of destination, although we were aware it was home to lots of students, and we did pass many bars, there was no feel of drunken behavior.

The only thing I can say as a negative was that we found we went to the Old town every night, eating at a different place, but there weren't many other options of places to go. The holiday was just a relaxing summer break, maybe if we had looked more into it there would have been different things to do in the day, but we found that where we were it was quite a laid back holiday, sunbathe in the day, go out and eat at night. Weren't many sights or places for us to go visit.

12noon wrote:

Hi, me and my wife are thinking about going to Crete back end of September to Start of October 2014. We've not been to Crete before, so we've been looking at google photos and fancy Rethymnon. What we would like to know is...

Is this a good place to go self catering ?
Would we get a good choice of restaurants and fast food shops ?
Are the beaches fluffy yellow sand or are they grit sand ?
Is it easy to get around to other parts of the island ?
Is it full of drunken people on a night or is it a more relaxed night time atmosphere ?

We haven't booked anything yet and might change our minds yet, but fancy Crete for next year. The closest we've ever been is Corfu and that was years ago.

I've been to both Crete and Corfu and both made for good holidays, but one thing I would say is that they look very different Corfu was a lot more Green and lush looking than Crete, the later being more dried up and arid looking.

In fairness that doesn't really detract from a hotel based holiday where you are going to be either round a pool on a beach or in restaurants. I found the beaches in Crete gritty (but wasn't in the resort you mention)but then many Greek beaches are.

Hi I have been to both Corfu and Crete and stayed in Rethymnon in September, I really liked Rethymnon as the old town was just lovely to explore and great for eating out. We stayed at the Ideon Hotel as it is right on the edge of the old town .
I must say I was not really keen on the beaches as it was a fair walk from where we were staying and I found them just too 'busy' for me even in mid September , the rows of sunbeds were a good 10 rows deep and just not for me. However we did have a day trip out to the most stunning beach called elafonisi which was like a tropical lagoon and stunning.
I would say that Rethymnon is a pretty good base to get about and visit places but probably not the best for a beach holiday.

I have been visiting Crete for many years. Firstly you have the right idea by heading to an area west of Heraklion rather than east. The further west you go the more tradition and natural beauty you will find. The more touristy areas are in the east and that's where the Brits mostly go. The west has the best scenery (White Mountains, Samaria Gorge etc) and definitely the best beaches. Elafonissi has just been voted one of the best in the World! I personally prefer the Chania region to Rethymno. Chania has everything you could wish for in a large town/city but without being spoiled. Rethymno is nice to visit but a bit limited due to its smaller size and less attractive surrounding area. You will also find the real Crete in the west. Visit http://www.west-crete.com/crete-daily-photo.php for a new photo every day. Good luck

Rethymnon itself is a working town with a University. It is open all year round with plenty to do. As has been mentioned it has a large (mainly Greek) student community. Unlike the student population in UK they are generally well behaved and spend more time in coffee shops than bars!

In the summer season there is an international group of holiday visitors. The town is popular with Scandinavians, Germans and French as well as British. In more recent years Russian visitors have also been attracted. Along the seafront and into the 'Old Town' there are many options to eat and drink. All tastes are catered for. Nightlife generally is low key though if you look for them, there are discos and clubs.

The town itself has a blue flag beach which is generally clean and sandy. Sunbeds and Umbrellas are freely available. In total, the beach in the area stretches some 13Kms from Stavromenos to the East and includes the resorts of Pigianos and Adele Beach, Platanes, Misiria and Perivolia. The main Beach Road running through these areas also has a multitude of shops, bars and restaurants. At night time noise levels from all establishments is strictly controlled by the police particularly after midnight. As in any resort, if you choose accommodation near the road you will, of course, experience traffic noise. There are many of options for booking flights and accommodation whether independently through the internet, or from any of the package companies

Being in the Central North coast of the Island it is easy to get around. Bus services are good, as has been mentioned and if you are brave, hire a car but do book online for one before you go (cheaper than on the spot or through the holiday companies if you do your homework). Plenty to see, but do realise it is a big Island, Chania in the West and Plakias, Prevelli Monastery, Matala and the Minoan ruins at Phaistos on the South coast. The scenery getting around is spectacular once you go inland through the mountains with many pretty villages, and acres of olive groves.

I have been visiting Rethymnon for over 30 years, I have a home 9kms from town, and spend most of the summer there! I have contributed to this site previously but have had to re register being unable to log in with my previous details....enjoy!

Welcome back
I was looking at Rethymnon recently(but going elsewhere now) and could not decide between there and Chania. Both look good but is one quite spread out?