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Agios Nikolaos has the most attractive location of any town in eastern Crete. By the Gulf of Mirabello, it is built around an inner lagoon, Voulismeni, which is surrounded by palm trees and cafés. Modern hotels and apartments dwarf the surviving older buildings, but it is still a place of considerable charm. There is a small town beach, and boats take holidaymakers to larger beaches nearby. The town takes its name from the tiny 11thcentury church of Agios Nikolaos (which now stands in the grounds of the Minos Palace Hotel. The Archaeological Museum (see Agios Nikolaos Archaeological Museum) displays numerous finds from nearby sites including Mochlos and Gournia.

Agios Nikolaos harbour

Elounda, on the Gulf of Mirabello, is Crete’s most expensive resort area, with several exclusive villa and hotel complexes in landscaped grounds. Several of these even have private beaches. The village itself is less upmarket, with a clutter of shops and restaurants surrounding a small fishing harbour from which boats depart daily in summer on trips to Spinalonga, the Venetian fortress-island and former leper colony not far offshore.

Early in the morning, on any day except a Monday, head east out of Agios Nikolaos on the main coast highway. Gournia is south of the road, 24 km (15 miles) east of Agios Nikolaos. Try to arrive when it opens at 8:30am and allow a couple of hours to explore this well preserved Minoan site (see Gournia).

It is a 45-minute drive to Ierapetra, the largest town on the southeast coast, passing rank on rank of greenhouses, which produce bumper crops of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. Ierapetra – originally named Ierapytna – was Crete’s most important Dorian Greek city in the 2nd century BC (see Ierapetra). Unlike most Cretan towns, Ierapetra is still more interested in farming than in the package holiday business and is a good place to glimpse everyday life on Crete. From here, it’s a 32-km (20-mile) evening drive back to Agios Nikolaos.

Ierapetra is the largest town on the southeast coast. Its buildings are rather dull, but it has a good, long beach of grey sand and the distinction of receiving more hours of sunshine per year than anywhere else in Europe. Huge crops of tomatoes are raised all year round in the surrounding farmlands. Ierapetra became an important Dorian Greek settlement as early as the 8th century BC, and by the 2nd century BC it was the largest city-state on the island after defeating its Eteocretan neighbours, Praisos and Itanos. Under the Romans it was an important seaport; the Venetians built a fortress to defend the harbour.