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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

Siteia looks surprisingly modern but was founded in the 4th century, when a flourishing Byzantine city stood here. Its fortunes waned after the 14th century, when it was damaged by earthquakes and sacked by corsairs. It was not until the late 19th century that Siteia became an important farming centre, surrounded by olive groves and vineyards. It has a picturesque harbour overlooked by a Venetian fortress, a Folk Museum with a collection of traditional costumes (see Siteia Folklore Museum), and an Archaeological Museum (see Siteia Archaeological Museum).

Market, Siteia

The main claim to fame of the beach at Vai is in having the only wild palm grove in Europe. The palm forest apparently existed at least 2,000 years ago, so may have been planted by early navigators from the Middle East who came to Crete. The drawbacks are that the palm trees are fenced off and protected, and the beach becomes overrun with visitors in high season. Nevertheless, it is beautiful, especially if visited outside the busiest summer months of June, July and August.

The Zakros Gorge is known locally as the Valley of the Dead because the numerous caves in its limestone walls were used as tombs in Roman times. The gorge runs from the peaceful village of Ano (“upper”) Zakros to Kato (“lower”) Zakros on the sea, near an ancient Minoan palace site rediscovered in 1961. It is a beautiful and not too challenging 8-km (5-mile) hike (see Zakros Gorge).

Taverna, Kato Zakros

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.

Makrygialos is the most popular holiday resort on the southeast coast, with a long, straggling array of small pensions, hotels and tavernas stretching along a crescent of rather windswept, gently shelving sand and pebble beach, which is the best in this part of the island.

The fortifications covering this small, rocky island in the Gulf of Mirabello were built by the Venetians in 1579 to control the approaches to this superb natural harbour. Superior sea power allowed Venice to hang onto Spinalonga for half a century after the fall of the rest of Crete to the Turks, and it was surrendered only in 1715. Used as a leper colony in the first half of the 20th century, its buildings are now very dilapidated, but the grim walls may still give the visitor an eerie thrill.

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.

Modern-day Agios Nikolaos was once no more than the seaport annex of this Dorian Greek city which flourished between the 7th and 3rd centuries BC. Built around two neighbouring hills, 8 km (5 miles) west of Agios Nikolaos, Lato is the best preserved Dorian site in Crete, with walls built of massive stone blocks. There are fine views over the Gulf of Mirabello from its agora (marketplace) in a saddle between the twin summits.

Mochlos, 32 km (20 miles) east of Agios Nikolaos on the coast road, is a tiny fishing hamlet with a handful of tavernas. Just offshore is the island of Mochlos, which in ancient times was connected to the mainland by an isthmus. This has been eroded by earthquakes and waves. On the island are the remains of Minoan houses and a Minoan harbour, much of which is now under water. Seal stones, superb gold jewellery and vases carved from quartz, alabaster and black steatite have been discovered in rock tombs on the island and are displayed in the Agios Nikolaos and Siteia archaeological museums.