Magical Myrtos: Hidden Gem of Crete

July 10, 2024

Unless you are a college student looking for a raging spring break destination, Myrtos may be just what you are looking for. It's a small beach town on the southeastern side of Crete, but it's not so sleepy local that you'll be thirsting for more activiity. Myrtos has just enough of a tourist vibe with several cafes, shops and restaurants and a lively beach front promenade to keep you happy and entertained, but not crowded and overwhelmed.

The area seems to cater to families with children, like us, couples looking for a romantic getaway or the Golden Aged travelers looking for a nice quiet beachside stay. And the locals are super friendly which is generally what we found in Crete, but not in all cases. And in my personal experience, I honestly feel that the locals in Myrtos were not being friendly just because they wanted my tourist money, but because they were either genuinely interested in cultivating a relationship or, at least, trying to display a hospitality that reflected well on their community. 

And while some of my "friends" certainly are owners of shops that I frequent, many of them go out of their way to help us when needed - like the local wine shop owners who went out of their way to help us ship a package back home and to recieve one to their address when we were hesitant to use our AirBnb address. 

We also developed a relationship with the village matriarch, Hrisanti, who happened to be the mother of our AirBnB host, Spyros.  Hrisanti was probably in her nineties and seemingly didn't get that I could not understand Greek so we would have these conversations where she would prattle on in Greek and I would chat away in English, but somehow we made the communication work and developed a friendship.  

During our month in the village she gave us a bottle of Raki (a type of liquor - like Ouzo - prevalant in Crete) and made a delicious bean dish as well as invited me to sit and "chat" with her and her sister on several occasions.  We returned the kindness by bringing her some of Francesca's potatoes in tzatziki sauce.  Not sure if she ate it, but she seemed to apprecaite it.   

Myrtos is very small - you can walk from one end of town to the other in less than 10 minutes, but it packs a lot into a small area.  On the main street are many of the key shops like the butcher, wine shop, bakery and two small, Mom & Pop grocery markets. 

A little further up the main street and up a few stairs is the Museum of Myrtos that houses some ancient artifacts and a lot of history of the area.  It was created thanks to the efforts of George Dimitrinakis, the village teacher, who gained possession of numerous objects of both local historical and folklore interest. The museum was orginally housed in his classroom for 40 years, but was transferred to its current location in 2001, 7 years after Dimitrinakis' death.

Zoe, a volunteer who opens the museum at 6pm 3 days per week after work for her day job concludes, is very passionate about sharing the history of Myrtos with locals and tourists alike. The museum houses pieces from the Minoan Period (Bronze Age) as well as during the Ottoman rule and the German occupation of Crete/Myrtos in 1941.  

There is detailed information about the 18 Myrtos boys and men who refused to leave their homes when ordered by the German soldiers only to be executed for disobeying orders. This was a very interesting accompaniment to the official memorial located in the town square. 

Within walking distance, or just a short drive away, are several historical sites and hikes that are a great way to feed your muscles and your brain.  Myrtos boasts not one, but TWO ancient Minoan ruins withing walking distance. We went to both, but the smaller (and closer one), Pyrgos, is the better of the two although neither has much beyond a few stone walls.  Still the very short hike up to the top of Pyrgos is pretty and offers some amazing views of Myrtos and the Libyan Sea.

Also nearby is the very scenic Serakina Gorge.  It is typically filled with at least some water even in summer, but with the heat wave presenting drought-like conditions many of the rivers and streams have gone dry incluing the one flowing through Serakina Gorge.  The terrain was challenging at times and Francesca even twisted her ankle slipping on a rock, but all the kids aquitted themselves admirably. 

A short, but spectacular drive beyond Serakina Gorge are several villages worth visiting and a few mountain taverns.  Click on each thumbnail below for more information and pictures of each village.  There are a few more villages that are notable that we did not visit including Mirthi, Mournies and Gdochia. 

There are numerous other day trips (between 1 and 2 hours away from Myrtos) that are worth a visit if you have time.  Click on the thumbnails below for more info and photos of each.

While the beach in Myrtos is very pleasant, it is a pebble/rock beach and gets pretty deep pretty quickly, so in order to find shallow sand beaches we explored several other beaches in the area.  Click here to see our post on the Beaches of Southeastern Crete.

One pleasant surprise was the quality of snorkeling in Myrtos.  While it is not the Great Barrier Reef or Palawan by any stretch, there are some very nice rock formations to swim around with an abundance of sea life including the increasingly less rare African Lionfish which I swam past (within inches) not knowing they are highly venomous!  There are also many fun small rock caves or underpasses to snorkel through.  Unfortunately my underwater camera got water in it (go figure) so I wasn't able to get great photos and videos, but I did have a waterproof cover for my Samsung SmartPhone which allowed me to capture some images. 

If you like veering a little off the beaten path and do not require 5 star resorts, lovely Myrtos is worth a stay or at least a visit.