Paleochora v Plakias

[Daniel]

We have just returned from a 10 day holiday in Paleochora.

We are long term visitors to Plakias but thought we may enjoy a change in a different resort.
So we booked independently with Ryanair, flew to Chania, hired a car and stayed 10 days at the Aris Hotel.
I will put a review of the Aris Hotel on Trip Advisor later.

These thoughts on our stay:
The drive down from Chania to Paleochora is a nightmare. The road is very narrow and twisty and is not for the faint hearted.
The beaches are no where near as good as at Plakias, apart from the very busy Town Beach.

 Where we were staying, the only way we could find a beach somewhere near our liking was to get into the car and drive for about 15 minutes.
All the nearby beaches were rough pebble beaches.

Paleochora town is much bigger then Plakias and there is a large selection of places to eat but few of them come up to the standard of the ones in Plakias (but eating out was about 15pc cheaper than Plakias).
But the blight of local "musicians" playing in groups of 2 or 3 outside all the Tavernas really lets the pace down.
Some nights, as many as 3 different groups came round during our meal, played 2 tunes and went round with the hat
Ok for 1 or 2 nights, but after 10 nights ?.

Our problem was that we compared everything at Paleochora with it counterpart at Plakias.
And in nearly every aspect, Paleochora came second best.

We will not be returning to Paleochora.
Out decision to have a change of scenery was a mistake.
We should have (and will do) stick to our first love, Plakias.
Looking forward to September and 11 days with George at Creta Mere.

[Yvonne]

We split our holiday last year,  first week Plakias where we've been for umpteen holidays  and the second week in Paleochora. Oh, dear! Although we did have super accommodation,  there it ended. I am afraid it left us  cold. It just wasn't for us. Maybe we have spent too many years in Plakias, but I know where we would choose to stay in future holidays.

[Bertie]

I too split my holidays between Paleorchora and Plakias and disagree with the two previous posts about Paleochora.
I'm not saying that one place is better than the other but in my opinion Paleochora town has a degree of traditional charm which Plakias does not. There are several very good places to eat and the town beach is a kilometre of beautiful sand, never overcrowded (if you're prepared to walk along a bit) and not scruffy like that at Plakias. I agree that there is more choice of nearby beaches at Plakias but I never want more than the town beach at Paleochora. There's no need for a car as there are really few places to go once you're there. Just take the bus from Chania and stay put.
We always take the ferry from Paleochora to Skafia and then a taxi to Plakias. The ferry voyage is magnificent.
I look forward to many more stays in both places as I love them equally.

[spottttttt]

We split our holidays between the two as well, they are both different  but we love both places equally, having said that we are only visiting Paleochra  this year.

[Noopsy]

OK.  I will add my tuppence to this debate.  I prefer Plakias but, the bus service between Chania and Paleochora is better than between Rethymnon and Plakias, the people in Paleochora are friendlier, and the beach is more interesting.  The range and quality of restaurants in both resorts is about the same.   

[stavros]

We like both places. Paleochora is bigger, but we found fewer good restaurants. The beaches are good, and the stoney one is quieter. On the music side, one Sunday we were there in 2016 some genuine kritiki musicians fired up in the square down by the harbour and were truly tremendous. We also saw Kostas (?) Abyssinios playing there in a cafe a few years back.  The people are nice and friendly, and it is more of a year-round place than Plakias; it can also be windy, but nothing like as persistently as Plakias. The main street shuts to traffic in the evening, and it is great place to stroll in a good atmosphere. Lots of the late season visitors are Scandwegians, and so far there have been no boorish Russians invading the place.