Plakias 2022

[Daniel]

We flew out on Tuesday morning 6 am flight with Jet 2 from Leeds Bradford .

Followed their advice and arrived at 3 am three hours early.
Better than expected ( feared ? ) experience at the airport. Thru in 55 mins and maybe they are beginning to get their act together at last.

Flight good and on time and arrived 12 noon at Iraklion to pick up our Yaris hire car.
Car hire is very expensive these days.
?460 for 14 days ?

Checked in with George at Creta Mare and now settled in to our 14 day stay with him.

Ate at Gio Ma and Siifis first 2 nights and tonight going to Lyseus .
Always our favourite place to eat and in our opinion the best food in town .

First impressions:

For a start, nothing has changed which would seem out of place in the current Plakias.
No huge new hotels or supermarket etc.
But plenty of upgrades to existing and small new buildings which fit in well with what is already here.
The whole town looks good and is starting to seem prosperous again.

As to visitors, then it is not too busy and I would say probably at about 70 % occupied ?
No problem with getting a table in the evening ( we had to book at Gio Ma ) and plenty of sun bed?s available in all areas.
We do not use the ?far end ?but that part of the beach seems fairly quite for this time of year.

Early days and only first impressions but will give a fuller update when we get back home after the holiday.

Final thought :
Absolutely delightful to be back in the old place.

Yamas .

[JBMouse]

You lucky, lucky people, I am so envious.
We have stayed at Kostas Crysoulla for decades, but now think it is time for a change, and a better view from the balcony, just wondered what you think of Creta Mare. Breakfast included? (saves the wife a walk to supermarket for bread!) and it is next to On The Rocks with Nikos, a great place, and the rooms at Creta Mare must have such good views of Skinos beach. Hoping to make it back to Plakias for October and maybe Greek Easter next year.

[ian s]

lucky you!  I?m back in September.  Meanwhile if you?re back in Lysseos give my regards to Lito and Lucas - I wholeheartedly agree the best food in town.

Yamas.

[DandC]

Yammas - just back from 12 dys in Plak.

Horrendous (2hrs+) check in (late Sun evening) at Leeds LBA to Chania 12 days ago. And ONE person checking passports (grrr)

Car hire again from Moto Auto Plakias - again highly recommended - vv quick pick up at Chania airport then wander into their office in Plakias next day to pay etc!
But petrol here!!!!!.......e2.57/l in Plakias!

Weather spot-on - 30-32 and little wind (for a change!)

Visited lots of nice spots again - hadn't appreciated the very decent coastal roads now both East (all the way from Plak to Triopetra) and West (Souda to Korakas/Rodakino). East coast route has loads of lovely deserted beaches. Westwards - do stop at Foinikas taverna for spectacular views over Souda/Plak. Must say these roads were not on any of our maps!! (but are VG)

Busyness? somehow not as full as our last trip in Oct 21. Maybe 80% full in restaurants though the best places and tables need booking! Our faves are GioMa, Tasomanolis, Mariou, Plateia and all lived up to expectations. Prices about same as last year for dining out.
L'etoile du Sud seemed shut, as did Corali :-(  Also Atlantis (but no great loss there).

Flight back from Chania (late Thu evening) complete opposite to Leeds outbound - the 'queue' to check in to security etc was maybe 10 people - a calming experience (if check-in/security can ever be called that).

At least we returned yesterday to decent UK weather to 'break us in'!

Yassas!

[conway s]

Was their in April-May was fabulous  their again in October, the road to Rodakino was very good saved a lot of time. I am interested in the road to Triopetra. I tried to get there many years ago across country. I took a track behind the taverna over the river on the way up to Preveli monastery i think i bottomed the car a few times. How do you pick up the road to get you there, we go to Agios Pavlos a lot it would save a lot of time.  Many Thanks   

[DandC]

For the east coast road, just head towards Preveli monastery, but cross the river at Gefyra taverna and continue eastwards, passing the taverna on your left. Follow signs for Palm Beach (crossing small humpback bridge) down to the coast. Then just follow coast road eastwards via agia Foteini and Ligres, and on to Triopetra.

[Daniel]

Ok back from out two weeks in Plakias with George at Creta Mere .

First things first :

Airport at Leeds Bradford was not as bad as we had feared.
50 minutes through security was ?acceptable ?
But we did arrive 3 hours early as advised to cover all possible eventualities!!
Flight  with Jet 2 good and on time.
Picked (ver expensive !!) car up at airport and slowly drove down to Plakias in about 2 hours .
We are the car that you all pass when travelling about.
And petroleum in Crete is eye watering expensive.
Checked in with George and Jo Anna at Creta Mare and pleased to se that little has changed in the hotel.

Great holiday and enjoyed every aspect of the trip.

As to the town and general thoughts :

The first thing that we noticed was the low number of British visitors.
Very rarely heard an English voice either in town, on the beach or in a taverna.
Maybe as low as 5/ 10 pc British in our time there ?
Mostly German, Dutch, French and a few Easter European ( sorry but I can not identify some of the more obscure accents so will have to generalise )
We still wonder why the number of British was so low ?

Eating out was good as is the norm in Plakias.
We used Gio Ma , Siri, Lysseus, Sirroco the one up the side street, Elia.
All were good but Lysseus excellent.

Weather temperature wise was good for us.
A little cooler first week (mid to high 20 s )
Much hotter second week but :
The strong winds for 3 or 4 days were a nuisance.

On the whole the resort was much quieter than in previous years.
No problems getting sunbeds anywhere on the beach.
We also noticed that the far end was exceptionally quiet and much reduced in numbers.
Have people now started to move over to Souda ?

Restaurant were also quiet at times .
Table available some evenings at places at which a booking was essential.
Another indication of how quiet Plakias was for our two weeks.

As to the town itself:
There is building work going on in various places but it is either small new building or general update and refurbishment.
Not a lot is being built to change the look and feel of the place.
We didn?t see any obvious changes in Taverna ownership or style and things were much as they were last year.

As I said at the beginning, a really good holiday and we both much enjoyed our stay.

We return in early September for another two weeks with George at Creta Mare .

BUT :
This is planned to be our Swan Song with Plakias and we do not plan to return to the resort after this time.

I will go into more details of why, where, when and why we have reached this decision when we get back home in late September :
But suffice it to say that we feel that we have had and we have
seen the best of Plakias over the last 20 years.
And it is not now the Plakias which we initially fell in love with.
Time for us to move on.

[conway s]

So sad to here that you are moving on but not surprised. We have been going these last 28 years and as you say it as changed a lot in that time ,not always for the better. We still have lots of friends their but the atmosphere seems to have changed. These last few years we have been using Plakias as a base and traveling around in the car during the day, even if it was only to Spilli , then it was good to get back to the old place.
eI noticed when their in April that take away place bottom of street from ellia was being done out is that open again and is it still run by Ireeny (excuse spelling) and her son. 

[Daniel]

The souvlaki place at the bottom of the street is now an office for a dive centre.
Progress ?

[Vanessa_Plakias]

I am in Plakias right now and yesterday the owner of Lysseos restaurant said they would close their doors for good after the end of this season...no more chocolate cake! I have always loved that place (this is my 4th time in Plakias)!

[ian s]

Yes, so I?ve heard.  I?ve been frequenting Lysseos for more than 30 years and reckon I must have eaten there at least 500 times and that equates to a heck of a lot of jugs of red wine!  Will be back In September to enjoy our last supper at Lysseos and to wish Lucas and Lito a long and healthy well earned retirement.  I think for us Plakias will never be quite the same again.

[Susan K]

We made the decision not to return when we were there last September. We have been going for about 22 years, but really noticed how the feel of the place has changed. Time to move on.

[Daniel]

Packing for out last 2 weeks in Plakias .
Mixed emotions .
Leeds Bradford 6 am tomorrow morning with Jet 2 .
Staying with George and. Joanna at Creta Mare as usual.

Will report back after we have settled in .

[Daniel]

Now half way thru our Plakias stay.

Weather is hot and at times fairly windy ( even for Plakias )
Very warm in the evening and during the night, making sleeping difficult.

The town is very busy and tavernas usually full by 8 pm .
Beaches also fairly full, particular towards weekend.

Nothing much has changed since our June visit and there does not seem to be much building WIP .

Enjoying our stay with George at Creta Mare and eating with Sifi ,Geo Ma, Sirocco and Lysseus .

Will give a fuller report when we get back home next week .

[JBMouse]

You lucky so-and-so! Wish I were there, if I can do it, I will stay at Creta Mare for the first time in over 22 years, sorry Kostas, you lose out to the view.