THE VILLAGE, PLAKIAS, CRETE – June 2005
The people
Very helpful, no beggars/touts/hard sellers of timeshares, very child-friendly, almost always great customer service. There were enough tourists for the village to feel quite busy without being packed and they were predominantly from the UK, Germany and Czech Republic.
The Greek macho culture grates a bit though.
The facilities
Everything you could reasonably need – pharmacy & medical point, town hall, a travel & tour agent, supermarkets (5?)/a greengrocer/3 bakeries/a butcher, public phones (2?), 5 hotels/dozens (?) of small apartment blocks/youth hostel/camping site, arts/crafts/souvenir shops (4? – we recommend Natural Collection, Stadio Zorba & the one opposite Ariadne restaurant/taverna), 2 nightclubs, 2 (?) cashpoints, Laundromat, hairdressers, photographic shop.
Possible improvements: a centralised government-run tourist info centre, a good map of the village, more watersports and wider/flatter pavements.
The prices
As reasonable as expected - 1 starter, 2 main courses, 2 glasses of wine, a bottle of beer, bread & 2 Rakis were usually 20-25 Euros at restaurants/tavernas; cigarettes, alcohol, postcards, bus tickets, car hire, bottled water, local fruit & vegetables were also cheap.
Only specially imported things were dear, as you would expect.
The weather
Virtually cloudless, late 20s to mid 30s centigrade, windy at times.
Sometimes VERY windy – we even saw a small tornado!.
Beach etc
Very long beach (1+ km) which is sometimes narrow, “Blue” standard (i.e. clean & safe), long promenade follows the beach, average sand, cold sea, 2 (?) cold fresh water showers, sun umbrellas & sunbeds available at c5 Euros a day, separate naturist section (eastern end) and rocks at either end of the bay (good for snorkelling & for kids who like rock-pools).
A few possible improvements: wooden paths on the beach as the sand is often too hot to walk on , wind-breaks.
Development
No global multinationals like McDonalds, no high-rise buildings, seemingly slow expansion.
Some locals finding it hard to adapt to such quick change.
Activities
Apart from the beach (where you can swim, snorkel, sunbathe, play your own beach games, build sand castles and read) and restaurants/tavernas & bars, it is a great centre for walking (either along the longest gorge in Europe or shorter local walks – there is an excellent small book available), it has 2 (?) diving centres (we recommend Dive2Gether for their safety, friendliness & patience), live sport on TV in some bars, occasional street festivals and there are excursions available to many sights & activities elsewhere on the island (Minoan/Roman archaeological sites, beaches, caves, Santorini, lake).
Down-sides: it is quite a remote place so it can take 2-3 hours to travel to see some sights (more for Santorini) – we chose not to.
The access
Quite good for people with disabilities & the elderly (by Greek standards) as the village is flat, daily boats east & west down the coast, bus services to Rethymno (Crete’s 3rd city) & east, regular coach trips to most major sights/activities (see above), cars/cycles/scooters/ motorbikes/quad bikes to hire, a train (well a vehicle that looks like a train) that goes to a different attraction nearby everyday (donkey sanctuary/rare animal farm, waterfall, mountain villages, beaches, monastery – great view from Myrthios, a local village in the mountains).
Other
Great location (nice shaped bay with impressive small mountains surrounding it), pretty safe in terms of crime (though sometimes Greek males were over-persistent with female tourists) and good mobile phone reception.
Down-sides: Depressingly hard to find the traditional culture, no market, health & safety standards are lower than in the UK (like the UK in the 60s?), police station is nearly an hour away and it is 2-3 hours transfer time from the airports (worth it to get there though!).
For eating & drinking & accommodation – see separate posts.
All in all, Plakias is very much recommended!
