The Gay Crete Blog Takes A Look At......2013 A Retrospective Look At LGBT Tourism on Crete, Greece

It is not unusual around this time of year for people do to a retrospect on the past year, and so we have decided to take a look back at the 2013 gay and lesbian tourist scene on Crete.

It seems throughout the world that economic uncertainty has to some extent affected tourism, and indeed in Greece, which is a favourite tourist destination, reporting, and mis-reporting, of the 'economic crisis' has perhaps given prospective visitors the wrong impression to such an extent that many believe that Greece is 'shut'!

Here we take at look at what has been an excellent year for gay travellers to Crete with many more LGBT visitors discovering that Crete has much to offer.
Crete has long been a destination for LGBT travellers even though it often overshadowed by the (nearly) neighbouring island of Mykonos. Independent and package tour gay travellers visit Crete for the opportunities it offers not just for some excellent beaches, but sightseeing, archaeology, and other activities not available on a small island like Mykonos. 

It is always difficult to quantify LGBT tourism because as we all know we don't walk around with labels on our foreheads, and at the Gay Crete Blog we have always assumed the normal 6% (or 10% if you prefer) of the LGBT population visit Crete. This of course, gives easily twice the amount of LGBT tourists as the 'gay' island of Mykonos.

Naturally with an island the size of Crete (about the same size as the state of Delaware), our gay and lesbian travelers are very spread out. This year however, we have been out and about visiting beaches and various other attractions and are pleased to say that we have met even more LGBT visitors than we expected.

The north coast of Crete is one of the busiest and most cosmopolitan areas of Crete, which doesn't suit those in search of a quiet holiday, but has given us a good guide to the number of LGBT visitors this year, and also this area has the greatest number of facilities for gay tourism which probably explains the attraction for them.

Roze Maandag Hersonissos

For nightlife, Roze Maandag, the gay bar which opened very late in the season in 2011, and moved to new premises for 2013, has proved very popular. A small bar with a dancing area it is cozy, almost twee, and this year has been busier than ever. We have heard a couple of visitors have complained about cigarette smoke (smoking is actually banned in Greece inside bars but it still goes on), and at times the selection of music has been described as an 'iTunes Back Catalog', nonetheless the bar has been very popular with both gay and lesbian tourists. Nearly everyone that is visiting seems to be going here for at least a couple of nights during their stay. Couples wanting a slightly quieter evening out are still heading up the hill to the village of Koutouloufari to the famous Vinnie's Garden and Dionysos which historically have been very gay friendly.

Sadly Eros Bar in Malia was not open this year as they had problems with the building. One might be forgiven for thinking this is why Roze Maandag has been so busy but as not all visitors were prepared to make the quite short journey to Malia for a night out it probably has nothing to do with Roze Maandag being busier, more to do with the higher numbers of gay visitors to Crete!

In addition, there have been several independent LGBT travelers staying in the capital of the island, Heraklion, and here too is a new development as La Brasserie has finally come out as a gay bar!

This year has been a good year for visitors from Australia and New Zealand, and on more than one occasion Villa Ralfa, the gay b and b near Anisarras, has been full of visitors from Down Under. 

As an indication of how popular Crete actually is, a gay couple from New Zealand who came to Crete to visit the War Cemetery at Souda, and then travel northwards through the Aegean, visiting Mykonos on the way, cancelled the rest of their island hopping and spent their entire 25 day holiday on Crete.

We also had more LGBT visitors from the UK (one of our traditional markets), than previous years especially during early and late season, some of these booked 'packages' and were staying in AI hotels in Port Hersonisso, which shows a slight lack of imagination as guests in these are hotels are rather tied as to their movements and get to see less of the island than independent travelers. 

Italians were also back in force this year after a dip in their numbers last year, 2012, and conspicuous by their absence were visitors from the US. The number of gay visitors from France also seemed to be fewer than previous years. Germany and Holland gave a good showing though, particularly in the 'independent traveller' group.

Home Hotel, which last year was based in Port Hersonissos, but this year moved to Anisarras,  also proved popular with many visitors, and although it is mixed clientele did have a strong gay following and held a couple of party nights including a karaoke night where the DJ managed to get a completely wrong version of 'Spanish Eyes'! Either way Home Hotel is popular with the local gay community.

Onr of the double rooms at Home Hotel

Of course Home Hotel also has a pool bar, there just isn't space! But Villa Ralfa does have 'clothing optional' areas which the owner will let you use if you want to get a bit of 'all over' colour before you hit the nudist beach at Sarandari near Port Hersonissos.

Talking about beaches, both Kommos on the south of the island, and Sarandari were both very busy. Sarandari is only a small beach and got quite crowded at times but it is a friendly beach because of its size and is a good place to get to chat to other visitors. Kommos is larger and more spread out but even so there was quite a crowd there particularly after about 2pm.

Around Crete there is a wide choice of accommodation at varying prices and there is really no need to pay a fortune for comfortable accommodation in the smaller hotels and apartment blocks and much of it is gay friendly because they are used to people of the same sex sharing accommodation. Historically the package tour industry has to cope with groups and couples of the same sex.

One thing that many visitors comment on is how affordable Crete (and Greece) actually is. With accommodation starting from about €25 per night in smaller Greek run establishment ranging up to several hundred euros a night for a 5* resort style hotel there is something to suit most pockets.

And a good night out can be had for a lot less than many countries in northern Europe, Australasia, or the US, and let's face it we, the LGBT community, are fond of a good night out! Food is relatively cheap and of high quality mainly using fresh local produce, and prices for a beer start at around €2.50!

Looking to the future we have been told that Eros Bar in Malia will indeed be open again next year, and locally there are rumours that there will be a new bar, gay owned and run, opening early in 2014, giving the GLBT visitor even more choice.

And after all that is said, it just remains for us to wish everybody a wonderful festive season and a Happy New Year for 2014 and we look forward to seeing you on Crete next year!

The Gay Crete Blog Takes a Look At........Beaches!

Balos Lagoon

Here at the Gay Crete Blog I have never specifically looked at beaches so I decided it was time I did. No holiday in the sun is complete without a couple of days spent on the beach, and Crete, Greece, offers the beach bum, (or babe), many opportunities for visiting some world class beaches including some where clothing is optional!  So here I take at look at some of the best known including Vai, Balos Lagoon, Matala, Kommos, and probably the best known nudist beach on Crete, at Hersonissos

As you would be expect from Greece’s largest island (and the fifth largest in the Mediterranean), Crete has a long coastline and in many places the mountains plunge dramatically down into the sea but in between there are some remarkable beaches raging from large stones to fine sand of varying colours. Perhaps the actual size of the island sometimes acts as a barrier to visiting some of the best beaches, but the savvy independent LGBT traveller will soon realise that Crete is an ideal island for a ‘multi – centre’ holiday and will spend a few days at each end of the island which can save some hours of driving either by car or on the bus!

Many of our older readers may perhaps remember the adverts for Bounty Bars many years ago, and some may recall that these were filmed on Crete, at Vai on the eastern end of the island. Vai not only has a fine beach but is also home to a forest of native palm trees (an endangered species by the way), behind the beach. As you would expect some of the beach is given over to sunbeds and umbrellas that you can rent for the day, and part of it you can sit on as you please. As is common with the more popular beaches there are good facilities available at resaonable prices including quite a good restaurant where you can look down on to the beach and palm trees.

Vai Beach

There is also a watersports area with the normal jet skis and ‘octopus’ if that is what you want!

Next door to Vai, for those that don’t mind a bit of walking, there is an undeveloped beach frequently used as a ‘clothing optional’ beach.

As with some other beaches on Crete, Vai’s remoteness from the main tourism centres means that it does not get unduly crowded, from Heraklion you can look forward to a three to four hour drive to get there!

A little closer to the centre of the island, and on the south coast, is Matala Beach, probably best known as ‘home’ to the hippy population when we still had hippies, and where Joni Mitchell wrote a song.

Matala still lives on this reputation and some of the hippies seem to still be there. The actual beach at Matala is not much to write home about being dark coarse sand, but nearby is Kommos Beach which is a fine long stretch of finer sand starting at one end with a taverna on the beach and heading into the distance for some kilometres.

Kommos also boasts an archaeological site which was the port to the Minoan palace at Festos (well worth a visit on the way down as it has stunning views of the Messara Plain, one of the big agricultural regions on Crete, and also Mt. Psiloritis). Kommos also has a clothing optional area which is some distance along from the main car park and kantina. On windy days, when the sand tends to blows around a bit, many sunbathers retreat into the ‘dunes’ behind the beach where there is more shelter and also more shade if you want to get out of the sun for a while .

On the other side of Matala is Red Beach which is well known as a nudist beach but you need either a 4WD or a good set of walking legs to get there, although you can get there by boat too.

Matala

Kommos

Along the north coast there are also a number of smaller beaches often not visible from the roads above and the only indication you will have of these are cars parked apparently in the middle of nowhere. These are often worth a visit as they remain uncrowded because you have to clamber down to them.

Those who decide to stay in the west of Crete will find two beaches that have at various times been voted amongst the top 10 beaches in Europe/The World, and quite deservedly so.

On the north west tip of the island is Balos, publicity material for Crete nearly always feature a picture of Balos which is surrounded by mountains and features shallow waters of varying colours ranging from deepest blue through turquoise and green to white in the shallow parts. Sheltered from the wind and tides, Balos offers safe swimming for those less able in the water too.

Access to Balos is not easy as the nearest car park is some way from the beach, and while the walk down is not bad, it is a bit of a climb back up the hill, although part way up you will usually find a man with a donkey. Having said that one of the best ways to get there is by cruising on the ferry from Kissamos/Kastelli which also gives you a couple of hours stopover at Gramvoussa Island where the main attraction is the fortress on the top rather than the beach. The ferry delivers you the water’s edge at Balos and you then walk through shallow water to the main part of the beach. Facilities here are good too as there are two tavernas that do not take advantage of you with ridiculous prices as happens in some parts of the world.

If you are not staying at the western end of Crete then you can look forward to a four hour drive from Heraklion to get to Balos which is why I recommend you do this trip on an organised coach tour. It does mean you have to get up early as the coach leaves Malia/Hersonissos at around 5.30am and gets back about 9pm. But of course you can always sleep on the coach, or you can take in the scenery as you drive along the north coast. At least you will be getting to see some other parts of the island!

Further south from Balos is Elafonisi which in many ways is similar. One day I hope to find time to get there too!

As an aside, most people seem to agree that the best way to see these beaches is by staying at the western end of the island, it not only saves a lot of travelling but you can get to the beach early when it is not so crowded by the day trippers (such as me), arriving by coach and ferry.

Also on the north coast between Rethymno and Xania are the beaches of Kalives and Georgiopoulis both of these having clothing optional area and both are ‘do-able’ from Herakliion/Hersonissos on a day trip.

Sarandari (Hersonissos)

 Of course if you are only on Crete for a week (shame on you!), then you will be a little limited in how many of these beaches you can visit, but for many their holiday will be centred on the north coast, and here you will find the, almost world famous, nudist beach at Sarandari, just to the west of Port Hersonissos.

Exactly why Sarandari beach should be so well known is something of a mystery really, it is only a small beach, although it is mainly coarse sand with a few rocks here and there (if you want to show off you go out to the big rock and lay there naked where everyone can see you, even the people walking along the top of the cliff!), but the water is clear as it is in so many other places around Crete. 

Perhaps its main attraction is that it is not quite that easy to get to, involving either a climb down the cliff face or a walk across the rocks from the beach next door. Others will tell you that because of its size it is a very friendly beach where you can get to meet new (and old) friends.

Or you can get there by boat and if you are cruising on one of the day trip boats that leave from Port Hersonissos during the day or evening, then you can swim here as, more often than not, they stop just off shore for a while.

Certainly part of its popularity is due to ease of access from Heraklion , and the fact that Port Hersonissos is one of the most cosmopolitan tourist resorts on the Crete, and also has a gay bar and two gay hotels!

Whatever its main attractions are, so popular has this beach become that you will hear some people call it the ‘gay beach’. It isn’t of course, well not totally, but on any given day you will more almost certainly find more gay men here, both visitors and locals, than anyone else. And it is one of the few beaches on Crete where going naked is more often the norm.

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So there you have it, just a brief look at some of the beaches on Crete. Yes, there are some that haven’t even got a mention, but I can leave those to another day, and there are still more that are being ‘discovered’ every year, while others are no longer as popular as they used to be.

Just a final word, isn’t there always one? There are few ‘official’ nudist beaches neither on Crete, nor Greece generally (and the same goes for a lot of other countries too!), although ‘topless’ for the girls seems generally accepted and so does clothing optional for everyone. You will find that sometimes families will appear on the beach and ask you to ‘cover up’. Be polite and do so, you are a visitor to Greece so you are governed by the laws of Greece!

Enjoy our beautiful Cretan beaches, and our clear turquoise waters, but don’t forget your sunscreen!