5-star villas in Crete
Crete is Greece's largest island and the fifth largest in the Mediterranean. Steeped in history, Crete offers historical wonders of past civilisations, beautiful beaches and impressive mountains. Renting a luxury villa here is a great way for a family to explore the island, or just relax and chill by the pool.
Crete combines a vibrant contemporary culture and excellent cuisine with its historic Minoan history to create a unique Mediterranean experience, best enjoyed as a luxury villa holiday.
The island's landscape is comparable with other Greek islands but on a larger scale, with sun-soaked beaches, rugged mountains in the interior and fishing villages dotting the coastline. Exploring the island by car allows you to take in all the contrasting scenery while the more adventurous can walk amongst the Gods, visiting the cave where Zeus, King of the Greek panthenon, was born.
It is impossible not to be intrigued by the historic past of this island. 4000 years ago, Crete was the birthplace of the Minoans, which was the start of 'civilisation' in Europe as we know it today. The most well known of their remains on Crete is the Palace of Knossos - excavated by reknown archaeologist Arthus Evans in the early 20th century - somewhat controversially reconstructing elements of the palace. This ancient complex covers an impressive 14,000sqm, so taking in these ruins are a must...
The cuisine of Crete
For foodies, Crete offers one of the healithest cuisines in the world with local ingredients sourced from smallholdings and farms around the island and the freshest fish landed each morning. Cretan olive oil is world famous, mountain herbs feature in most dishes, local vineyards produce some good (and very good) quality wines and Cretan brandy (or raki) is enjoyed in every taverna, often drunk neat with mezes.
Cretan wines are generally grown at high altitudes (up to 850m), so the whites will surprise you with their fresh, scented and sometimes graceful balance. Reds are light coloured but stronger and well suited to accompany the local cuisine.
Lamb with stamnagathi (a wild green), smoked pork and Cretan risotto, called Gamopilafo, are not to be missed. For cheese lovers, every Cretan village seems to have its own cheese, some of it made into little pies, enjoyed with some local honey on top.
Renting a luxury villa as a base, like our favourite Villa Edwina, to explore Crete should be on everybody's bucketlist and, if you are very lucky, your children might stumble upon a minotaur!