Spili
Spili sits in a fold of the Kedros foothills, about 45 minutes south of Rethymno, and is the village most south-coast days pass through on the way back from Preveli. The reason to stop is the square: a row of 25 Venetian lion-head fountains running with cold spring water, plane trees, and a couple of kafenions that still fill with locals in the afternoon. It is free, it takes half an hour, and it is the gentlest full stop after a beach.
At a glance
- Cost to visit
- Free
- Drive from Rethymno
- About 45 minutes, roughly 30 km
- Known for
- 25 Venetian lion-head fountains of spring water on the square
- Time needed
- 20 to 45 minutes, longer if you eat
- Best paired with
- Preveli Beach, Preveli Monastery and Triopetra
The fountains
The lion heads are Venetian, sixteenth century, and they still work. The water comes off Mount Kedros and runs cold even in August. People fill bottles, wash fruit and splash their faces; it is not a monument you look at from behind a rope. The row sits under plane trees on the main square, which is also the bus stop, the taxi rank and the place the village sits in the evening.
The village
Spili is a working Agios Vasileios village, not a staged one. There is a health centre, a high school, a couple of butcher's shops and a bakery that does dakos rusks. The lanes behind the square climb into stone houses with courtyards. It is a useful lunch stop on a Preveli day because the tavernas are in the shade and the drive back to the north coast is then all downhill.
Practicalities
Free to visit. About 30 km from Rethymno, 45 minutes by car through the Kourtaliotiko road or the inland Spili road. Park on the square. Twenty to forty-five minutes is enough unless you eat. It pairs naturally with Preveli Beach, Preveli Monastery and Triopetra on the same south-coast circuit.
Good to know
What is Spili famous for?+
The row of 25 Venetian lion-head fountains on the main square, still running with cold spring water from Mount Kedros.
How far is Spili from Rethymno?+
About 30 km south, 45 minutes by car. It is the inland village most south-coast days from Rethymno pass through.
Is there an entrance fee?+
No. Spili is a village. You pay only if you eat, drink or shop.
Is the fountain water safe to drink?+
Locals drink it and fill bottles from it. It is spring water off Kedros, cold year-round. If you prefer bottled, the kafenions sell that too.
Visit Spili with us
NatureSouth Crete Highlights
5.0· 62 reviewsSpili's lion fountains, the Kourtaliotiko Gorge, Preveli Monastery and the palm-forest lagoon in one unhurried day.
- 5h
- small group · max 8
- Most days
From €200
Book this tour
NatureSpring Wildflowers & Orchids of Crete
5.0· 58 reviewsSeven days of orchid plateaus, gorges and mountain flora, based in Spili
- 7 days
- small group · max 14
- 1 departure
From €990
Book this tourRead more about Spili
- 12 Best Day Trips from RethymnoRethymno is the best day-trip base in Crete because it sits in the middle of the north coast. Within 45 minutes you can reach Lake Kournas and the Argyroupoli springs, the pottery village of Margarites with Arkadi Monastery, and the south coast at Preveli and Triopetra. Within 90 minutes you reach Imbros Gorge and Knossos with the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. Beyond that, at two hours or a little more, lie Aradaina Gorge, the Samaria trailhead at Omalos, the 2,453 m summit of Pachnes, and the pink lagoon at Elafonisi. Every one of the twelve below is a return trip in a single day.
- Best Time to Visit Crete: A Month-by-Month GuideThe best months to visit Crete are May, September and October. May brings 24°C days, an opening Samaria Gorge from 1 May and small crowds; September has the warmest sea of the year at around 25°C with the summer crowds gone; October keeps the sea near 23°C and gives the best walking weather, with Samaria open until 31 October. July and August are the hottest at over 35°C inland, the busiest and the most expensive. April is the greenest month, with wildflowers, over seventy orchid species and Orthodox Easter, but the sea is only about 17°C and Samaria is closed. Winter is mild, cheap and beach-free.
- 20 Beautiful Villages in CreteThe twenty villages worth driving to in Crete run from Maroulas, fifteen minutes from Rethymno with its Venetian tower houses, to Mochlos on the north-east coast two and a half hours away. The essential cluster sits within 45 minutes of Rethymno: Margarites for pottery, Argyroupoli for its springs, Spili for the 25-spout lion fountain, and Anogeia at 740 m for lyra music and shepherd culture. Further afield lie Archanes in the Heraklion wine country, Zaros beneath Psiloritis, Kritsa above Agios Nikolaos for weaving and the Panagia Kera frescoes, the chestnut village of Elos, and Loutro in Sfakia, which has no road in or out at all.
- Crete in Autumn: The Harvest SeasonAutumn is arguably the best season to be in Crete. The summer heat drops away from mid-September, the sea stays warm enough to swim into late October, and the gorges and mountain villages that are punishing in August become comfortable again. It is also the working half of the year: grapes are picked and pressed in September, raki is distilled in copper stills through October and November, chestnuts are harvested in the mountain villages of the west, and the olive harvest starts in November and runs into the new year. Village festivals follow that calendar rather than the tourist one, and the island empties of visitors from about mid-October, so prices, roads and beaches all get easier at exactly the point the landscape is at its most interesting.
