Is Rethymno Worth Visiting?

The short answer

Yes - and the reason is structural rather than sentimental. Rethymno is the only one of Crete's three main cities where the historic centre, a swimmable beach and a central touring position overlap. Chania has a better harbour but is stuck in the far west. Heraklion has the museum and the airport but a much less appealing centre. Rethymno is the compromise that stops feeling like a compromise after about a day.

What is actually here

An old town that survived

Rethymno's old town is a working Venetian and Ottoman quarter, not a preserved block of it. Venice held the city from the thirteenth century until 1646; the Ottomans held it for the next two and a half centuries, and both left the streets rather than just a monument.

• The Fortezza, built by the Venetians between 1573 and 1580 on the Paleokastro hill above the town. It is a shell rather than a furnished castle - you go for the walls, the ramparts and the view over terracotta roofs to the sea.
• The Rimondi Fountain of 1626, three lion heads still running water into a small square in the middle of the old town.
• Porta Guora, the last surviving gate of the Venetian city wall, and the point where the old town properly starts.
• The Neratze Mosque, a Venetian church converted after 1646, with the tallest minaret in the city; it now works as a music school and concert venue.
• The Venetian harbour, small, curved and lined with tavernas, with a lighthouse at the end of the mole.

The useful detail is scale. The old town is roughly fifteen minutes' walk across, which means you can wander it without a plan and never be far from where you started.

A beach where the town is

Rethymno's beach begins at the old harbour and runs east for something like 12 kilometres - sand, shallow entry, and organised in parts, empty in others. That combination is rare: in most Cretan towns you either get the history or the swimming, and here you can do both without moving the car.

The honest caveat is that this is the north coast, which catches the wind. On a blowy day the water is choppy and the south coast is the better swim.

A city that stays open

The University of Crete's humanities and social-sciences campus is in Rethymno, and several thousand students live here. The practical consequence for a visitor is that the old town has bookshops, ordinary cafes and year-round restaurants rather than only seasonal tourist businesses, and that a trip in November or March is not a walk through shuttered streets.

The touring argument

Rethymno sits roughly halfway along the north coast: about 60 km from Chania and about 78 km from Heraklion. That central position is the strongest single argument for basing yourself here, because it puts nearly everything on the island inside a day's reach.

Destination	Distance from Rethymno	Typical day
Lake Kournas and Argyroupoli springs	~20 km	Half a day - about 4 hours
Arkadi Monastery	~23 km	Half a day, with Margarites and Melidoni
Preveli, Plakias and the south coast	~40 km	About 6 hours
Imbros Gorge	~65 km	5-7 hours
Knossos and Heraklion museum	~80 km	About 7 hours
Samaria Gorge trailhead (Omalos)	~100 km	A full 12-hour day
Elafonisi	~130 km	About 8 hours
Spinalonga and Elounda	~130 km	About 9 hours

From Chania, the eastern half of that table becomes impractical. From Heraklion, the western half does. From Rethymno, all of it is doable from one bed.

The case against

Worth saying plainly:

• No airport. You fly into Chania (CHQ), about 70 km and an hour away, or Heraklion (HER), about 85 km and an hour and a quarter. Add a transfer at both ends of the trip.
• The hotel strip is generic. The large beachfront hotels east of town are package-holiday architecture, and staying out there means driving or bussing in every evening. The old town is the reason to come; stay in it or near it.
• August is loud. The bar streets in the old town run late, and the centre is busy. Late May, June, September and October are better.
• The Fortezza is empty. It is a ruin with excellent views, not a museum. Manage expectations.
• Chania is prettier. If you have three days and want the single most photogenic place in Crete, that is Chania's Venetian harbour, and Rethymno will feel like the understudy.

Who should come here

Rethymno suits you if you want to see most of Crete from one base, you want history and a beach in walking distance of each other, you would rather pay Rethymno prices than Chania prices, you are travelling outside July and August, or you want a town that is still a town in winter.

Rethymno does not suit you if you want everything within a resort, you have three days and want only the postcard version of Crete, or you are unwilling to hire a car - because the touring argument, which is the strongest one, depends on having one.

How long to stay

Two days does the city itself: one for the old town and the Fortezza, one for the beach and an evening walk. Five to seven days is the version that makes sense - the city, plus four or five day trips in different directions, with unbooked afternoons in between.