Plakias village: Beaches, Stays, Things to do

Plakias is a laid-back beach-resort village on the south coast of the Rethymno region of Crete, set on the Libyan Sea at the mouth of the Kotsifos valley, with a long sandy beach and easy reach of nearby beaches, gorges and Preveli. Plakias sits about 40 km south of Rethymno, where the Kotsifos river meets the sea below the Kouroupa range. The village opens onto a curved sandy beach known as Gialia, with the headlands of Cape Kako Mouri and Cape Stavros closing off its bay. Its relaxed, low-rise character has made it a long-standing favourite with independent travellers who want a quieter base than the big north-coast resorts.

What and where is Plakias

Plakias is a coastal village in the Rethymno regional unit of southern Crete, facing the Libyan Sea rather than the Aegean. The village belongs to the municipality of Agios Vasileios, in the Community of Sellia, and Finikas is its municipal unit. Its Greek name means “flat”, a reference to the level ground the settlement stands on at the foot of its valley. Around 136 people live in Plakias year-round, a number that grows many times over through the summer season.

Plakias grew from a small fishing settlement into the resort it is today. Early records note only a handful of fishermen here in the mid-20th century, before the beach and the sheltered bay drew steady tourism. The village now runs largely along a single seafront street, with tavernas, cafés and bars facing the water and small lanes climbing toward the olive groves behind.

Plakias beach and the Paligremnos cliff

Plakias beach is a sandy stretch about 1.3 km long, called Gialia, running east from the village to the foot of the Paligremnos cliff. The beach shelves gently and carries the usual organised facilities in season, including sunbeds, umbrellas, snack bars, showers, changing rooms and water-sports gear. Its length and gradual slope suit both swimming and long shoreline walks.

Paligremnos marks the eastern edge of the beach, a sheer vertical cliff that draws rock climbers to its face. Locals also call this point Gonates, meaning “knees”, from a legend that the hero Digenis knelt here to drink from a spring. Old tunnels near the base once carried coal down to waiting cargo ships, and from September to January the full moon’s reflection on the rock is said to draw squid toward the shore. Paligremnos and the beach below it have been protected as a Monument of Natural and Cultural Heritage since 2023, after a campaign against a planned resort development.

Things to do in and around Plakias

Plakias rewards a slow pace, with a walkable seafront, clear water and a ring of beaches, gorges and villages within a short drive. The main options, roughly in the order most visitors take them up, are listed below:

1. Walk the seafront promenade past the tavernas, cafés and the small harbour.
2. Swim and sunbathe on Gialia beach, or rent gear for the water sports on offer.
3. Dive the south coast with a local operator; Phoenix Dive Club, the first PADI centre founded on Crete, has run courses here for more than 25 years.
4. Hike the loop trails that climb to the hillside villages and around the headlands.
5. Ride horseback along the beach and the coastal paths toward Damnoni.
6. Take a boat from the port east to the palm-forest beach at Preveli.

Beaches near Plakias

Plakias sits at the centre of a cluster of south-coast beaches, from busy organised sands to quiet pebble coves, most within a few kilometres. The closest options are listed below:

• Damnoni, a sandy-pebble bay east of Plakias, backed by cliffs and offering water sports.
• Souda, the last beach of the Gialia seafront to the west, sandy and fringed by native Theophrastus palms along the Finikas river.
• Foteinari, two small pebble coves between Plakias and Souda, with a rocky seabed suited to snorkelling.
• Ammoudi and Ammoudaki, small sandy beaches a short way east near Lefkogeia.
• Skinaria, a quieter cove further east, valued for its clear water.
• Kalypso, a steep-sided diving cove also known as Pirates’ Fjord, southeast of the village.

Gorges and hillside villages

Two gorges carry the roads down to Plakias from the north coast, the Kourtaliotiko and the Kotsifos, and both are worth the drive in their own right. The Kourtaliotiko Gorge runs for about 3 km with cliffs up to 600 m, a year-round waterfall and the chapel of Agios Nikolaos at its base. The Kotsifos Gorge is the narrower of the two, starting near Kanevos village and ending at Plakias, with near-vertical walls and a small rock-cut church of Saint Nicholas inside it.

Two hillside villages overlook the bay and make an easy trip for lunch and a view. Myrthios sits directly above Plakias, with tavernas that look out over the whole bay, while Sellia stands a little to the west along the high road. Both keep the traditional character that the seafront has partly traded for tourism.

Getting there and getting around

Plakias lies about 40 km south of Rethymno, reached by the road that winds down through the Kourtaliotiko Gorge, with Chania International Airport (CHQ) the nearest at roughly 90 km. Heraklion International Airport (HER) is the alternative, about 110 km away to the east. A bus connects Rethymno to Plakias, but services are limited and leave the outlying beaches and villages hard to reach.

A car is the practical way to enjoy this stretch of coast, because the beaches, gorges and hillside villages are spread across the valley and the shoreline. Hiring your own vehicle lets you chain Preveli, Damnoni and a gorge walk into one day and return to Plakias for the evening, and you can compare options on the car rental in Crete page.

Where to stay in Plakias

Plakias offers a range of places to stay, from family-run guesthouses and seafront apartments to villas with pools on the edge of the village. Most sit within walking distance of the beach and the tavernas, and quieter rooms can be found up in Myrthios or west toward Souda. Rooms fill fast in high summer, so early booking is worth it, and you can compare current options across the area on the stays page.