About Lassithi area
As Greece’s largest island, Crete has a lot to offer. Book flights to Lassithi, and you can get to know its eastern side, which is renowned for picture-postcard cities, rural hamlets and golden-sand beaches. Heraklion International’s the airport you’ll fly into for Lassithi. This large town’s also home to the Palace of Knossos, which provides an insight into the first advanced civilisation in Europe, the Minoans. A bit further down the coast, Aghios Nikolaos is another popular place to stay. This chic town has a colourful harbour, a string of small, sandy beaches, and a lake lined by bars and ice-cream parlours. There are plenty of well-placed hotels that put you within easy reach all of them, too. From here, you can also tour olive oil farms and take boat trips out to the history-packed Spinalonga Island. This little nugget of land, also known as Kalydon, was one of Europe’s last active leper colonies in the early 20th century. These days, boat trips ferry tourists here to explore the crumbling Venetian fortifications. For a more peaceful scene, you can travel to the seaside resort of Elounda. It’s only a 15-minute drive from Aghios Nikolaos, and holidays here deliver a selection of luxury hotels and white-sand beaches. Elsewhere, Prina is a pint-sized village tucked within the mountains, making it an ideal choice if you want to disappear for a few days. Our flights to Lassithi travel direct to Heraklion Airport from 12 UK airports. For cheap flights, take a look at our deals page.
Fast Facts
- Stroll along the promenade around the Voulismeni Lake in Aghios Nikolaos. Cafés, bars and ice-cream shops line the edges of this dusky-blue lagoon.
- Take a trip to the sands of Vai Beach. This fine coastal stretch is famous for its starring role in a Bounty chocolate bar advert that was filmed in the 1970s.
- Visit Spinalonga Island, a former leper colony with a turbulent history. It’s just a short boat ride away from both Aghios Nikolaos and Elounda.
- Follow in the footsteps of the half-man half-bull Minotaur at the historic Palace of Knossos in Heraklion.
- Catch the fast boat from Heraklion to Santorini, to spend a day among this volcanic island’s whitewashed villages, blue-domed churches and cobbled streets.