Kritsa Crete – 5 Things You Shouldn’t Miss When Visiting
Kritsa Crete has a reputation as one of the most scenic villages on this beautiful Greek island. It’s also one of the oldest. Set up on a hillside, Kritsa will certainly take your breath away when you first spot its stacks of white houses upon your initial approach. Visiting Kritsa Crete should be very high on your list of things to do when exploring Crete’s eastern Lasithi region.
But there is much more to visiting Kritsa than just the village itself. My favorite church from our time in Crete, my favorite ancient ruins from our time in Crete, and one of my favorite restaurant discoveries in Crete, were all in the Kritsa vicinity. So here are 5 things you definitely shouldn’t miss when visiting Kritsa Crete.
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Contents
First, A Little Bit of Orientation
Kritsa is located on the eastern side of Crete – an area called the Lasithi region. The biggest city in Lasithi is Agios Nikolaos, and it’s an ideal place to base your exploration of eastern Crete. As part of our own Crete itinerary, we spent a week in Agios Nikolaos. Kritsa is located in the hills west of Agios Nikolaos – only a 15 minute drive away.
If you are based in Agios Nikolaos, like we were, then exploring Kritsa Crete is very convenient. We actually went up to Kritsa on three different occasions.
If you are based in Heraklion – Crete’s capital city – then it takes about an hour to drive to Kritsa. This makes for a highly recommended day trip opportunity.
Kritsa Crete itself is located high up on the side of a hill, surrounded by olive groves. It’s a small village, but interestingly, during the Middle Ages, it was purportedly the largest village in all of Crete. Nowadays, Kritsa’s shops, artisans, and tavernas welcome visitors looking for a taste of a more traditional way of life.
As we approached Kritsa Crete for the first time, I immediately thought of the White Villages of Andalucia Spain – featured elsewhere on this blog in my post on A Day Trip From Malaga to Mijas Pueblo.
Getting to Kritsa Crete
The best way to get to Kritsa Crete from Agios Nikoloas or Heraklion or anywhere else you may be staying is via car. While there are public buses that run between Agios Nikolaos and Kritsa (you can check the schedule here), it would be very difficult to see all that I am recommending in this post without a car.
But the good news is that renting a car in Crete is very easy and inexpensive. And driving in Crete is quite easy too. In fact, I’ve written an entire blog post that should convince you. So be sure to check it out! (Driving in Crete – 7 Things To Know Before You Rent a Car)
An alternative to driving yourself would be a taxi. You can find several taxi stands around central Agios Nikolaos. Taxi prices in Crete are usually fixed according to destination. Uber or other ride share options aren’t available anywhere in Crete. But unless you hire a taxi for several hours, it would not be a practical way to see all of my recommended sites.
Church of Panagia Kera
This 13th century church, located one kilometer outside of Kritsa village, is Kritsa Crete’s first can’t-miss site. In fact, the Church of Panagia Kera is considered one of the most historically significant churches in all of Crete. And it was my personal favorite religious building from our time on the island.
It’s a very small Greek Orthodox Church, and we’d come across others on the island that share similar architecture. But once I walked inside, I immediately understand what all the fuss was about.
The Church of Panagia Kera is famous for its brightly-colored and relatively well-preserved Byzantine frescos. These 13th & 14th century works of art completely cover the walls and ceilings of this ancient church. It makes for quite an amazing kaleidoscope of colors – especially in such a tight space.
We’ve seen plenty of Byzantine religious art in various museums throughout Greece and other parts of Europe, but I’ve never appreciated it quite as much as I did when standing inside this church.
You will pay a small entrance fee to enter this church. It cost 5 Euros per person at the time of our visit. Also note that the church shares the property with a small gift shop, restaurant, and restrooms.
Ancient Lato
Ancient Lato is the ruins of an ancient city-state located about 3 km north of Kritsa village. You definitely do not want to visit Kritsa Crete without also spending some time exploring Ancient Lato. This was my favorite ancient site from our time on Crete. In fact, we both preferred Lato to the significantly more famous Knossos Palace – which was much more crowded, much more expensive, and much less originally authentic (it’s been partially restored and not necessarily in a great way).
Ancient Lato was one of Crete’s most important and powerful city-states from the 7th century BC to the 2nd century BC. The ruins themselves date to the 3rd and 4th century BC. Ancient Lato sits strategically atop a mountain, built across two small peaks, with commanding views out across the surrounding valleys, all the way down to sea.
The ruins are quite well-preserved. In fact, Ancient Lato is considered the best preserved site on the island from this period of Crete’s history. And amazingly, we basically had the entire site to ourselves! During our April visit to Ancient Lato, we shared the entire site with only a couple of other tourists. I presume this is because Ancient Lato is somewhat off the beaten track. (We shared the space in the small Church of the Panagia Kera with 3x more people).
While visiting Ancient Lato, you can walk up its main street, walk into the foundations of workshops and houses, sit in its public square (called an Agora) & its small amphitheater, and stand inside the walls of its Temple. It’s a compact site, easy to explore, in a beautiful location, with amazing history (the story is told on scattered informational signs). And we had it to ourselves! Hard to beat!!
Entry into Ancient Lato currently costs only 5 Euros. I had originally planned on spending only about 30 minutes at the site, based on a general lack of online information to adequately prepare me. We ended up spending more than an hour, and actually could easily have explored longer if not for a lunch reservation. It’s an absolute treasure! Don’t miss it!
(Important Note: Because Ancient Lato is built across a mountaintop, it does require good mobility to walk up the short distance from the parking lot into the site. And once inside, certain spots can be a little tricky to navigate.)
Kritsa Village
The third thing you can’t miss when visiting Kritsa Crete is taking some time to simply wander around the quaint hillside village itself. Kritsa is small and it’s doesn’t take long to walk through most of it. As you do, you will find a handful of Orthodox churches including the large Panagia Odigitria (built in the 1800s) perched hillside on the edge of town.
You’ll also find small tavernas, shops, and even a couple of small folklore museums where you can learn about traditional Cretan village life.
But for me personally, it was just wandering around the small alleyways of Kritsa Crete that I loved best.
(Useful Note: Google Maps shows you two different free public parking lots for Kritsa village – one at the top of the village and another at the bottom. I would recommend parking at the lower lot and walking up to village. It’s larger and much easier to access from the main road. Here’s a link to the location of the lower lot).
Lunch at Xatheri
If you want to eat lunch or dinner in Kritsa village, you will not struggle to find a great place with great food. In fact, one of our visits to Kritsa Crete was on Easter Sunday for traditional roasted lamb at a restaurant named Thymisi Cuisine. And it was excellent!
However, I discovered one of my favorite restaurants from our entire Crete trip in Kroustas – a tiny village 5 km south of Kritsa. And so I don’t think you should miss eating at Xatheri when you are in the area.
Our Airbnb host in Agios Nikolaos recommended Xatheri to us. Stavros is a former restaurateur and current hospitality professional who consistently gave us outstanding dining recommendations during our time staying at his great place. He suggested Xatheri for its authentic approach to traditional Cretan cuisine.
After our experience eating amazing traditional food at the famed Ntounias on the other side of the island, I jumped at his suggestion.
And Xatheri didn’t disappoint. Farm-to-table, traditional yet modern, and oh so good!
I’m still haunted by this dish. It’s called their Aftakia Pasta. Homemade pasta, fennel sausage, local greens, and local goat’s cheese. But it was the broth at the bottom of the bowl really made this dish. It was absolutely packed with herby sausagey flavor.
We loved Xatheri so much, we made another reservation on the spot to return two days later! And on our return, I ordered a second type of pasta with goat and tomatoes and more local cheese. And again….the broth! Wow!!
I should say here that Xatheri doesn’t only serve pasta. I just simply decided to order pasta a second time because it was so good the first time. But they also have plenty of grilled meat options, salads, and many traditional Cretan appetizers as you would expect with a traditional Cretan restaurant. (Reservations recommended especially on weekends.)
And I would also recommend taking a little time to wander through Kroustas after lunch. Like Kritsa Crete, it’s another scenic village that begs to be explored.
Stopping in Agios Nikolaos
This final can’t-miss is for those visiting Kritsa Crete on a day trip from Heraklion. You definitely shouldn’t miss spending some time in Agios Nikolaos. You will pass by on your way back and forth to Kritsa, so it’s an easy stop. And I don’t think you should have any problem finding a few hours in your day trip itinerary to explore this beautiful city next to the sea.
In fact, remember Ancient Lato? Well, back during its hey-day, Agios Nikolaos was called Kamara, and was the port for Ancient Lato. And when you visit Agios Nikolaos, you can see the ruins of Ancient Kamara taking up a full block in the town center. (I walked by these every day during our week staying in town, which is one of the many amazing things about Crete in general….two to four thousand year old ruins just about everywhere!)
But it’s modern day Agios Nikolaos that is the real stunner. Here you’ll find a town surrounding a small lake with a short channel cut out to the adjoining sea. Definitely one of the most scenic locations in all of Crete! Lakeside, at one of its many restaurants, is precisely where I would eat dinner at the end of your day trip to the area.
Final Thoughts
Clearly, Kritsa Crete is a place that deserves a top spot on your Crete itinerary. And as I’m sure you now understand, while Kritsa village itself is small, you’ll find a wealth amazing things to see (and eat) in the surrounding area.
So whether you are visiting Kritsa Crete on a day trip from further away, or driving back & forth from Agios Nikolaos like we did, be sure not to miss these 5 amazing opportunities.
If you would like more advice about traveling in Crete, then you should check out these posts:
Heraklion or Chania – Which City in Crete is Better?
Chania to Heraklion By Bus – Everything You Need to Know
And if you would like to read about some other great villages we’ve visited around the world, then check out these posts: