Location
OUR VILLAS ARE LOCATED IN THE APOKORONAS REGION
The popular White Village peninsular on the north west coast of Cretein a protected area of natural beauty
APOKORONAS. HOW DO YOU SAY THAT?
First thing, if you are not a Greek speaker, you may find it hard to get your tonque around the name! It is pronounced AH-POK-O-RONASS with the emphasis on the second O.
Apokoronas is a protected area of outstanding natural beauty similar to a National Park (like the English Peak District) located east of the city of Chania, from the village of Aptera on the coast to a little bit beyond the seaside resort of Georgeopolis in the west and as far as the town of Vrysess to the south. Popular villages, in addition to the ones above are Kalyves, Almyrida, Gavalochori, Aspro, Plaka, Kambia, Kokkino Chorio, Drapanos, Kefalas, Paleoni, Douliana, Xerosterni and Vamos. All locations are lovely, and delightful places to spend time in.
These villages are popular with tourists mainly from the UK, Scandinavia, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium and France, but the villages don't disappear when the tourists go home! Most are working villages with a thriving all-year round population, especially around November to February when the olive picking season is in full swing. Some villages such as Gavalochori, just a little way inland from Almyrida, can trace their heritage back over a thousand years. Apokoronas is also popular with Greeks from the mainland - from Athens and beyond - eager to escape to our clean air, sandy beaches
and fabulously fresh Cretan cuisine.
These are just some of the reasons why, from April to October, this area of Crete is arguably one of the best places to holiday in the whole of the Mediterranean region!
What you will not find, you may be relieved to discover, are groups of rowdy young holidaymakers misbehaving in the bars and beaches. The area is well known as very family friendly and the more uninhibited youths prefer the brash resorts further east, such as Malia and Agios Nikolaos. The villages are also thankfully free of noisy - and dangerous - quad bikes. A wide range of bicycles, scooters and cars are readily available for rent, but quad bikes are not generally available. Any you may see are owned by locals (often farmers).Typical people holidaying in the area are couples of all ages, families with children from toddler age to teenagers and groups of well-behaved young adults who want to enjoy walking, cycling and similar healthy outdoor activities. Plus sunseekers on the beaches, of course.
Any noise you may hear is likely to come from local shepherds urging their sheep to keep moving as they herd them from olive grove to olive grove during the day and especially just before dusk. In the villages you may hear cockerals, dogs and donkeys - the usual sounds of the countryside. During wedding celebrations, and especially at Easter, you are likely to be entertained by fireworks and other locally-sourced percussive bursts (!)
After your pool days and beach days, here are more things to do and see
Look out for the Apokoronas region on TV and in film
The film Zorba The Greek (1964) was filmed around the area and specifically in the village of Kokkino Chorio. The local kafenion has photo stills taken from the film and many locals were used as extras. Since then, the region has been the location of some British Reality TV Shows, notably A Place in Greece, A Place in The Sun
and we are aware of at least one more independent TV series about to start shooting in 2018. Here are some interesting links on YouTube:
* Zorba The Greek (extract- dance on the beach)
* A Place in Greece (reality TV series) (contains ads, but worth the wait!)