Chania

Chania's glory — a curving Venetian port ringed by pastel mansions, the arches of the old shipyards, and the domed Kücük Hasan mosque on the waterfront. Endlessly beautiful, and different at every hour: café-quiet in the morning, golden at sunset, strung with lights at night. Just being here, drink in hand, is the main event.

The elegant stone lighthouse at the end of the harbour mole, one of the oldest in the world — a fifteen-minute walk out along the breakwater for the classic view back across the water to the whole sweep of the old town and the White Mountains behind. Best at sunset, when the harbour glows and the crowds thin.

Get lost on purpose in the maze behind the harbour — narrow stone streets of Venetian doorways, crumbling Ottoman balconies, bougainvillea, craft shops and hidden tavernas, with the odd Byzantine wall or ruined church around a corner. The wandering is the point; every alley opens onto something photogenic.

Chania's grand cross-shaped covered market, built in 1913 — stalls of Cretan cheeses, olives, honey, herbs, raki and mountain sausages under a soaring roof, plus a couple of little tavernas for a cheap, authentic lunch. The place to taste and buy the island's produce, right on the edge of the old town.

The nearest swim to the old town — a sandy, Blue Flag town beach just a ten-minute walk west of the harbour, with sunbeds, tavernas and calm shallow water. Not the island's most spectacular beach, but wonderfully convenient: a morning dip and a fish lunch on the front, then straight back into town.

Crete has one of the healthiest, tastiest cuisines in the Mediterranean — dakos rusks piled with tomato and mizithra cheese, wild greens, slow-cooked lamb, cheese-stuffed kalitsounia pastries, all washed down with fiery raki poured for free at the end. Eat it at a Splantzia taverna, where the meal ends when you say so.

The Venetian fortress guarding the harbour mouth, where the Greek flag was first raised over a united Crete in 1913. Climb its ramparts for a commanding view over the harbour and the old town, and step into the Maritime Museum within; a compact dose of the town's turbulent history with the best vantage in Chania.

The leafy plane-shaded heart of the old Turkish quarter, ringed by tavernas and cafés and far calmer than the harbour — a lovely spot for a slow ouzo among locals, with the old church of Agios Nikolaos (once a mosque, with both a minaret and a bell tower) on one side. This is the real, lived-in Chania.

Housed in the Firkas fortress, a well-told museum of Cretan seafaring — ship models, naval instruments and a moving section on the Battle of Crete, plus a separate hall down the harbour on ancient and traditional shipbuilding. A rewarding hour for anyone curious about the island's maritime past, in a fine old setting.

A string of small, sheltered sandy coves between low headlands just west of town — calm, shallow and family-friendly, backed by pines and tavernas. The easiest 'proper' beach day from Chania without a big drive: shallow turquoise water, sunbeds and shade, and the old town a short bus ride back.

A tiny, deeply moving synagogue tucked in a lane of the old Jewish quarter — the last in Crete, restored after the island's Jewish community was wiped out in 1944 when the ship deporting them was sunk. Quiet, beautiful and free to visit; a poignant corner of Chania's layered, and tragic, history.

As the light softens, the whole harbour glows amber and the tables fill for the town's nightly ritual — a cold beer, an Aperol or a raki with the lighthouse and the old mosque silhouetted across the water. Later the bars in the back lanes pick up; Chania's nightlife is more mellow charm than late-night club.

The old leather-workers' street of Skrydlof, still lined with shops selling handmade Cretan boots, sandals and bags at fair prices — one of the best places on the island to pick up quality leather, and a fun, colourful browse just off the market. Haggle gently, and you'll walk away with a proper souvenir.

A lush, terraced park in the foothills south of town, where paths wind down through fruit orchards, tropical plants and herb gardens to a lake, with a farm-to-table taverna serving its own produce at the bottom. A green, shady break from beaches and stone, and a lovely lunch; best combined with a drive into the hills.

Chania's modern archaeological museum gathers the finds of ancient Kydonia — Minoan pottery and clay tablets, Roman mosaics and jewellery — telling the deep story of the city that has sat on this spot for four thousand years. A cool, well-laid-out hour that gives the pretty old town its ancient backbone.