Tip of the day

Vai, Crete, Greece,
… for Vai, in order to see a landscape unique in the whole of Crete. Vai is a big sandy beach like so many others in Crete but with the special feature that behind it there is a thick palm tree forest (more than 5,000 trees, said to have sprung up from the stones of the dates spat out by the pirates who were hiding here!).
As you descend the road towards the beach, you have the impression that you are in an oasis in the African desert! As soon as you reach the beach, however, you will have difficulty in finding a parking place even for your motorcycle. There is an even greater jam on the beach, where the crowd is a fact of life from early in the morning, and it is the same thing in the taverna and the bar, where the prices are daylight robbery. Vai is a very beautiful place, but to enjoy it you have to come here after the end of September and before July. In the high season, it’s better to try and see if you can find more space on the beach directly south of Vai, ten minutes away on foot by the path that starts behind the taverna.