Kolokytha Beach Crete

The hidden and wonderful Kolokytha Beach (which in Greek means courgette) is found in the southeastern part of the Crete Island near the picturesque Elounda Village and Agios Nikolaos, just below the Kalydon Island.

A still remote and intact beach where you will find a small tongue of soft white sand bathed by a turquoise and blue sea with crystal clear and transparent waters. A small paradise that in recent years has been discovered by many travelers and that especially in the summer is also filled with day trips organized by the various agencies that also touch the island of Spinalonga, becoming too crowded.

It is not equipped at all and certainly also thanks to the non-urbanization it has remained wild and adorable, only a few trees of tamarisk and secular olive trees for a little shade during the hottest hours, nothing more, so if you decide to spend it throughout the day, remember to bring everything you need from something to drink and eat. To the left towards the north-west where the boats dock, there are flat rocks where lovers of naturism like to position themselves.

In reality, Kolokytha beach or also called Agios Loukas beach by the locals is right above a small islet connected by a narrow passage to the mainland. The small canal was built in 1897 by the French army to connect Elounda to Mirabello Bay. The Spinalonga Island in the background recalls the past when it was used as a hospital that hosted the last colony of lepers until 1957.

To visit the small chapel of Saint Lukas which gives its name to the beach and where, among other things, the path to reach it, offers glimpses of a panorama that is difficult to forget, and still to the north the Byzantine chapel of San Fokas erected in homage to Niceforo Foca Byzantine emperor who helped the Cretans to free themselves from Arab rule in 961 BC Finally, near the beach there are the ruins of an early Christian basilica of the fifth century which came to light only in 1971 thanks to the archaeologist Manolis Borboudakis. An open-air museum with fragments of marble capitals, mosaic floors, the pulpit and a vaulted cistern now partially collapsed by the continuous pirate raids. According to the Cretan tradition, the church was originally built in honor of Saint Catherine.

First, from wherever you decide to spend your holiday in Crete, you have to head towards Elouda and continue east. Pass the ancient salt pans of Elounda on the right you will find windmills and a picturesque bridge with moored boats. Follow the road until it becomes a dirt road and after about two hundred, three hundred meters, turn right. Here you have to leave your car and walk about five hundred meters, a short and pleasant walk through the small church of Agios Loukas.

It should be emphasized that the journey is an added value for the magnificent landscape that surrounds it.

Another valid alternative is to take an organized excursion by boat, there are many proposals that you can find in the tourist resorts of the area.

A stop to be included in the list of things to see in Crete to enjoy a very beautiful corner that will make you enter even more into the Cretan atmosphere that despite being part of Greece has a completely different and unique flavor.