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Sitia Travel Guide

Sitia is another seaside town situated on the east of Crete in the Lassithi prefecture. Its is another town hardly touched by modern tourism mainly due to the fact Sitia isn't on many of the tour operators travel brochures.

Sitia can be accessed by following the main national highway from Heraklion and sits just an hours drive away from Agios Nikolaos. The town has its own domestic airport, which you can fly into from Athens, but most people use Heraklion airport.

The small seaside town of Sitia is famous in Crete now for its lovely sandy beach which is surrounded by small beach bars and Taverna’s. If you want to venture further afield and explore the area of Sitia, you have Toplou Monastery and Vai beach just a short drive away.

Sitia - General Information

One of the main reasons people visit Sitia has to be its excellent beaches, on the eastern coast past Agios Nikolaos the coastline becomes more rugged and beaches are harder to find. Sitia beach is well catered for with showers, beach service and of course sunbeds available for daily rental.

Visiting the town for a meal you will find some excellent little Taverna's, one of the most recommended is Cafe Aroma, sitting on the harbour side. Also find Zorba's sitting just down from Cafe Aroma which is always full of locals grabbing a bite to eat or sitting down for a family meal.

For those interested in exploring the area of Sitia then there is a lot to do, including exploring the local cave systems, of which the best of these has to be Peristera, Pelekita and Oxo Latsidi. Pelekita and Oxo Latsidi complexes are over 300 metres long.

If exploring the cave systems are not enough the try visiting the gorge of Kato Zakros or the “Valley of the Dead”, so called due to the amount of Minoan burials found in the area. This is a great place for all budding archaeologists to explore and for those who have visited the palace of Knossos its an excellent place to see the other side of the Minoan culture.

Another excellent place to visit is the Toplou Monastery which can be found on the way to Vai beach. Toplou Monastery was built in the 15th century and was rebuilt after a huge earthquake that shattered the island of Crete.

Toplou Monastery has some amazing paintings, fresco and icons dating back from the 15th century including portraits of amazing battles holding off invading forces.

You can get into Sitia on the newly built airport that currently only accepts domestic and military flights, or to drive into Sitia from Agios Nikolaos or catching a ferry into Sitia Port..

Agios Nikolaos Sissi Sitia Milatos Vrouchas Ag Nik Hotels

Holidays2Crete.com > Guides to Crete > Agios Nikolaos > Sitia

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Useful resort details

Nearest Airport : Heraklion (HER)
ATM/Cash Machines: Yes
Post Office: Yes
Card/Coin Phones: Yes
Mini-Markets: Yes

The resort is best suited to:
Couples, Honeymooners, families and Older Travellers.

Location
East of Crete