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Nikos apartments in Chania Crete. Low prices luxury family accommodation just a few steps from Chania old town, and 5 min from Chania town center visit us

THE CITY OF CHANIA CRETE

Chania, as any of its residents will tell you, is the spiritual capital of Crete, even if the title is officially bestowed on Heraclion urban sprawl.With its shimmering waterfront, crumbling masonry and web of alleys, it is an extraordinarily attractive city, especially if you can catch it in spring when the Lefka ori snowcapped peaks seem to hover above the roofs.

The permanent population - fast expanding into hills and coastal suburbs - always outnumbers the tourists and visitors.It all adds up to a city worth getting to know, where you'll almost certainly stay longer than intended, making use of plentiful accommodation, excellent markets, stores and nightlife, and most other facilities you could hope for.

The city of Chania  has two entrances: the airport of Akrotiri, and the port of Souda (the largest in the Mediterranean). The public market holds a master place in the center of the city, a brilliant cross-shaped building that was completed in 1913, and in proportion with the one in Marseilles.

Near the Chania city center the Public Garden awaits you next to the "Peace and Friendship of the people" park. The gardens are the prettiest in Crete, and also the public garden offers a small zoo with animals from Cretan fauna.

The Chania old town Venetian port picturesque any time and season is attractive to visitors and locals, for it's beauty and for it's choices of entertainment for all tastes and demands. The Chania old city "intramural" districts preserve their Venetian nobility. Narrow paved alleys are surrounded with tasteful renewed houses, from various ages, are offered for a pleasant walk. Many neoclassic houses are also saved in districts which "neighbor" with the city of Chania, like Halepa.

Chania's recent history, in which it has featured as a hotbed of nationalist sentiment under the Turks, and its proximity to the scene of most of the heavy fighting in the Battle of Crete, has left it with little in the way of monuments. Yet it's one of the longest continuously inhabited city sites anywhere in the world, and remains an enticing place to wander round, with odd reminders of the past at every pace, and antiquities in the most unlikely settings.

Chania the old harbour

The Chania old City clusters around the harbour and most tourists rightly confine themselves to this area or the fringes of the new town up towards the bus station. You may get lost wandering among the narrow alleys, but it's never far to the sea, to one of the main thoroughfares or to some other recognizable landmark.

The major junction at the south end of Halidon street, as much as anywhere, marks the center of town. To the east Yianari street leads past the market and, if you follow it round, either to the main coast road or out onto the Akrotiri peninsula. Skalidi street, westwards, leads eventually out of town towards Nea Kydonia, Platanias. North straight ahead, Halidon descends to the harbour and into the heart of the old town. As you stand at this junction, everything in front and below you is basically the old, walled city- behind and to either side lie the newer parts. Much of your shopping and other business will take part around the border of the old and new represented by the main Halidon junction: down towards the market you'll find pharmacies, newspapers stores and banks. Tzanakaki and Dimokratias, opposite, represent modern Chania, full of stores, banks, car-rental places and all the shops you find in a big city.

Halidon is perhaps the most commercially tourist street in Chania :walk down here and you pass the Cathedral Square, about halfway down on the right, and the  Chania Archeological Museum, just beyond on the left, before reaching a square by the harbour- officially called Platia Sintrivani, it is know by everyone simply as Harbor Square. To the left, Akti Kountourioti circles around by the outer harbor, crowded with outdoor cafes and tavernas. Straight ahead is the strange, squat Mosque of the Jannisaries, while on the little bluff that rises behind is the area know as Kastelli, site of the earliest habitation in Chania.

The great Arsenali in Chania old harbour

Carry on the past here and you'll curve round to the right to the inner harbor, where ruinous Venetian arsenals look out towards the breakwater. Behind is the most run-down, and in some ways the most atmospheric, part of the old town- alternatively approached by turning right off Halidon before reaching the harbour. To the left of Halidon in the relatively narrow strip between the outer harbor and the wall the alleys are narrower, the houses older and more attractive: here, though, they have been very much taken over by the tourist trade.

TRADITION 

The Cretan folk tradition which is marked mainly in weaves, "tsevredes", carpets, blankets etc. and expresses the feel of beauty and artistic mood of the people of Chania. Simple village women, but also organized associations, produce weaves from silk or wool. Handicrafts from glass, wood and metal, along with pottery, woodwork and metalwork workshops.

Particular is also the art of producing boots "stivania" at Skridlof road in Chania where the smell of processed leather is dominant. Also Cretan knifes are characteristic with the witty four-lined poems.

GENERAL GEOGRAPHICAL ELEMENTS OF CHANIA COUNTY.

The county of Chania covers the western part of Crete and has an area of 2.376 km2 and with a population of 140,000 residents (1991 inventory). The county is divided into 5 provinces with the capital the city of Chania (52.000 population). Since 1999 the county is divided into 23 counties and 2 provinces. The north area of the Chania county with very welcome seas ends up to 3 peninsulas. Concerning the south side of the island towards the Libyan sea it presents the biggest amount of sunlight in Europe. North, west and south the county is surrounded by sea.

CHANIA CRETE CLIMATE 

Chania and its 300 days of sunshine enjoys one of the healthiest climates in Europe. The temperate Mediterranean climate prevails in most regions of the island while in winter months there is substantial snowfall in the highest mountainous regions. Rainfall is also substantial. Quite often during summer months a hot wind (Livas) blows. The climate is relatively mild, Mediterranean. During the fall and winter months north and northwest winds dominate, while in the summer the ill winds make it enjoyable. But the divine gift of the eternal sunshine allows one to start their vacation from March and end it at the end of October. Chania has the largest amount of water in Crete (65%), and for this there is rich vegetation of plants and fruitful trees (citrus trees, olives, vines etc.) as well as semitropical. The very clean beaches of Chania win always the "blue flags" of Europe and are accessible for all ages throughout the year.

*some days may reach 35c.

TOURIST INFORMATION IN CHANIA

The area of Chania, due to its natural beauty and variety of sights, attracts many tourist from all over the world. The Chania city also accepts visitors who are interested in economical activities in the area, as well as scientists and educators, who are interested in historical files, historical monuments and museums or are interested to visit the Technical University of Crete, which is an important research center