MINICO on makrigialos: (2000)

makrigialos is the place where I stayed when I came to crete for the first time, when I fell in love with the island. it offers a good compromise between conventional tourism and remote/alternative holidays.
It's not a 'secret' place (I wouldn't write about it otherwise), but it is still small and in the area there's a lot of non-crowded beaches, gorges, nice mountain villages etc and only 1 larger hotel, but it has all the infrastructure that makes a tourists life easier: there's a bank (and a cash dispenser), you can rent a car or a bike there, there are several good restaurants and bars, mini markets and tourist shops, a doctor and a pharmacy, internet cafes - everything within walking distance.
The sandy beach is perfectly suited for small children. It's definitely a nice family location

what to do
although the public beach in magrigialos is a very good one, the restaurants are fine and you might feel perfectly happy just staying there:
there's a lot to do and see, so you might want to bring good shoes for walking and/or rent a bike or car: around makrigialos there's a lot of more quiet beaches. in the mountains above there are several beautiful - still original- mountainvillages with old stone houses, donkeys and goats on the streets, and romantic kaffenions. in the mountains above there are even some forests - that's rare in crete . There are several adventurous gorges around magrigialos that you might like to walk through. Next to a particularily beautiful gorge there's the famous Monastery MoniKapsa (some kilometres east) Or you might like to take a boat trip (from the harbour of M.) and visit the uninhabbited Koufonisi island.
And don't miss to have dinner in one of the fish tavernas in the harbour, or watch sunset from the dragon cave taverna.
And ... it is in the furthermost east of crete. So you're close to the eastcoast with the minoan palace of Kato Zakros , the gorge of the dead, the famous palm beach of vai, moni topolou, ..... ( to name some of the 'official' sights )

when to go there
Makrigialos is 'open all year'. The furthermost southeast is the hottest and driest part of crete.
for me, it is a mid&low season location: if you have the choice, I recommend to go there in Mai or October, even around christmas time you might have weather warm enough for bathing. I remember bathing in that area on 24.December :-)
In august, a lot of the local, greek people come to makrigialos for bathing, so don't expect a quiet/lonely beach in high season.

why marias rooms
I made this internetpage for the tsanakalioti family, because they are friends. I even celebrated christmas with them some years ago.
The rooms - with a beautiful wooden balcony and a lot of flowers - are directly on the best place of the public beach of makrigialos. For me first choice! I like to stay there myself especially during low season, when it's getting cold in my mountainvillage and I want to spend some days (nights) on the beach, where it is much warmer.

for more information send an email to tsanakalioti@ier.forthnet.gr

makrigialos seen from above


the kapsa monastery


pefki, a mountain village above


dinner in the harbour


24.December on a beach near makrigialos


zakros, gorge of the dead

all pictures by michael hagleitner / minico

See Maria's apartments in Ierapetra-Koutsounari: http://www.long-beach.gr/