Kalives, Crete
Kalives, Crete: An authentic coastal village in Chania, with plenty of trees and marvellous beaches.
Kalives, Crete, is a lovely coastal village, located about 20 kilometres southeast of Chania city. You can get to Kalives from Chania city using the local bus service.
Kalives is a big village with about 1.300 permanent residents. It is located on the southern side of the picturesque Souda Bay, offering excellent view to the bay to the north and to the White Mountains of Crete to the south.
Kalives is situated at the beginning of the Apokoronas peninsula, as you get there from Chania city through the coastal road. Its distance from the most known coastal resort of Apokoronas, Almyrida, is only 3 kilometres.
Kalives, Crete – excellent beaches at the south side of Souda Bay
Kalives have some of the best beaches in northwest Crete. There are two main beaches, both of them awarded with a blue flag.
The first, or eastern beach, is the main beach inside the village of Kalives, which is a beautiful, long sandy beach that runs alongside most of the village. This is the most popular beach, which has the most amenities, including many sun beds and parasols. The beach is family-friendly and safe for children.
The second beach of Kalives the western one, is located a couple of kilometres outside the village, and for many is considered the best of the two. This beach is much quieter and less crowded than the first one. It features a long stretch of sand, it is safe for children, like the beach inside the village, and you can find some sun beds and parasols here, too. One of the best parts of this second beach of Kalives is the large trees that lie very close to the beach, offering shade during the hot summer months. There are also a couple of taverns and cafés, too.
Kalives, Crete – The feeling of a real Cretan village
Although Kalives is increasingly popular with travellers, it has managed to retain its distinct authentic atmosphere of a rural village. This is easier to achieve in the case of Kalives, as it is one of the big villages in the area.
Kalives has the feeling of a fishing village, as in the old days before mass tourism. The village is one of the best places to eat fresh fish – the fish taverns of Kalives are well-known to the area.
Most of the houses in Kalives are picturesque. Some of them are older, some renovated, and some modern.
Through Kalives runs Xides River. This river cools the place during the hot summer days, and is one of the reasons of the rich vegetation: both the village and its surroundings are some of the greenest in Crete.
As Kalives is a big village and a popular destination, it has excellent amenities for the visitor, like taverns and fish taverns, cafés, bars, super markets, green groceries with local produce, wine stores, ATM cash machines, pharmacies and petrol station.
Kalives is a splendid destination if you want to enjoy traditional rural Crete. The authentic local atmosphere of the village, together with the marvellous beaches and the excellent infrastructure for visitors, make Kalives, Crete, a place certainly worth a visit in Chania region.