The friendly seaside neighbourhood just west of the old town, with Chania's own sandy town beach, a run of fish tavernas along the front and a relaxed, local feel. You can walk into the harbour in ten minutes, then walk home for a swim; the best base if you want beach and old town in one, at gentler prices.
A look around
What you’ll be living next to. Swipe through.
€80–140
typical per night in Greece
The sensible middle
Typical prices for Chania — neither steal nor splurge.
Where it sits
The circle is Nea Chora and roughly a 10-minute walk around it.
How far is everything?
From the middle of this area to the city's headline sights — pick your own on the city page and these become your list.
- Firkas Fortress8 min walk692 m
- Maritime Museum of Crete9 min walk713 m
- The Venetian Lighthouse11 min walk922 m
- The Venetian Harbour12 min walk1.0 km
- The Old Town lanes13 min walk1.1 km
- The Municipal Market (Agora)13 min walk1.1 km
- Splantzia square16 min walk1.3 km
- Agii Apostoli & the coast west (beach)8 min taxi2.7 km
- Agii Apostoli beaches8 min taxi2.8 km
On your doorstep
What you’re living next to if you stay here.
- 5.Nea Chora town beach — The nearest swim to the old town — a sandy, Blue Flag town beach just a ten-minute walk west of the harbour, with sunbeds, tavernas and calm shallow water. Not the island's most spectacular beach, but wonderfully convenient: a morning dip and a fish lunch on the front, then straight back into town.
- 6.Cretan food & raki — Crete has one of the healthiest, tastiest cuisines in the Mediterranean — dakos rusks piled with tomato and mizithra cheese, wild greens, slow-cooked lamb, cheese-stuffed kalitsounia pastries, all washed down with fiery raki poured for free at the end. Eat it at a Splantzia taverna, where the meal ends when you say so.
- 12.Sunset drinks on the harbour — As the light softens, the whole harbour glows amber and the tables fill for the town's nightly ritual — a cold beer, an Aperol or a raki with the lighthouse and the old mosque silhouetted across the water. Later the bars in the back lanes pick up; Chania's nightlife is more mellow charm than late-night club.
When are you staying?
Booking.com & Airbnb open searched to Nea Chora; flights via Google Flights.