The best bars and cafés - Crete in 2024

Practical information : Take a break Crete

Timetable

They are rarely posted (or reliable), but it is not uncommon for an establishment to open for breakfast and close late at night... In tourist areas, bar and cafe owners have to cover the summer season to survive all year round: they are open every day, from morning to night, and the hours depend on the number of visitors. Some night bars only open from 6-7pm and stay open until the early hours of the morning. Some traditional kafeneio open early in the morning and again around 6pm but close a few hours after lunch. But most of the time, these places are open continuously: in summer, the waiters just wait for the last customer to leave before closing. This flexibility can be extended out of season, especially on weekends, in the establishments that remain open. In Greece, you will never be pressured to leave an establishment or recommended to leave once you have finished your drink. Unless you ask for the bill, you will be left to enjoy it, without necessarily clearing the table. However, it is important to keep your wits about you: if you see that you are the last ones and that the waiters are exhausted, it may be time to leave!

Budget & Tips

Drinking coffee is an institution in Greece: you can stay for hours with a freddo or a frappé for a few euros, without having to renew your order. Be careful though: the coffees are not cheap. At 4 € for a frappé, it is sometimes understandable that some customers linger... A cocktail costs on average 7 €, a beer between 4 and 6 €. For a well-drunk evening, count around 25 € per person.

What's very local

The traditional café, the kafeneio, is often the heart of local life in the islands. More exactly, it is often the heart of public life and therefore of men's life... Indeed, women still live largely within the home while men meet at the café to twiddle their thumbs and remake the world, well encamped in their armchairs... The kafeneio opens early in the morning, one comes to have his first coffee to see the village which wakes up slowly. Sometimes it stays open for lunch, but usually it closes between noon and 5pm, for the siesta. It reopens at 6pm for a last coffee or a game of tavli at the end of the day. Later, it becomes a ouzerie, where people drink ouzo, beer and raki while sharing small dishes, mezzedes, with a background of rebetiko, the popular Greek music par excellence.

Smokers

The good weather and the terraces limit the problem in summer. However, it must be conceded that the law against smoking in public spaces has been in place since 2008, but has never really been enforced. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the new conservative Prime Minister elected in July 2019, has promised that the law will now be enforced. Since his election, fines have been put in place to charge both establishments and customers who would not respect the law. It remains to be seen whether this will finally materialize in practice..

The best bars and cafés Crete

ALEXANDROS ROOF GARDEN BAR

CUL DE SAC

SINAGOGI OPEN AIR BAR

TO KAFENΕIO TOU AZOGIRE (ALPHA)

ARC ESPRESSO COCKTAIL BAR

CAFÉ DU LAC

JETÉE BEACH BAR

PUNCH BOWL

OVTOVIA

NOTOS CAFÉ

CAFÉ YANNIS’ PLACE

AGIOS BAR

KAFENEIO TOU MIHALOU (SKOULAS)

EYES LIVE LOUNGE

COME CAFE BAR

BAR CLUB FORTEZZA

MISTRALI BEACH BAR & HOTEL

ELLI CAFETERIA

ZORBA’S PUB

NOTIS BEACH PLACE

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Practical information : Take a break Crete

Timetable

Budget & Tips

What's very local

Smokers