My wife and I spent the last week bikepacking in Crete. Our route was Chania -> Rethimno -> Zaros -> Agia Galini -> Frangokastelo -> Elafoniso -> Vlatos -> Chania.
We rented mountain bikes in Chania. They cost around €110 each for 7 days. The bikes were very basic but they were well maintained and reliable. Gravel bikes would have been preferable, however, we couldn't find anywhere in Chania to rent them.
We brought our own bags with us and had a decent idea of how we would load up the bikes. As always, the flexibility of the Tailfin kit really helped – it was easy to setup the suspension mounts and add the fork packs.
We spent a lot of time on quiet roads. The highlight was definitely the South Crete coastal road. The surface was perfect, the views were amazing and there was hardly any traffic. We did find some nice gravel and it would definitely be possible to do a more off-road route. Powering up steep gravel in mid-30° heat is pretty tough going though!
We stayed in hotels along the way. We found it to be pretty cheap, around €50 per night. The food and drink was amazing! We tended to get up really early so that we could get a bunch of miles out of the way before it got too hot.
The ferry section between Hora Sfoakion and Palaiochora was really nice. It's pretty slow paced so you have time to chill out in the villages along the way. You can go for a swim or take out a paddleboard.
Nice place to go for a relaxed trip. Later in September or early in October might be better as it was still very hot. The drivers on the roads were fine and gave us plenty of space. Didn't see any other bikepackers or tourers the whole week!
by Starky04