Crete tourist guide

On Wednesday afternoon, a large fire broke out in the area of Ierapetra on the southeastern coast of Crete, which has not yet been extinguished. The situation is critical, the fire is out of control, and strong winds, reaching 8-9 degrees on the Beaufort scale yesterday, and even 11 degrees last night, continue to hamper the extinguishing work and create new fire spots. The destruction in the coastal zone and in the more mountainous areas is very extensive. There are burnt houses, businesses, tourist units, villas, hotels, greenhouses, but the full picture of the situation is not yet available. Yesterday evening, calls were sent to people in the towns of Ferma, Agia Fotia, Galini, Achlia and Koutsounari for immediate evacuation.

Since 2018, Greece has been charging a residence fee, which is a mandatory daily fee charged per room. The definition of this tax changed a year ago, as it was renamed the Climate Crisis Resilience Tax. For most tourists, the name of the tax doesn’t really matter, but the rates do.

The highest tax rates apply to luxury hotels

With the beginning of summer, the topic of fire risk in Crete returns. According to forecasts published on civilprotection.gov.gr , tomorrow the entire island will be under an extremely high risk of fire. It is rare for this highest level 5 to apply to the entire Crete, unfortunately tomorrow we will be dealing with such a situation.

Tomorrow (June 29) the trail through the Samaria Gorge will be closed

From July 1, 2025, Greece is introducing a new fee for ship passengers who will disembark in Greek ports. This is important information for tourists planning cruises around the Greek islands. Disembarkation rates will depend on the season and location. The highest fees will apply to Santorini and Mykonos.

The new fee, the so-called "arrival fee", will be charged for each disembarkation at a given port. It will be paid by passengers on all cruises, both those organized by travel agencies and those on individual trips. Only the crew of the ships will be exempt from the fee. Some cruise lines may automatically add the fee to the cost of the ticket - it is worth checking this when booking.

The fee, which will come into force next Tuesday, will be charged per person and per port, regardless of the length of stay or the form of disembarkation (e.g. by support boat).

Although Crete remains one of the most popular tourist destinations, it is clear that the global economic crisis has changed the habits and priorities of visitors. In the past, many tourists came to Greece with a more relaxed attitude towards money, treating their holidays as a time for free spending. A clear change has occurred during the post-pandemic crisis, and thrifty holiday budgeting has become the norm. Tourists are primarily concerned with value for money and are planning their trips with greater caution.

A month ago we reported on the introduction of a large increase in the price of tickets to one of Crete's biggest tourist attractions - Spinlonga, the former leper island. At the beginning of April, tickets went up from 8 to 20 euros, now it turns out that the drastic increase in prices has significantly reduced the number of visitors to this place.