Travelling Greece: Four beautiful road bike tours on Crete: Solitary tours through the "mountains in the sea"

Crete is by far the largest Greek island and the fifth largest in the Mediterranean: Crete measures over 250 kilometres from east to west, 60 kilometres from north to south at its widest point and only 15 kilometres at its narrowest point. It is just 300 kilometres from the south coast of Crete to Africa (Libya). Around 600,000 people live on Crete, around 170,000 of them in the capital Heraklion, 55,000 in Chania and 35,000 in Rethymno. The highest peak on the island at 2,456 metres, Psiloritis (also known as Timios Stavros), is located in the central Ida Mountains. Only four metres lower is the peak of Pachnes in the Lefká Óri (White Mountains).

Crete is also known as the "mountains in the sea". Apart from the coastal road in the far north-west, you can never really drive on flat roads. The larger roads generally have moderate gradients, but the gradients on the side roads are sometimes steep. Compact cranks and mountain sprockets are recommended. The road conditions on Crete are still pretty catastrophic compared to other Mediterranean islands; it is therefore advisable to ride on tyres with a width of 25, or even better 28 millimetres. Potholes are lined up one after the other, especially on the minor roads. But you also have to be careful on the larger roads and watch out for potholes, especially on fast descents. Crete's big plus (apart from the incredible beauty of the landscape) for road cyclists is the low traffic density. On the side roads in the hinterland, you may not encounter a single car for 30 to 40 kilometres, and even on the main routes in the interior of the island there is not much traffic.

Downloads:
GPS data: Greece, Crete
PDF: Greece, Crete