Elafonisi Beach – Greek Landscapes

Elafonisi Beach is one of the best in Greece. We have rated it among the top-ten best Greek beaches because of the beautiful landscape, as well as the cleanliness of both the sand and the seawater.

Elafonisos beach, in the western coast of Crete.

Elafonisi beach is one of the best beaches in Greece. Western Chania, Crete.

Name: Elafonisi beach (Ελαφονήσι)
Location: Chania, western Crete, Greece
Click here to see it on the map and to get directions
Overall Rating: 5/5
Joy Index (What the Water Felt Like): 5/5
Beach Berm: Sand
Seafloor: Sand
Access: Good access. A paved road will bring you close to the beach and there are dedicated parking lots nearby.
Amenities: Elafonisi beach is organized with parasols, show and sun beds for hire. You will find restaurants and bars on the beach.

Notes: Elafonisi is a bit out of the way, and the road from Kissamos to the beach is scenic, albeit a bit too long and narrow.

But the trip is worth it. The beach is wide and long with ample space for the crowds to spread out.

Speaking of crowds, despite it’s relative isolation, Elafonisi gets very crowded in the summer.

The water is cool, crisp, and as clean as you will ever find around the world.

The sand is nice and soft. An knee-deep sand patch connects the beach to the little islet that gives its name to the beach.

Elafonisi islet is uninhabited, save for a military installation at the west end. It has several paths where you can take leisurely and quiet walks.

Several small sand patches around the island offer more swimming choices.

The beach has been developed with environmental protections as a priority, so there is no development in the surrounding land, and the beach vicinity is signposted with information on the local flora and fauna.

There are several nature walks all around, and several small sand coves to the north.

One of the main characteristics of Elafonisi beach are the pink hues mixed in with the white sand.

They are the result of crushed seashells that end up mixed in the sand. Signs all around the beach inform that the pink sand is protected by law, and request that visitors don’t take samples of the beach as a souvenir.

About Our Beach Rating

Our beach reports are based on personal on-site visits.

Beach Rating Scale:

5 = Superb! Best we visited. We would travel around the world to swim there again.
4 = Excellent. We would travel across Greece to swim there.
3 = Good. We would choose it among other beaches if we were in the area.
2 = Average. We would return to this beach if we were in the area, but not as our first choice.
1 = Disappointing. The beach was fine for one visit. We would return if desperate.

Sea Water Rating Scale:

5 = The sea water felt wonderful and clean. We would go way out of our way to swim there again.
4 = The sea water felt good and we would go out of our way to swim there again.
3 = The water felt nice and clean. We would swim there again if we were in the area.
2 = Nice sea. We had a good swim but did not notice anything special or unusual about the water.
1 = The sea water was not very inviting when we visited.

The beach reports and ratings are based on our simple (and unscientific) observations during our visit.
We enjoy the sea water when it’s crystal-clear and cooler rather than warm. We don’t enjoy swimming among flotsam any kind.
We also like the sand to be clean of debris, and a bit more more coarse than the fine, “sticky” kind. We also prefer the more undeveloped beaches (ie. the ones without bars, music, loud crowds, or salespeople).
Certain beaches we have visited once, while many we have seen several times. It is possible that conditions have changed since our visit, so use these reports as another point of reference in your research.