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A lagoon and a pink shore

Elafonissi sits at the southwestern corner of Crete, where a shallow lagoon separates the shore from a low islet. The water between them is knee-deep, so the island is waded to rather than swum to. The sand on both sides runs pink in patches.

The colour comes from crushed shells of Miniacina miniacea, a red foraminiferan that grows on the rocks offshore. It washes up and mixes with white sand, so the effect is uneven. It shows best at the waterline.

Behind the beach lies a protected dune system inside the Natura 2000 network, where sea daffodils flower in late summer. Taking sand away is banned. There is a chapel on the islet and a memorial beside it.

In 1824 Ottoman troops killed several hundred refugees who had sheltered on the islet during the Cretan revolt. The place reads differently once you know that.

Getting there

The journey is most of the effort. From Chania the drive is about two hours, the last stretch narrow and winding through the mountains. From the east of the island, plan on ten hours or more.

The near end is organised: sunbeds, umbrellas, a canteen. Walk west and the crowd thins. Boats also come in from Paleochora along the south coast in season.

Tours often add the Topolia gorge, or Chrysoskalitissa monastery on its rock five kilometres back.

Practical

• Timing. The coaches converge between eleven and one, and organised transport leaves in the late afternoon. Outside that window it is a different beach.
• Shade. Almost none of it grows here, so an umbrella is kit rather than luxury.
• Season. The lagoon warms early, which makes this one of the first places on Crete worth swimming in May.
• Wind. A westerly turns the shallows choppy and cloudy, and there is nowhere sheltered to move to.
• Dunes. Walking on them is prohibited. Keep to the marked paths behind the sand.