Rides in Chania

This category in Chania is really about how you travel. Western Crete is built so that the good part starts where the asphalt ends: no ordinary coach reaches Menies beach on the Rodopou peninsula, the hill villages of Apokoronas, or the vineyards in the foothills. That is what the four-wheel drives are for — half a day on dirt roads with stops at wineries, a private safari to Rodopou with a swim beside the ruins of the Diktynna sanctuary, an evening run to the viewpoints where the sun drops into the Cretan Sea. The tracks are bumpy in places, but the route stays flexible and the groups stay small.

The second format is the air. A tandem paragliding flight launches from a slope above the coast: the instructor does the work, and all the passenger contributes is a few steps on the run-up. The paratrike is the same idea with an engine and wheels — it takes off from level ground and feels longer and steadier. Both give you what no road can: the coastline from above, with the white mountains and the bays in a single frame.

Shore excursions are a chapter of their own. Cruise ships dock at Souda, and the question of the day is not what to see but whether you make it back before departure. The half-day programmes to the wineries and into the White Mountains are built around that timetable. And for anyone who would rather skip the guide entirely, there is the self-guided hunt through the old town: the route and the clues arrive on your phone, you set the pace, and you can start at any hour.