A Guide To Elafonisi Beach in Crete | Our Family Excursion From Chania

Elafonisi Beach is regarded as one of the most beautiful beaches in Europe, if not the world. It's located on Crete, a beautiful Greek island which is an ideal holiday destination. We had the pleasure of visiting Crete during our stay at the fabulous Kiani Beach Resort All-Inclusive 5 Star Hotel in Chania and during our stay we went on a day trip to Elafonisi.

Elafonisi Beach is situated approximately 45 miles from Chania and 130 miles from Heraklion, so keep these distances in mind if you're planning a journey to the beach.

Elafonisi Beach is famous for it's beautiful, clear blue and green lagoon waters and pink sand beach, so we were really excited to see it in person - the pictures on Google images looked breathtaking! 

Our trip to Elafonisi Beach was an organised excursion through Kiani Beach Resort and it costs €40 per person for the main bus tour, however, I would not recommend the bus journey if you get travel sickness like me. It's a long bus journey via the tour, which took us 3 hours each way, plus a half hour stop. Instead, I'd recommend a private bus transfer to Elafonisi, or to rent a travel car and go yourself as Google Maps states that the journey should only take 1.5 hours each way via car - these can also be organised via Kiani Beach Resort excursions office.

We visited Elafonisi Beach in early April and unfortunately this is out of season in Crete. It wouldn't have been much of a problem except no toilets were open on the beach and we were there for 4 hours - not great for my pregnant self! Just keep this in mind if you're wanting to visit during this time and need toilet/changing facilities.

 

During the season toilet/changing facilities are open and there are sun loungers and umbrellas available for visitors along the beach. 

Elafonisi Beach was a stunning place. The water is such a beautiful colour there and the white sand makes it look almost tropical. We did see the famous pink sand too, but don't be fooled by edited photos, it's not as pink and vibrant in reality - still lovely to see though.

We visited Elafonisi Beach as a family and I would say that it's a perfect beach for children. The water is quite shallow here and my eldest boy had great fun swimming across to the other side of the beach with his Dad.

My youngest boy really enjoyed playing in the sand and building pink sandcastles - such a novelty!

I spent my time by the shallow lagoon relaxing as I was trying to recover from the bus journey! 

The children really loved the beach. If you're traveling there as a family I would recommend packing a picnic as I didn't see any places nearby to buy drinks or food, however, this could have been due to us visiting out of season.

There are lots of fun little areas around Elafonisi to climb around or dip your feet in the water. We loved this little rock 'pier' that went out into the shallow lagoon waters.

I've read that Elafonisi Beach can get quite busy during the summer season, however, while we were there we were able to have a little quiet area by the water to ourselves and we were sheltered from the wind there too. It was a little slice of paradise!

I'm glad we got to experience this beautiful place during our trip to Crete. Taking the bus journey out of the experience, it made for a lovely day trip during our holiday.

Get a private bus transfer or rent a car and go yourself and you're bound to enjoy this place of beauty.