Things to do in Kritsa and Neapoli

Kritsa sits about 11 km inland from Agios Nikolaos, a drive of roughly 20 minutes on a winding road that the KTEL coach does not serve reliably, so a rental car or a taxi is the realistic way in.

This is a traditional Lasithi village, best walked rather than toured: narrow lanes, small workshops and the Byzantine church of Panagia Kera on the edge of the village, with frescoes dating from the 13th to 15th centuries. Neapoli, a further 20 minutes north on the same route, is a working small town with none of the coastal polish.

Neither place has a beach, a marina or any nightlife, and neither has a monument on the scale of Spinalonga or the Lasithi plateau nearby. Late spring or autumn, outside the July-August heat, suits the walking better than midsummer.