Things to do in Preveli

Preveli sits where the Kourtaliotiko gorge meets the Libyan Sea on Crete's south coast, a 40-minute drive from Plakias or around an hour from Rethymno; there is no reliable KTEL service here, so a rental car is the practical way in.

The palm grove below the beach is not the dense, untouched forest of old postcards: it burned in 2010 and has regrown since, made up of Phoenix theophrasti, a species endemic to Crete that also grows at Vai, on the island's far eastern tip, Europe's largest natural palm forest.

Swimming and walking run roughly May to October, and this south-facing coast, on the Libyan Sea, stays calmer than the north when the meltemi wind disrupts boats and beaches there in July and August. Expect a scarred, recovering landscape rather than a fixed scene, and no volcanic features anywhere nearby.