Corfu or Crete: which is better for a Greek getaway?
Like choosing between any two highly attractive prospects, settling on either Corfu in the far west or Crete in the far south of Greece for your holiday can feel like an impossible task.
Both are gorgeous Greek islands with endearing old towns, striking scenery and loads on offer, whether you're a beach lover, a culture vulture, a hiker or a foodie.
The southernmost island of the Aegean archipelago, Crete* is the biggest, most independent and diverse of the Greek islands. While both are mountainous, Corfu*, which is on the opposite end of the Greek coastline in the Ionian Sea, is more lush and green.
Getting to Greece: find fabulous holidays to Corfu* and breaks to Crete* for families or couples with TUI, which also offers escapes across Greece*.
Beaches
Both boast fabulous beaches. Indeed, Crete has some of the best beaches in Greece, and the most popular include Elafonissi, with its pink sand and shallow waters, ideal for families, and pristine Falasarna, which is so large it never gets too crowded.
Set at the foot of a cliff with a river flowing into the sea, Preveli Beach is pretty remote and not so easy to get to, but worth the effort. Another is the spectacular Balos Lagoon, accessed by boat, ferry or by hiking.
The beaches on the west coast of Corfu generally have fine sand and choppy waves, while they tend to be more pebbly and sheltered on the east coast. Paleokastritsa is a good choice, with a feeling of seclusion surrounded by a small mountainous town with a few restaurants.
Kassiopi has some good beaches in the area, such as Avlaki, while Chalikounas and Issos are also good options. Overall, there's not a strong clear winner for beaches out of the two islands.
Resorts
Both islands offer a range of resorts, both big and small, lively and tranquil. Malia and Hersonissos, Crete's biggest, have lots of nightlife, while if you want somewhere quieter, choose Sissi, Plakia or Paleochora.
Despite being a much smaller island, Corfu has numerous resorts to choose from. Dassia and Sidari are lively with a good choice of bars. Benitses has a vibey nightlife but on a smaller scale.
Towns & cities
Crete's sheer size means that it has a wider range of cities and towns, from the lively to the laid back. Probably the best known are Chania* and Rethymno.
Chania has a pleasant old town and Venetian harbour, while Rethymno is one of the best preserved medieval towns in Greece. You can easily spend a day drifting around the backstreets, discovering boutiques, coffee shops, bars and beautiful little Orthodox churches.
One of Crete's prettiest villages is Anogia, retaining plenty of traditional architecture, while lively Agios Nikolaos offers beaches, bars, restaurants and museums.
Though Crete is about 14 times larger than Corfu, the latter has ample scenic villages, towns and cities too. Its capital, Corfu Town*, is pleasingly manageable size-wise as well as colourful and charming, boasting elegant Venetian architecture and lots of boutiques, bars and restaurants.
Laid-back, compact Agios Gordios has inviting beaches, while Kavos* for some of the liveliest nightlife, as well as a range of water sports to try on the beach during the day. Kassiopi village has beaches and a harbour with plenty of restaurants and bars.
Depth of culture & history
As well as Venetian and Ottoman origins, Crete was the home to what is widely recognised to be Europe's first civilisation, the Minoans. This Bronze Age culture is famed for the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur.
The island has a remarkable range of historic sites, including Malia, Phaistos, Kydonia and Zakros. Most famous is the Palace of Knossos, where you can see marketplaces, frescoes, chambers, hidden passages and more.
Corfu's UNESCO-designated Old Town has architectural influences stretching from 8 BCE and the Byzantine period through to Venetian times 500 years ago.
While Corfu has a hugely impressive history and some remarkable sites, with the extent and diversity of its culture and sites, Crete must win this one if you're choosing between the two.
Food
While well-known Greek dishes like fresh salads, gyros and moussaka are readily available on both islands, Crete and Corfu also have distinct cuisines of their own.
One famous Cretan dish is dakos, reminiscent of bruschetta but using barley rusk topped with feta, tomatoes, olive oil and capers. Cretan lamb is typically sautéed in olive oil and oregano, served with lemon-based sauce avgolemono and accompanied by stamnagathi, a wild green vegetable.
There's also kaltsoúnia, typically a cheese pie topped with honey. Cheeses include staka, made from sheep's milk, mizithra, a young, mild-tasting whey cheese and graviera, which is quite hard and can be sweet when young and nutty when aged. Raki, the well-known grape-based brandy, originates from Crete.
With its location between the Greek and Italian mainlands, Corfu has a distinctly different cuisine, with traditional Greek dishes that have an Italian touch, especially as the Venetians occupied the island for four centuries.
One popular dish is sofrito, veal cooked in wine sauce with onions and garlic, and another is pastitsada, which is slow-cooked meat in tomato sauce with cinnamon and served with pasta or potatoes.
Fish dishes are understandably very popular, such as bianco, which is fish cooked with wine, lemon juice, garlic and vinegar. Corfu has a kumquat liquor similar to limoncello. So which island is best for cuisine? It's a tie.
Weather
Both Crete and Corfu enjoy hot dry summers and mild, wetter winters. However, with Crete being situated nearer the African coast, overall it tends to have slightly higher temperatures, more sun and less rain, with holiday weather extending later in the year.
Crete can, however, be affected by Meltemi winds, a cool dry northerly wind which can blow quite strongly at times. It occurs from time to time in all areas of the Aegean Sea, particularly at the height of summer.
Meanwhile, due to Crete's size, there are greater variations in the weather than in Corfu, with mountainous areas being cooler than coastal ones, and eastern and southern parts of the island warmer than the west and north.
So, Corfu or Crete?
It's difficult to choose between the islands as they both offer so much: lashings of sun, beaches, water sports and historic sights. There are chances to hike, they both have interesting cuisines and a selection of bars and restaurants to choose from.
Perhaps Crete is better for couples, having more historic sites, restaurant and bar options, as well as romantic towns. This means Corfu may be more suited to families, being laid-back and with shorter distances to travel owing to its size, without sacrificing good beaches and family-friendly activities. Corfu is generally slightly more expensive.
Compare weather
Use the graphs below to compare weather conditions in Corfu and Crete. Find out more about the climate in Corfu and the climate in Crete as well as conditions across the country in our complete guide to the climate in Greece.
Corfu vs Crete
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- Hours of sunshine
- Days with some rainfall
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Maximum daytime temperature (°C)
Hours of sunshine per day
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