2 days in Chania by locals: The Perfect Chania Itinerary

Whoever visits the wonderful Crete must visit the magical Chania.

Chania is one of the most beautiful Greek cities. It combines Venetian and Turkish architecture, that stays intact, on the contrary to other regions. More specifically, the city of Chania is famous for its well-maintained Old Town and its exquisite Venetian port, whose edge is bejeweled with the thrilling Lighthouse.

We've made many trips to Chania and we prepared a 2-day trip plan, in order to guide you and give you all the important information you need.

Day 1

You can start your day with a morning walk in the center of the city. Chania is always crowded with people walking around, shopping or enjoying coffee in one of town’s famous coffee places. The sights and monuments, that exist in every corner of the city, will keep you a great company.

Since 1911, Municipal Market is in the heart of the city. Municipal Market is one of the most impressive markets in Balkans. 

It is 4,000 m². and has the shape of a cross. Inside, you can find traditional Cretan products and souvenirs, that you can buy in order to have a part of Chania with you, when you return home. However, even if you don’t want to buy anything, walking around and marvel at the architecture and the local products is totally worth it. 

Walking a little further, you will find the Mother church  of Chania, which is dedicated to the “Presentation of Mary”. It was built on top of a former Venetian temple and it is full of wall-paintings drawn by
famous artists.

Afterwards, you will reach Splanzia square, where you will see the church of Saint Nicolas, that has been left unaffected since it was constructed. The church was first built in 1320 and in 1645 it was turned into the main mosque of Chania and a minaret was constructed.  Of course, you can’t miss the church of Saint Rocco, who was considered to be the protector of plague. As for the Splanzia square, it was the main square during Ottoman occupation and walking there is like taking a trip back in time. 

It’s time for a sweet break! The famous coffee place “Koukouvaya” (means owl), that is located in Venizelos Graves, serves delicious desserts, along with the well-known “zumero” (that means juicy), offering a wonderful view of the city at the same time. You can reach the café by taking a taxi, the bus 18 or by car in 10 minutes from the center.

Since you will be in Koukouvaya, you will visit also Venizelos Graves, that except from their historic significance, they offer a beautiful view of Chania. Eleftherios Venizelos was elected 7 times as the Prime Minister of Greece. Furthermore, you can also visit Venizelos house, which is used as a museum and is located in Chalepa, a significant historic suburb of the city.

Later in the evening, you can dine in a restaurant or in a small tavern. We suggest that you should choose from taverns in Daliani street. The traditional dishes of Chania are the following: “bureki” (pie with potato and zucchini), “sfakiani pita” (sweet pie with sweet cheese and honey), “marathopita” (pie with fennel) and “kreatoturta” (pie with meat, usually lamb). See here, if you want to learn about the traditional Cretan dishes.

Don’t forget that there are many bars and clubs you can visit later, if you want to go for a drink before sleeping.

Day 2

It’s a great idea to start your day with a walk at the famous Lighthouse, the jewel of Chania’s port. 

What is interesting is that it is called “Egyptian lighthouse” but in fact it was built by Venetians during the 16^th century. Its name came in the beginning of 19^th century, when it was rebuilt from Egyptians, the conqueror’s of Crete that time. Walking towards the Lighthouse, you will see the Bastion of Saint Nikolas Mole on your right. It used to protect the port, along with the Firka fortress, making it impregnable from the sea.

Since you have visited the Egyptian lighthouse, you can continue walking around the port, where you can find the Archaeological and the Nautical museum.

Also, at the port you will find the mosque Yali Tzamisi, which was built to honour the first commandant of Chania, Kioutsouk Hasan.

Later, you can grab a coffee and walk towards Municipal Garden, where you will see a plethora of tree kinds, bushes and plants as well as a small zoo. 

Moreover, the Municipal Childrens Library is inside the Garden, which contains more than 20,000 books, along with many board games. Also, it is important to mention, that the coffee place inside the Garden, is operational since 20^th century, renovated of course. For your information, you can watch a movie inside the Municipal Garden’s open air cinema during the summer.

If you want to explore more of the prefecture of Chania, we will give you useful information of the places you should visit.

If you visit Chania in the summer months, you can go at least to one of its beautiful beaches. For example, the closest beaches, ranked from the closest one (2 km.) to the furthest from the center (8 km.), are the following: Nea Chora, Aghii Apostoli, Aghia Marina (the most famous), Kalathas. However, if you own/rent a car and you are willing to explore a beach further away, it’s worth visiting the magical Elafonisi or Balos with the clear turquoise waters that don’t go deeper than one meter and the famous Falasarna.

If you visit Chania in winter or days that are not the best for swimming, it’s a great idea to visit some villages, in order to walk around their narrows and taste traditional food in one of their taverns. More specifically, there is the historic village Vamos (25 km. from Chania) and the beautiful Kolibari with its nice taverns by the sea (24 km. from Chania). Also, we have to mention the village Sfakia (72 km. from Chania). Sfakia is known everywhere in Greece for its people’s rebellion spirit and for the battles that took place there. Also, if you are an adventure and nature lover, you can go for a fascinating hiking in Samaria’s Canyon (“Faraghi Samarias”, 44 km. from Chania), that crosses through one of the most famous national forests in Greece.

As for your supper, you can find a nice tavern in one of the villages mentioned before, or choose from a restaurant in the city center. Since you are in an island, it’s better to go to a seafood restaurant in the Venetian harbor.

We hope you liked our 2-day plan and that you will enjoy your trip to Chania, a city worth visiting again and again.

You can also watch the following videos, if you want to see how were our days the second time we visited Chania. 

Since it was the second time we visited the city, our trip was just walking around, shopping and a lot of food. 

Also, the videos are in Greek but we have prepared English subtitles for you!

Keep traveling! 😉