The log
- Coming — 4 December 2026Change in Crete
Chania's covered market (the Agora) reopens on Friday 4 December 2026, exactly 113 years after it first opened, with 63 units and artistic direction entrusted to the Greek National Opera. The εγκαίνια date was announced on 13 August 2026. Until then the hall stays shut: guides still printing “Mon-Sat 7:30am-1:30pm” are publishing pre-works hours.
- Coming — 1 October 2026Change in Crete
Chania's Tuesday market leaves Kolokotroni street for the plot bounded by Plastira, Agia Marina and the Mournies road (municipal council decisions 358/2025 and 360/2025). It's the final step of the 2025-2027 reorganisation of Chania's markets: all of them have moved, and guides published before 2026 give obsolete locations.
- 19 September 2026Correction to our pages
Heraklion bus stations: we were writing « Station A for the north and east, Station B for the south and the mountains », mnemonic included. That has been wrong since June 2026, and we were publishing it on four pages. The operator's official announcement of 16 June 2026 attaches the whole Messara group — Avgeniki, Venerato, Moires, Matala, Tympaki, Agia Galini, Kamares, Lentas — to Station A, the port terminal. Station B, Chanioporta, keeps a single group: Anogia, Krousona, Asites, Rogdia. A reader following our page to reach Matala was turning up 1.3 km from the right station. Corrected on /heraklion, /bus-ktel-crete, /bus/heraklion-matala, and documented in full in a dedicated investigation.
- 2 September 2026Correction to our pages
Market hours: we were publishing “7am – 2pm”, like everyone else. It's wrong in both directions. Heraklion's operating regulation for the λαϊκές αγορές (article 3) sets 6:30am – 2:30pm in summer, 7am – 2:30pm in winter, and 6:30am – 3:30pm on Saturday. Corrected, with the source. We also documented five resorts — Hersonissos, Malia, Georgioupoli, Platanias, Agia Pelagia — as having no weekly market at all, rather than leaving the question unanswered.
- 28 August 2026Correction to our pages
Vai: we used to write “Europe's largest palm forest”. That's the phrase everybody repeats, and it isn't established. Vai is Greece's largest natural palm forest — and one of the largest in Europe. We corrected the title, the page and all four languages. The site doesn't need the superlative.
- 25 August 2026Correction to our pages
“Elafonissi” spelling: our readers search the double-S twice as often as the single one. We now use it in the title, H1 and body of the page, while keeping the official “Elafonisi”.
- 24 August 2026Correction to our pages
Car rental: we replaced the booking link with a live price comparator (local suppliers included) on the dedicated page, and removed the redirect to a less transparent middleman.
- Reminder — until 2032Change in Crete
EU roaming: “roam like at home” is extended until 30 June 2032. An EU traveller has nothing to buy to use their plan in Crete — it's Greece, an EU member.
- Plan ahead — Easter 2027Change in Crete
In 2027, Orthodox Easter falls on 2 May — five weeks after Western Easter (28 March). In Crete, Orthodox Holy Week and Easter Monday shape opening hours: many shops and sites close or slow down around 2 May, while European school holidays fall earlier.
- 10 August 2026Change in Crete
BOAK (Crete's northern motorway): the first 10.2 km between Neapoli and Agios Nikolaos slip to September 2026. The big coastal axis is progressing, but in sections and behind schedule — don't count on it to plan your 2026-2027 drives.
- 19 May 2026Change in Crete
Samaria Gorge season opens, from both entrances at once (Xylóskalo in the north, Agía Rouméli in the south). Helmets provided free. The fare isn't shown in clear text on the NECCA ticketing site: the last official grid dates to 2022 (€5). Free under 18 and over 65.
- 16 May 2026Change in Crete
Kourtaliotiko Gorge season opens: €5/day (€3 student, €15 annual pass), 1 May to 31 October, 9am–7pm. Card or electronic payment only. Free under 18 and over 65, large families, disabled visitors + one companion. Over 140,000 visits in the first paid season.
- 6 May 2026Change in Crete
Kastelli airport (Heraklion's new airport): opening pushed back to November 2028. It was still being announced for 2027 in July 2025. For any trip before then, it's the current Heraklion airport (HER, “Nikos Kazantzakis”) that stays in service.
- 24 April 2026Change in Crete
251 Cretan beaches classed as “untrodden” (+13 on last year): on these beaches, commercial sunbeds and umbrellas are banned — including ones you bring yourself. A folding chair and natural shade, yes; planting your own umbrella, no, where the rule applies.
- 17 March 2026Change in Crete
Imbros Gorge becomes ticketed (ΦΕΚ Β' 1502): €5 announced, NECCA ticketing, launch “in May”. Third Cretan gorge to switch in 18 months. The full grid (exemptions, hours) isn't yet published in clear — to confirm on +30 28253 40000. The Sfakia municipality has announced it wants to concede operation to a private operator.
- 1 January 2026Change in Crete
Two changes on 1 January. Road rules: 30 km/h default in built-up areas (law 5209/2025) — town speed drops wherever nothing states otherwise. And tax: Crete stays excluded from the reduced VAT rate granted to some Greek islands, even as it was widened — prices don't fall there because of it.
- 1 December 2025Change in Crete
IRIS instant payment mandatory for all Greek businesses (fines €10,000 / €20,000). In practice, more and more shops and providers accept — even prefer — instant IRIS payment. It changes nothing for a tourist paying by card, but it explains the spread of cashless.
- 29 October 2025Change in Crete
Chania announces that the fine for parking in a controlled zone rises from €10 to €30. The city stresses this is not a municipal decision: it is directly applying national law 5209/2025 (article 7 §11 point γ', and article 108 §5 point αα'), which moves the Ρ-69 offence into category E1A and repeals the corresponding provisions of laws 2696/1999 and 4530/2018. The body of the new highway code has been in force since 13 September 2025; Chania communicated it six weeks later. In practice: a badly placed car in the town centre now costs the price of a tank of fuel.
- 11 August 2025Change in Crete
ATM withdrawal fees scrapped at Greek banks; a €1.50 cap for independent operators (Euronet-type). Prefer Greek bank ATMs and decline the “conversion to your currency” (DCC) offered on screen: always pay in euros.
- 28 July 2025Change in Crete
Aradena Gorge becomes ticketed (ΦΕΚ Β' 3987). Announced fare: €5 — but that's a press announcement, the official grid isn't yet legible in clear. Managed by Sfakia municipality + NECCA, ticketing aradena-tickets.necca.gov.gr.
- 21 July 2025Change in Crete
Cruise tax: €5 per passenger disembarking at Cretan ports in high season. It's collected by the cruise line, not at a booth — a cruise passenger has nothing special to do, but the cost of the stopover rises.
- July 2025Change in Crete
Agios Nikolaos's weekly market has moved to a new site known as “Lagos”. It is no longer held near the bus station, where many guides still place it. The day remains Wednesday.
- 1 April 2025Change in Crete
National archaeological-site pricing reform (phase 2): Spinalonga €8 → €20 (+150%, the biggest Cretan rise), Knossos €15 → €20, Agios Nikolaos archaeological museum €6 → €10. End of the winter half-price and abolition of combined tickets: each site is now paid for separately.
- 17 February 2025Change in Crete
Kourtaliotiko Gorge becomes ticketed (ΦΕΚ Β' 392): €5/day, penalty of 10× the ticket price for fare-dodging. First “easy and free” Cretan gorge to switch — over 140,000 visits in its first paid season.
Report an error
A price that moved, a wrong schedule, a site that closed? Write to us: we check, we fix, and the correction appears here, dated.