Where to swim in Crete today
Live conditions: NW wind, 5 to 16 km/h depending on the coast. We rank Crete's beaches by how calm the water should be right now, from wind direction, shoreline orientation and measured wave height.
All beaches
Eligias
Central Crete · Heraklion · today's pick
The N wind (9 km/h) blows from the land here, leaving the shoreline flat. Waves around 0.3 m, sea at 27°C.
Good choices by area
Touch a zone of the island · or use the pills
Agios Charalampos Beach 5.0
cross-shore wind · 9 km/h · 0.3 m · pebbles
Argilos Beach 5.0
cross-shore wind · 9 km/h · 0.3 m · sand
Filaki 3.6
cross-shore wind · 9 km/h · 0.3 m · pebbles
Agiofarango 4.1
offshore wind · 9 km/h · 0.3 m · fine pebbles
Matala · 8.2 km
Koudouma
offshore wind · 9 km/h · 0.3 m · pebbles
Psili Ammos Beach 3.8
offshore wind · 9 km/h · 0.3 m · sand
Matala · 12 km
Alatsolimni beach
offshore wind · 11 km/h · 0.4 m · sand
Argilos 5.0
offshore wind · 11 km/h · 0.4 m · sand
Chiona Beach 4.2
offshore wind · 11 km/h · 0.4 m · sand
Live conditions by station
live · 05:37 PMHeraklion
26°
9 km/h · 0.3 m · 27°C
Chania
25°
16 km/h · 0.6 m · 26°C
Rethymno
24°
9 km/h · 0.3 m · 26°C
Ag. Nikolaos
26°
11 km/h · 0.3 m · 26°C
Ierapetra
27°
16 km/h · 0.3 m · 26°C
Sitia
27°
11 km/h · 0.4 m · 26°C
Makrigialos
28°
12 km/h · 0.3 m · 26°C
Elounda
26°
11 km/h · 0.3 m · 26°C
Hersonissos
25°
5 km/h · 0.3 m · 26°C
Malia
25°
5 km/h · 0.3 m · 26°C
Where should I swim in Crete today?
Today's data pick is Eligias (Central Crete): with the current N wind at 9 km/h it is on the sheltered side of the island.
Is it windy in Crete today?
Right now the wind over Crete blows from the NW at 5 to 16 km/h depending on the coast. One side of the island is usually calm whatever the wind: this page lists it live.
How this works
Every 30 minutes we combine live Open-Meteo data (wind speed and direction, wave height at the nearest marine point, sea temperature, 10 stations across Crete) with each beach's shoreline orientation, estimated from its position relative to the island's mountain ridge. Offshore or cross-shore wind means flatter water; onshore wind builds chop. Individual bays can behave differently: always judge conditions on site, especially with children. For 180 of the 183 beaches, field-observed data (typical sea state of the bay, sand type, depth, crowds) corrects the geometric estimate: a bay known usually calm scores better than its exposure alone suggests.
Conditions updated: Tuesday, September 22, 05:37 PM (Europe/Athens)