Things To Do in Malia

Party people gravitate to the town centre’s Y-shaped strip, where you can expect to hear house, pop, and dance in the busy hub of bars and clubs. When the sun rises, the party carries on at the beach or Petrino’s, a 24-hour bar. But it’s not all throbbing nightlife – the old town celebrates the evenings with plenty of local wine and plate smashing.

Just inland, Malia’s whitewashed old town has lots of traditional tavernas serving up freshly made taramasalata, oven-baked feta, lamb kleftico, moussaka and beef stifado. And there’s flaky baklava or galaktoboureko – Crete’s take on custard pie – for dessert. You might want to toast the friendly owners with a glass of raki.

Kalesma stays open out of season – a sure sign it’s got the locals’ seal of approval. Here you can tuck into meze and mains like moussaka and kokkinisto – lamb simmered in tomato and red wine – followed by a speciality sweet cheese pie with honey. For one of the best seats in the house, book a table on the upstairs terrace.

Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Taverna Eva is a family-run restaurant that has a well-earned reputation as Malia’s finest. A 20-minute walk from town brings you to its stunning terrace, set amongst hanging lanterns and great climbing vines. A main course of kleftiko, slow-cooked lamb with feta cheese, is best followed by Eva’s homemade baklava. Stay seated after dinner for a glass of raki, the customary digestif in this area.

Supermarkets here stock all the essentials, and you’ll find them all over town. Meanwhile, Beach Road – running south from the beach – is lined with shops selling sunhats, leatherware and pretty, hand-painted pottery. If it’s designer clothes and handbags you want, though, browse your way along Daedalou Street in Heraklion.

Yiasou’s jungle décor is made all the more convincing by Lara, the bar’s resident parrot. Waterfalls and ponds are scattered across this completely open-air space. The signature drink is the melon cocktail – served in half a real watermelon. The resident DJ’s chilled musical taste makes it hard to imagine that this place doubles as a cage-fighting venue some nights.

The Minoan Palace of Malia is just 5 minutes’ drive outside of Malia. Legend has it that Sarpedon, the third son of Zeus, ruled here – the ruins date back to 1700BC. The recently discovered Hypostyle Crypt, thought to have been a banquet hall, follows on to the necropolis, the royal burial enclosure. Tickets cost 4 euros but entry is free on Sundays during the winter months.

Just 3 kilometres outside of Malia, you’ll find the ruins of one of the largest ancient palaces in Crete. It used to be the Minoan royal family’s summer holiday pad, and you can wander through the well-preserved remains of the ground-floor chambers. It gets less crowded than the ruins at Knossos and costs less to visit, too – just 4 euros from Monday to Saturday, and nothing at all on Sundays.

The fun never stops in Malia. You’ll find all the best clubs – Candy Club, the Factory Club and Banana Bar – on the Y-shaped main strip in the centre of town. Come dawn, hardcore revellers break for the beach or Petrino’s – a 24-hour bar that’s a 10-minute stumble away.

Away from the main strip, you can try traditional Greek goodies in the cafés of the old town. Classics like stuffed vine leaves, deep-fried squid and sticky baklava all make it onto the menu, as does the local speciality of galaktoboureko – an impossible-to-resist custard pie baked in filo pastry.

You’ll find everything you need and more in the shops along Beach Road – whether it’s a handbag, a picnic for the beach or a fresh supply of sun cream. And if you’re looking for something pretty to take home as a present, the souvenir shops along this stretch do a nice line in hand-painted pottery.

This high-brow arts festival over in Heraklion is pretty diverse – in recent years it’s attracted everyone from folk singer Joan Baez to the Vienna Opera, along with some of Greece’s most famous musicians. You can also catch Greek tragedies, performed in their original language, at impressive open-air theatres.

Candy Club is Malia’s new cool kid on the block. Its 3 bars and 2 dance stages attract a party-loving crowd and big-name acts like Tinie Tempah and Westwood. No wonder it’s nabbed Malia’s Best Club award every year since opening in 2008.

Malia’s main beach is always buzzing. Watersports fans won’t know whether to go for the banana boats, the jet-skis or the PADI scuba diving courses first. With its child-friendly trampolines and swimming pool, Sun Beach is the go-to spot for families. Further east, on Potamos Beach, you can share the tree-shaded stretch with the locals.