Crete · Nightlife

The curve of bars along Akti Koundourioti and the lanes behind it is where Chania drinks, from early-evening raki to places running past two in summer. Waterfront prices are noticeably higher than one street back.

The pedestrian blocks around Korai street are Heraklion's own bar quarter, busy with students and locals rather than visitors and open year-round instead of just in season. A few minutes' walk from Lions Square.

Bars scattered through the Venetian lanes between the Rimondi Fountain and the harbour. Quieter, older and more mixed than Chania, and easy to walk between without crossing a main road.

Crete's package-holiday clubbing street, running roughly May to September and dead outside it. Cheap drinks and a very young crowd, and a long walk or a taxi uphill from the older village.

The Cretan version of a night out is a rakadiko: raki by the carafe, small plates that keep arriving unordered, and often live lyra and laouto. The good ones are in back streets and villages rather than on the harbour, so ask locally, and expect them to start late.