Travel, Accommodation and Food in Crete

Chania and Crete in Pictures

Practicalities

Travel

Crete is easy to travel to direct, in June, from many parts of Europe. It is worth exploring the possibilities with budget airlines, like Easyjet, Ryan Air and Norwegian.
A site like momondo.co.uk will give cheap flights by day of the week, which can be very useful.
You may wish to travel to Athens and see the sites there as well. In which case you can then fly on to Crete, or take one of the the regular ferries to Souda (from Piraeus). The crossing takes about 9 hours, but the boats are pleasant, have good food and you can get a cabin if you wish.

Accommodation

To be able to access the Conference easily, you could choose to stay in Chania, or in the more beach holiday orientated Platanias, to the West. There are other resorts between these two which also have great accommodation.
As you may not need a package as such, you could of course, stay in Chania for a couple of nights (well worth it) and then move.
My wife and I have stayed in all the following hotels, and they were good when we were there. You need to do your own research of course, using Trip Advisor or similar.
The Splanzia Hotel
El Greco Hotel
Nostos Hotel
The Amphora Hotel
Pension Theresa
The Bozzali Hotel
There are many other hotels, some have opened since we needed to stay in Chania (we now live nearby) and you should explore possibilities.
The airbnb idea is also catching on here, and that may provide a useful, and not too expensive, resource.

Getting around and Getting Fed

Car hire is easy - there are many sites to help you with that, but parking in Chania is not easy, so it will depend on where you are staying to decide if it is worth it.
The conference centre (details coming soon) has ample parking.

Crete is rightly renowned for its cuisine. It has the influence of all those who have controlled the island and have left their culinary mark. In addition, Crete grows a lot of its own food, and many tavernas use produce from their own farms.
Life for vegetarians is also easy, as much Greek food is vegetarian anyway.
There are excellent fish tavernas and many establishments offering great meat dishes (beef, lamp, chicken and of course, goat and rabbit!)
The local wine can be excellent - Cretan vintners are rightly proud of their local varieties and blends. But cheap and cheerful, the local white krassi is excellent for most occasions.
Good Italian and Chinese food are also available - and Platanias boasts an Indian restaurant!