map of Crete Malia...hmmm, it used to be so nice: 30 years ago, in 1974. Things have changed a lot since than. All the small villages on the coast are now connected to eachother. No more walks on the almost deserted shores of Malia. Now Malia has become my nightmare. The national road runs through it, so there is no way to escape it. The traffic always gets stuck there as well, so you are forced to look at it as well. What used to be a charming small fishing village with an interesting escavation (The Palace of Malia) has now become one cluster of concrete buildings, one even uglier than the other, and the beach is crowded and full of rental beds. All charm has left Malia in my point of view, and it's superhigh on my list of places to avoid. Of course there are people out here that really love the place, and that's fine with me, but it's no longer my cup of tea :(. But then again: my taste is not everybodies taste and a lot of people seem to like it. They go out till late and visit the bars and the discoteques in Malia and this is their way of making a party, relax and have a holiday. If that is your thing than why not?

The beach is Malia is actually not bad and it is quite long, so in case you want it a bit more quiet you can always walk along the shore untill you see a stretch with less people and than you can lay down your towel there and go into the sea.

Malia is situated at about 34 kilometers east of Heraklion and from the airport it is a half an hour drive. All amenities like banks, a post office, car rentals, luxury hotels, shops, super markets, bakeries, green stores, tavernas, bars, fast food stores, discotheques and kafenions are in plenty supply in the village of Malia. Malia: you hate it or you love it.

The Palace of Malia

A little bit outside the village of Malia and close to the beach is the Minoan Palace of Malia which dates back as far as 1900 BC. It was destroyed by an earthquacke two centuries later and than rebuilt again. Unlike the Palace of Knossos nothing has been reconstructed here and it is all in the original state in which it was found. The palace covers and area of 7400 square meters and it is the third palace in size after Knossos and Festos. The remains that you can see today date from around 1650 BC. Because they don't know the original name of the palace the simply named it after the nearby village of Malia. In 1450 BC the palace was destroyed again, together with the other Minoan palaces on Crete.