The town
of Agios Nikolaos has taken its name from the Byzantine church
devoted to Saint Nicholas.
The town lies 68 km from the capital of Crete,
Heraklion. 37 km from Ierapetra and 72 km from Sitia.
The lake of Agios Nikolaos creates a romantic atmosphere day and night and adds to the magic of the town. A myth was created years back that the lake is bottomless but the truth is that it is impressive depth counts to 64 meters.
The city of
Agios Nikolaos has numerous restaurants by the lake and around the coast where
you can enjoy the Greek and Cretan specialties as well as international
cuisine. Furthermore, it has many shops with souvenirs and local artifacts as
well as shops with fashion and brand clothes in very reasonable prices.
Opening hours for shops are:
Mon, Wed, Sat 8.30 – 14.00
Tue, Thu, Fri 8.30 – 14.00 and 17.30 – 20.30
Souvenir shops and shops in tourist center are open daily and all day long.
Elegant cafes add to entertainment and in some of them you can have Internet
access necessary for anyone nowadays.
For those who wish to spend
some energy and have fun there are excellent night clubs and music halls. For
those who are more romantic an open-air cinema within a beautiful garden setting
with popular and up to date movies can be the answer for the night.
Furthermore various musical events with traditional Cretan music as well as
popular are organized by the lake at the open-air Theater.
Elounda is famous about the
island of Spinalonga, luxurious hotels and taverns with fresh fish.
Boat trips
to Spinalonga you can book from Agios Nikolaos, Elounda and the little village
Plaka just after Elounda. Elounda is about 10 km from Agios Nikolaos.
Kritsa is a famous traditional village one of the few remaining nowadays on Crete. Amazing artifacts to decorate your house, milk products, herbs and honey. The inhabitants are dressed the “Cretan Way”. Kritsa is about 10 km from Agios Nikolaos.
