The winter months in Crete are from January to March. Villages and towns may look a little sad and forgotten at times during these months and at it can get a little cold. It is during these months that the rains fall on the island. But there is always sunshine just around the corner, even in the winter.
The snows that fall on the mountain ranges, yes it does snow in Crete, can be up to 3 metres deep. This is the growing season with almond trees and anemones flowering in abundance all over the island. Orange and other citrus trees are laden down with fruit.
For those who want to explore ancient Crete by visiting museums and archaeological sites or museums, this is definitely the right time for a visit. Finding lodgings is not hard but aim to stay in the towns rather than in tourist resorts.
For the next two months, March and April, the weather can be changeable so one day may be gorgeous and the next cold and rainy with nights much cooler or even quite cold.
But after the rains the island bursts alive with colour and it is at its greenest. Greeks celebrate their Easter during the month of April and in Crete as elsewhere in Greece, it is the most important feast of the year. Visitors arriving in Crete will be welcomed to the island in one of the most hospitable ways that is unique to the traditional ways of Cretans.
By the end of April the temperature of the sea begins to warm up and the weather starts to improve. Visitors to the island during the months of May and June love the display of wild flowers that cover the land.
This is the best time to visit if you are thinking of hiking through the mountain ranges or other beautiful areas of natural interest.
By the time we arrive in July the weather has really got very hot and going into August the temperature keeps on rising.
This is when the tourists from all over the globe descend on Crete to lap up the incredible weather that the island has to offer them. This is the time of seemingly endless days of sunshine that lead into the balmy evenings we all love so much about Crete. This is the time that all sun worshipers adore visiting the island.
The months of September along with October are the nicer months to visit Crete. The weather is still wonderful but the intense heat of the two previous months has dissipated. The sea is still gloriously warm and as the heat has cooled so has the number of tourists. The landscape is dry from the heat and it is amazing to witness how two or so months of sunshine and lack of rain can change a
landscape so dramatically.
Charter flights stop arriving in Crete at the end of October so it spells the end of tourism on the island making November and December very quiet months indeed. The weather is more reliable than in January, February and March with the seas around Crete still pleasantly warm, but be prepared for a few days when it might just rain.
