Agia Pelagia

Agia Pelagia (Santa Pelagia) is located 21km west of Heraklion, on the south side of the small Cape Souda, surrounded by several coves with beautiful beaches. Agia Pelagia, was initially a small and picturesque settlement used by the residents of Achlada village for growing their crops; today it has transformed into a bustling tourist resort with many hotels, restaurants, cafes, bars, internet cafés, ATMs, taxi, etc. and is connected with regular bus services to Heraklion.

The main beach of the settlement is a long and narrow beach with sand and greenish water. The Turks named this beach of Agia Pelagia as Tsanak Limani, because the round shape of it reminded them of a plate (tsanak = plate). Indeed, the water is almost always calm here and the bay forms a natural quiet harbor. The beach offers many options for watersports, diving,umbrellas, food and accommodation. The beach in some places is very narrow and the sunbeds have occupied almost the entire width of the beach, leaving little room to put someone’s towel.