The gateway to the majestic region of east Crete, Agios Nikolaos has long been a magnet for health seekers coming to indulge in healing spa treatments, soak up vitamin D on the island’s glorious beaches, enjoy the famed Cretan diet and escape the coastal crowds by hiking high into mountains along pine-fringed winding shepherd’s tracks that lead to dizzy gorges, mythical caves and ancient Minoan sites.
Set on a hill overlooking the sparkling waters of Mirabello Bay, this idyllic seaside resort, with its small sandy beach and tangle of shopping lanes has been a centre of wellness since antiquity when, according to mythology, the goddess of wisdom and war, Athena, and her sister Artemis (who was in charge of nature and fertility) bathed in Voulismeni, once a freshwater lake – it is now connected to the sea – surrounded by cinnamon-coloured cliffs, which sits at the centre of town.
