For a week without a hire car, choose the part of Crete or Rhodes where you’d be happy to spend four days without going far. Rethymno and Chania give you different ways to combine town life and beach time on Crete. Rhodes Town works well if the medieval quarter is a priority, while Lindos makes more sense if you want the village itself to be most of the holiday. The right base depends on which places you want on your doorstep and which you’re happy to visit once.
On Crete, think in terms of one stretch of coast. If you’re flying from Poland, the last-minute holiday packages to Crete give you a way to compare hotels across the island. Check the arrival airport on the actual offer before you save it. A hotel in Rethymno and one in Chania might both fit your plans, but the airport and the available transfer can change how easy the first and last days will be.
On Rhodes, start by deciding whether Rhodes Town or Lindos sounds like a place you would enjoy returning to each evening. The last-minute holiday packages to Rhodes let you compare that decision with the hotels available for your dates. Open the map for each property: an offer described as being near Lindos might put you outside the village, with a different walk to dinner and a different stop for the bus into town.
Crete: pick the town that fits most of your week
Rethymno for beach time and evenings in the old town
Rethymno has an old town with a Venetian fortress and a long beach that extends away from the centre. That combination makes it a useful starting point for travellers who want to swim before lunch and pick a different place to eat after dark. Look at which section of the beach the hotel faces. A room farther east along the coast might be perfectly placed for morning swims, while an address closer to the old town might mean you go there for a coffee or a walk without having to set aside an entire evening.
Give yourself one optional outing west to Chania or east to Heraklion, depending on what you actually want to see. The Chania–Rethymno KTEL operator publishes timetables by departure point and date, and the intercity route connects those towns. Pull up the return service as well as the outbound bus. If your plan for Chania is mainly dinner on the waterfront, the latest bus you’re comfortable catching matters more than the number of departures before lunch. An earlier lunch in Chania and dinner back in Rethymno can make the same outing much easier.
Chania for harbour walks and a local beach
If you care more about having the Venetian harbour and the old quarter nearby, start with Chania itself. The city’s tourism office describes a walking route west from the harbour to Nea Chora beach. That gives you a straightforward local swim to consider alongside bigger day trips. It also gives you two sensible places to look for accommodation: closer to the old lanes if evening walks are the priority, or towards Nea Chora if you’d like the beach to be the easiest part of the day.
Keep the famous beach photos in perspective. A remote beach you’d visit on one organised trip shouldn’t carry the decision about where you’ll spend seven nights. If you’ll be happy using Nea Chora for a short swim and saving the excursion for a day with suitable transport, a city base makes sense. If you picture spending most afternoons on one specific beach outside Chania, check accommodation near that beach before committing to a town hotel.
Rhodes: decide where you want to spend your evenings
Rhodes Town for sightseeing you can spread across several days
The medieval city has enough to see over several short outings, from the Street of the Knights to the palace and the lanes around them. Staying nearby lets you spread those visits across the week. You can go out early, return to the hotel for a break and come back later, which is harder to do if every visit starts with a bus ride. Look at the area around the hotel as well as its distance to a gate: an address inside the walls and one in the newer town may give you different options for luggage drop-off and the beach.
For a day out, the KTEL Rhodes operator lists a route from Rhodes Town to Lindos. Check the timetable version that covers your visit, and find the stop that serves the part of Lindos you want. Work out what you can comfortably see between arrival and the return bus. If you want to take your time at the Acropolis and have lunch, build those two stops into the day before adding a swim.
Lindos for a village stay with one trip into town
Base yourself in or near Lindos if the idea of village mornings, whitewashed lanes and a beach below the village is the main draw. This reverses the Rhodes Town plan: the medieval city becomes a single outing rather than something you have to reach each time you want a change of scene. Check the walk from your specific property to the seafront and back. The climb up after a swim may matter more to you than the short distance shown on the map. Ask where the airport transfer can drop you and how you’ll get from that point to the room with bags.
Put two ordinary days and one outing on paper
Use a simple test when you’re down to two hotels. Write down a beach day, a day spent mainly around the town or village, and the one outing you’d most regret missing. On the outing day, start with the return. For example, if a museum visit and lunch would keep you there until three, a timetable with one usable bus home offers less flexibility than two. Check which days it runs, how much time you need to reach the stop and what you’d do if you missed it. You can keep the outing as an option if the timetable for your week is still unpublished.
| What you’d do most often | Where to start looking | What to confirm first |
|---|---|---|
| Swim often and eat in the old town | Rethymno | Whether the section of beach and the old-town walk suit you |
| Spend evenings at the harbour and take a short local swim | Chania or Nea Chora | Whether you’d rather stay closer to the harbour or the beach |
| Explore the medieval city in short visits | Rhodes Town | The route to the old town and where the transfer can drop you |
| Spend most days near the village and bay | Lindos | The walk back uphill and the bus stop for your day in Rhodes Town |
Price the journeys the package leaves out
Check the airport transfer in both directions before judging the hotel price. Then add the transport you expect to pay for: perhaps two return bus fares to a nearby town, an organised beach trip or a taxi after a late dinner. Use the same number of people for both options. For a couple, for instance, a bus outing usually means comparing four individual journeys with the price of one taxi each way. A hotel a little farther out can still be good value if you want to stay there most days. If you’ll be paying to get to dinner several times, the more central room may make better use of the same budget.
Leave one day loose. If you’d gladly spend that day where you’re staying, even with the main excursion cancelled, you’ve probably picked the right base. Which island wins comes down to what you’d choose to do with that spare morning: walk down to Nea Chora, combine the beach and old town in Rethymno, go back through the gates of medieval Rhodes, or stay close to the bay in Lindos.
