Malia east of Hersonissos in Crete

Malia (3,220 inhabitants) is located about 8 kilometres east of Hersonissos. The village should change its name to Partya, because if it is somewhere in Crete that is dominated by party, then it is Malia. In fact, I have never seen anything like this during all my travels in Greece.

If you like to party all night and all day you will love Malia, if not, you never want to see the place again. The beaches are quite decent and the water is quite inviting. Malia is unfortunately a gigantic tourist industry. There are regular package holidays to Malia from Sweden, and there are package drinking trips from England.

On November 24, 2023, the British film "How to have sex" premiered. The film is about British party life in the Mediterranean and depicts teenage peer pressure, sex and consent. The film is of course shot here in Malia.

In Malia, people like to go bare-chested.

The village is something of a British colony in the peak season. English dominates, there is hardly a single sign in Greek. People go to British pubs and read English newspapers and sometimes they throw an eye on an old English football game that is shown on big screen TVs. McDonald's is just around the corner, the sun beds lie closer together than seals and it is terribly crowded. From megaphones can be heard calls for free shots and advertisements for wild nights at the clubs. And everyone has a great time!

In Malia, it's Black Friday every day of the week.

Malia is like a planet taken from the book "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams. First of all, I think about the planet that only have coastlines with unlikely beautiful beaches and where it always is a few minutes before closing time. The planet exist in reality and is called Malia!

Part of the beach in Malia.

The small island and the small chapel off the beach is called Agia Varvara.

The calm before the coming party.

In Malia, the children are older than children in other places in Crete.

In Malia there are many cool bars where you can chill in hammocks.

Malia Palace lies a few kilometres east along the coast. The palace is one of the three major Minoan palaces in Crete. The Palace of Malia is not as interesting as Knossos and Phaestos, at least not for a layman. But if you are a hardcore fan of Minoan culture, then of course you should not miss the excavations.

Remains of the Minoan Palace of Malia.

Malia is quite close to Agios Nikolaos, and to Mirtos. Both resorts are much nicer than Malia, and they are located in the regional unit of Lasithi.

WHAT YOU MUST NOT MISS WHEN YOU ARE DONE WITH MALIA

Don't miss the quiet village of Mirtos, which you can read about here »

Learn more about Crete here »