UK business travellers heading to Greece this summer and autumn have a strong case for adding a few leisure days to the itinerary. Crete’s cultural calendar runs at full tilt from July to October, with music, film, art and food festivals concentrated in and around Chania, the island’s second city and home to its busiest western airport.
Family-run hotel group Giannoulis Hotels & Resorts, which operates five properties near Chania, has picked out the island’s standout events for 2025, and the list makes a persuasive argument for the growing number of UK workers who extend business trips into holidays.
Music, film and art in Chania
The season opens with the Chania International Photo Festival from 20 to 24 July, organised by Blank Wall Gallery and bringing together 500 photographers from 69 countries across venues in the city. Hot on its heels comes Dance Days Chania, an international contemporary dance festival founded in 2011, running from 21 July to 2 August with performances, workshops and lectures.
Rock fans are catered for on 26 and 27 July, when the Chania Rock Festival, first staged in 2002, takes over the old city with a line-up including Kreator, Stratovarius, Geoff Tate and Elysion. September brings Chaniartoon, the international comic and animation festival, from 18 to 28 September, followed by the Chania Music Festival from 3 to 5 October, where contemporary Greek music meets electronic and experimental sounds.
The 13th Chania Film Festival runs from 15 to 26 October with documentaries, shorts and features from around the world. Art lovers with a spare afternoon between meetings can also catch Journeys in Art at the Municipal Art Gallery of Chania until 2 November, a 99-work survey of Greek art from 1870 to 2024 drawn from the Bank of Greece collection and curated by art historian Haris Kanellopoulou.
Food and drink in the villages
Beyond the city, Crete’s villages host a string of culinary celebrations. The Kalitsounia Festival, held in Kandanos around mid-July or mid-August, centres on the island’s much-loved sweet cheese pastries, served alongside kserotigana, stew, pilaf, wine and tsikoudia. August brings the Honey Festival to Afrata and Drakona, both around 30 minutes from Chania, while the Chestnut Festival takes over the western village of Elos from 19 to 21 October with chestnut dishes, live music and traditional Cretan dance.
Through October and November, tsikoudia festivals mark the grape distillation season across the island, including in Chania’s old Venetian port. Travellers planning an autumn extension will find the island still warm, as covered in our guide to an October getaway to Crete. Airlines have also been adding capacity to the island, with Jet2 among those to expand their Greece programme.
Where to stay and what it costs
All five Giannoulis properties sit within easy reach of Chania. Santa Marina Beach, 8km from the city, starts from 92 euros (£76) per room per night with breakfast, while the adults-only Santa Marina Plaza next door starts from 100.45 euros (£83). Further west, Cavo Spada Luxury Sports & Leisure Resort starts from 134 euros (£111), the adults-only Grand Bay Beach Resort at Kolymbari from 116 euros (£97), and the two-bedroom Ele Villas, which opened in late 2024, from £442.34 per villa per night.
UK visitors can enter Greece visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180-day period; current entry requirements are on the Foreign Office’s Greece travel advice page.
