For sale Villas in Elounda

The luxurious villas for sale, are newly built (2009) and all walls are from concrete and the external space and fencing in a traditional style, combining bright earthly colours with natural stone (the local stone of Elounda), handcrafted by local craftsmen. The exterior areas are formed with respect to nature and environment and highlight swimming pool, barbeque and a sun terrace with a pergola on the pool level, plus a smaller pergola on the middle level balcony.

Each of these exceptional villas is approx. 94m², arranged on three floors, and set on private plots of 300-330m².

---

For sale Villas in Elounda Location

Set on 6.300m² of total land area located at cosmopolitan Elounda and arranged on a hillside with breathtaking views over the Aegean Sea.

Elounda is located in east Crete, north of Agios Nikolaos and south of the seaside resort of Plaka. Elounda was once a picturesque fishing village in the lovely Mirabello Bay. The inhabitants lived from farming, fishing, salt extraction from the Venetian saltpans, and emery mining.

In the hills around Elounda is found a mineral unique to Greece, “akonopetra” or whetstone, a type of fine emery used to make whetstones and emery paper to hone tools used in many different jobs. The emery of Elounda had long been known in Europe by the name of “Turkey stones” or “Naxos stone”.

Once discovered by tourism, Elounda developed into a resort famous for its beautiful scenery and luxury hotels which are still being built in the area. It is said to be the place with the most five-star hotels in Greece.

The former Prime Minister of Greece Andreas Papandreou was particularly fond of Elounda and came here on holiday at least once a year. He introduced it to French President Mitterand and Libyan leader Gaddafi, while Elounda was also a favourite resort of Kostas Simitis, another more recent Greek Prime Minister. Apart from politicians, Elounda often welcomes Arab princes with their large families, film and music stars, Russian tycoons and other VIPs from all over the world.

The main beach of Elounda is right next to the harbour and car park, in the centre of Elounda. The beach is organised, with umbrellas, sun loungers and a lifeguard, while all around you will find cafeterias, restaurants and hotels.

The east beach of Elounda; this beach is at the east end of Elounda, near the isthmus leading to the Kolokytha Peninsula. Its an organised beach but smaller than the main one.

Kolokytha Beach - You can get to the olokytha Peninsula by crossing the narrow isthmus with the windmills and walking along the dirt track to the small church of Agios Loukas. The road is passable for most cars, as long as they have good clearance and are not overloaded. A small path after the church leads to the small beach of Kolokytha. Its only a short walk away so its not tiring to get to. The beach isnt organised and the only shade here is under two or three tamarisk trees. Its fairly empty if you come before noon or after 3 in the afternoon. In between, the tour boats come from Spinalonga and the peace and quiet is broken by loud music. To the left (northwest) of the beach, where the boats moor, there are only flat rocks where you may meet a few nudists.

Other beaches near Elounda
A few kilometres north of Elounda is the wonderful Driros or Dreros Beach with pine trees going down to the sea. There are loungers on the beach and a cafeteria with little tables on a wooden jetty. Its sheer bliss to drink your coffee here, gazing at the view of Elounda Bay and Spinalonga Island opposite. There are also various watersports on offer on Driros Beach. If you continue on a bit past Driros, you will come to Plaka and its two beaches.

Elounda is ideal for people who want a seaside holiday in a place which is neither too busy nor too isolated. In Elounda you will find small, pretty beaches, visit the island of Spinalonga is only applied to the islet, but the Venetians used it to include the large peninsula of Nissi or Kolokytha, which is connected to Elounda by a narrow isthmus. Apparently Kolokytha used to be joined to Spinalonga (which is why it shared the same name), but in 1526 the Venetians cut a canal between the two, forming this small island. This information comes from the Venetian cartographer Vincenzo Coronelli, but it may not be true. However, the islet is only 170 metres from Kolokytha and the water is shallow, so perhaps the Venetians did indeed carry out this project to form an impregnable island fortress.

The name Spinalonga appeared around the 13th century, bestowed by the Venetian conquerors, who, unfamiliar with Greek, corrupted the place-name “Stin Olounda” (“at Olounda”), originally to Spinalonde (13th century) and later to Spinalonga. It is no coincidence that the small island of Giudecca near Venice was also known as Spinalonga. According to another interpretation the name of the island is derived from its shape, like a long thorn (spina longa), but this theory is not widely held. Much later, in 1957, another name, Kalydon, was proposed for the island, in an unsuccessful attempt to replace the Latinate Spinalonga with a Greek name walk along the peninsula of Kolokytha (the word means “gourd” or “pumpkin”), and explore the many little villages far from the sea, offering a window into times gone by.

Elounda is not for those looking for a hectic nightlife, nor for those who prefer the isolated beaches of southern Crete. You might think that with so many luxury hotels, Elounda is the priciest place in Crete for a holiday. Its a reasonable assumption, but not true. Prices in Elounda are much like those in the rest of Crete. Were not talking about prices at a luxury hotel, but in the smaller hotels, apartments for rent, restaurants and cafeterias.

How to get to Elounda

From Agios Nikolaos to Elounda

From Heraklion to Elounda

Allow approximately 2,5 hours to get to Elounda from Rethymno and 3-3,5 hours from Chania.