17km from Kastelli, betwixt the rugged mountains and the endless blue sea, on the very far western tip of Crete, Sfinari nestles in the folds of olive green hillsides, a haphazard scattering of little white houses and with a main street somewhat shorter than the braking distance of the local bus from Kastelli, which invariably grinds to a halt beyond the last house!
Sfinari village economy is based on produce from land and sea rather than tourism, so the few level areas of the village are occupied by greenhouses bursting with tomatoes and cucumbers instead of hotels overflowing with tourists, whilst tucked away on the sunny hillsides are small colonies of blue and white beehives producing wonderful honey from the wild mountain thyme.

From the main street a small lane bumps 800 metres down to the sea and a long stretch of beach, where three picture postcard tavernas, serve freshly caught fish in the shade of delicate tamarisk trees and the hustle and bustle of everyday life comes to a virtual standstill. Sfinari beach shelves quite gently into the sea and is a mixture of coarse sand and pebbles, however we are reliably informed that there is an even better deserted beach just over the headland which takes between twenty to fifty minutes to reach by the tenuous footpath, depending on which local geographer you speak to. Back up in Sfinari village there’s a number of other tavernas plus two simple cafenions that also sell a few groceries and where locals gather to drink small cups of Greek coffee from dawn to dusk and lament the low price of tomatoes in Athens.