Ammos Beach, Agios Nikolaos, Crete: The Town Beach 500m South of the Lake the Germans Dumped Their Tanks In, With the Sitia Mountains Across the Bay and Spinalonga Visible on the Horizon

Greece | Agios Nikolaos | Lassithi, East Crete

Lake Voulismeni is 134 metres wide and 48 metres deep at its centre. The locals call it simply “The Lake.” It was once a circular freshwater lake; a canal was cut to connect it to the sea in the late 19th century, after which it became brackish. Before the connection, sailors approaching Agios Nikolaos by sea could not see the lake at all — the town appeared to simply end at the cliff edge. In 1944, as the German occupation force retreated from Crete, they dumped their tanks, vehicles, and equipment into the lake. The underwater archaeology is still there. According to Greek mythology, the goddesses Athena and Artemis bathed in the lake before it accumulated its 20th-century layer of German military hardware.

Ammos Beach begins 500 metres south of this lake, at the Agios Nikolaos marina on Nearchou Street. The beach runs from the marina south toward the Municipal Beach, passing the stadium behind it, with hotels and restaurants on the landward side and the Mirabello Bay on the other. The water is always calm — no waves, flat throughout the season. The specific quality that every visitor account mentions first: the complete absence of wave action. The beach faces southwest into the enclosed bay, and the protected geometry means it functions as a natural swimming pool even on windy days.

The view from the water looks across Mirabello Bay toward the Sitia mountains on the far side. On clear days the outline of Spinalonga Island — the former leper colony on a small island at the entrance to the bay — is visible from the beach. The boat trip from the Agios Nikolaos marina to Spinalonga is one of the most popular excursions in east Crete.

Getting There: 59km From Heraklion Airport, Town Centre on Foot, Marina Car Park, Bus to Agios Nikolaos Then 5 Minutes Walk

Agios Nikolaos is 59 to 69 kilometres from Heraklion Airport depending on the route — approximately one hour by car on the north coast highway. From Heraklion city, the bus service runs frequently to Agios Nikolaos with a journey time of approximately 1.5 hours.

From the centre of Agios Nikolaos, the beach is a 5-minute walk — south from Lake Voulismeni along the marina promenade. The marina car park is the practical option for visitors arriving by car. The bus station is a short walk from both the lake and the beach.

The Beach: Organised Northern Section, Less Maintained Southern Section, Always Flat, Shallow, No Shade on the Sand

The northern section of Ammos Beach, directly beside the marina, is organised with sunbeds, umbrellas, showers, water sports (jet skiing, paddleboarding, kayaking), and restaurants immediately behind the sand. The water is shallow and flat — the most reliable calm-water swimming in the immediate town area.

The Municipal Beach further south on the same stretch is described as less maintained by the local government and varies in condition. The organised marina section is the consistent quality.

There is no natural shade on the beach itself — the umbrella is the only shade option. The hotels and restaurants behind the northern section provide some relief, but the beach is open and sun-exposed throughout the day.

Lake Voulismeni: The Town’s Defining Feature, 500m North, Legendary and Literal

The walk from the beach to Lake Voulismeni takes five minutes north along the promenade. The lake is surrounded on three sides by steep rocky cliffs with restaurants and cafes at their base, and connected to the sea by the short canal cut in 1870. It is the organisational centre of the town’s social life — the Kitroplateia square, the pedestrian streets, and the main café strip all orbit the lake.

The depth of 48 metres makes it the deepest lake in Crete and one of the deepest in the Aegean islands. The German equipment at the bottom is part of the local identity in a way that is specific to this particular small resort town — a layer of wartime history underneath the tourist-facing surface.

Kitroplateia Beach: The Other Town Beach, 200m West of the Lake, Different Character

Kitroplateia is the small beach 200 metres west of Lake Voulismeni, at the base of the cliffs — a different beach from Ammos, smaller and more enclosed, with tavernas directly on the waterfront. Kitroplateia has a Blue Flag award. The two beaches are different enough in character that most visitors who stay in Agios Nikolaos for several days use both — Ammos for the shallow open swimming and the marina views, Kitroplateia for the cliff-enclosed atmosphere and the taverna-at-the-water’s-edge experience.

Spinalonga: The Boat Trip That Leaves From the Marina, 45 Minutes Away

Spinalonga island — the Venetian-built fortress island at the entrance to the Gulf of Elounda that served as the last active European leper colony from 1903 to 1957 — is the single most visited site in east Crete. The boat trip from the Agios Nikolaos marina takes approximately 45 minutes. Victoria Hislop’s novel The Island (2005) — which takes Spinalonga as its setting — sold over a million copies and was adapted as a Greek television series (To Nisi) that became one of the highest-rated programmes in Greek television history. The combination of the novel, the series, and the island’s specific architectural and human history made Spinalonga the most recognisable destination in Crete for a generation of readers.

From Ammos Beach, the boat excursion is a 5-minute walk to the marina. A full day programme combining a morning swim at the beach, a Spinalonga boat trip in the afternoon, and an evening by Lake Voulismeni is the canonical Agios Nikolaos day.

The Town: The Paris of Crete, Neoclassical Architecture, Pedestrian Streets

Agios Nikolaos was known as the “Paris of Crete” during the cosmopolitan 1960s and 1970s tourism boom — a phrase that refers more to the sophistication of the international visitor it attracted at that time than to any architectural resemblance. The neoclassical buildings, the marina (the first built in Crete), the pedestrian shopping streets, and the general atmosphere of a small, well-maintained coastal town that functions year-round rather than purely seasonally are the specific qualities that justify the description.

In the area of Agios Nikolaos, the ancient city of Lato — one of the most important Dorian cities in Crete, built on a hillside 12 kilometres west — is accessible by car and worth the half-hour drive from the beach for the archaeological site and the views.

Ammos Beach at Agios Nikolaos, Crete is the town beach 500 metres south of the lake where the Germans dumped their tanks — always flat and calm (no waves at any time), shallow, organised marina section with sunbeds and water sports, Municipal Beach section further south less maintained, view of the Sitia mountains across Mirabello Bay, Spinalonga boat trips from the marina 5 minutes’ walk away (45 minutes to the leper colony island), Kitroplateia beach 700 metres west for the cliff-enclosed taverna experience, 59 kilometres from Heraklion Airport, and Lake Voulismeni with 48 metres of German equipment at the bottom.

Walk from Lake Voulismeni south to the marina. Swim in the morning. Take the afternoon boat to Spinalonga.