Ostria, Thalassa & Praias Paplinou

A praia de Paplinou é uma praia na costa sudeste um pouco a leste de Ierapetra. O extremo oeste da praia é para visitantes e é oficialmente conhecido como Thalassa após o bar da praia localizado lá (não deve ser confundido com o resort perto de Chania), enquanto o extremo leste é para pessoas reservadas no resort e geralmente é referido como praia de Ostria. A praia é longa e a água é excelente e há muito estacionamento off-road disponível.

The eastern end of the beach has watersports but these are associated with the resort and might not be available to guests, Eu nunca perguntei então não tenho certeza. The beach itself is free but you can use the facilities (piscinas, sunbeds, etc) se você gastar 5 € no bar (price as of 2020). Existem 2 breakwaters built a short way out into the sea that protect the beach and help keep the water calm and warm.

The beach has reasonable soft sand, although as with much of Crete is is coarse sand rather than fine golden sand. This is good for water quality as the coarser sand isn’t so easily disturbed by currents so the water is usually very clear. The snorkelling is quite good although as sands have shifted over the years and covered some of the natural rock outcrops the amount of sea life has reduced but the last 2–3 years have seen the start of a recovery. In addition to numerous fish I have seen eels, octopus, and a lionfish once.

The pools are quite good although as they are unheated when it is windy they can get quite cool, even in the middle of summer. There is a baby pool that is only around 2ft (60cm) deep with a giant structure in the middle with slides coming from it that young children seem to love, although for the younger ones you will of course have to supervise. Note that whilst there are staff present there don’t appear to be any explicit lifeguards.

Ostria Beach resort is only 10–15 minutes drive from Ierapetra, por aí 40 minutes from Makrys Gialos, or 30 minutes from Myrtos. When approaching from the west look for the sign and entrance for the resort, when approaching from the east go past the main sign and then take the next entrance.