Kolokytha Island

Kolokytha is a small, uninhabited island in the Gulf of Mirabello, on the north-east coast of Crete, lying just off the resort of Elounda and about 12 kilometres north of Agios Nikolaos. Together with the fortified islet of Spinalonga and the adjoining Spinalonga peninsula, it forms part of a wider group of islands and headlands known as Kalydon, once home to the ancient city of Olous and later used by the Venetians, who built salt works in the area and fortified nearby Spinalonga to guard the bay.

Kolokytha itself has no permanent buildings and little recorded history of its own, but the narrow, sheltered channel it forms with the Spinalonga peninsula creates some of the calmest, clearest water in the area, drawing swimmers and small boats through the summer months. Sources differ on the island's exact size and shape, and maps sometimes confuse it with the larger, better-documented Spinalonga peninsula opposite — a reminder that this corner of Crete's coastline still holds a few geographical loose ends.

For visitors arriving by water, this pocket of Mirabello Bay is best reached during a gulet cruise along the Greece coast, combining a swim in Kolokytha's sheltered channel with a look at Spinalonga's fortress walls across the water.