Tertsa beach

Tertsa is a small farming village on the south coast of Crete in the Viannos area, about 90 km south-east of Heraklion between Myrtos and Psari Forada. It sits at the mouth of a green valley cut by the Tsounas stream, with greenhouses behind and a short row of tamarisks along the front. The beach in front of the village is long, of coarse grey sand and fine pebbles, and is used mainly by local families; it has two or three tavernas, a few rooms and showers, and has seen little tourist development. The nude-friendly part is not the village beach but Psaroharako, the more remote stretch that begins beyond the rock of the same name at the western end. Regional guides describe it as nicer and more secluded than the village front, with a taverna not far away, and say it is quiet enough for people who want to swim and sunbathe nude. The shoreline continues west towards Vourdolakos bay at Chlia, an unorganised beach with no facilities that is also said to be preferred by nudists and good for snorkelling. Expect a mixed local and visitor crowd, little or no shade beyond the tamarisks at the village end, and clear, quickly deepening water typical of the Libyan Sea coast.