Easter in Crete is full of images, flavours, scents… It touches all senses and the experience matches the pleasant scents of the blooming nature! Easter in Heraklion couldn’t be an exception. During Holy Week all fish taverns and restaurants of the city are packed with people who drink raki and cold wine and enjoy Lenten food recipes. The city’s traditional bakeries prepare tempting Easter bread (tsoureki) and kalitsounia (Cretan traditional small sweet-cheese pastries).  

The annual race RUN GREECE HERAKLION is not just a sports festival of the city of Heraklion and of its citizens but of all Cretans as well. It is a race held in spring with Eleftherias Square as its starting and finishing point.

RUN GREECE HERAKLION is a race for all active citizens, aged 10 years and above, and aims at promoting a healthier lifestyle through sports and participation. The runners may participate in any way they like, by RUNNING or WALKING, while enjoying the historical centre of Heraklion and the seafront. They receive the applause of hundreds of spectators during the race and many prizes await the winners.

The annual “Art En Route” festival stemmed from our desire to transform the city centre into a large, open-air art theatre. For four days many streets and squares of the city centre are dedicated to dancing, singing, colours and excellent music. Each year, Heraklion Municipality makes an open call to artists of any kind to submit their proposals on painting, artistic Graffiti, sculpture and installations, street theatre, music, dancing, handicrafts etc.

Heraklion Municipality programme of summer cultural events is characterised by high quality, richness and a variety of cultural events for the thousands of people (locals and visitors) who fill each year our cosy garden theatres and the squares of all the Neighbourhoods and New Municipal Districts.

As part of the summer cultural events and activities, numerous important and representative samples of all kinds of Art and Expression are presented, in thematic cycles, by renowned artists and younger ones who want to expose their work.

The Municipality of Heraklion organizes every year the "KASTRINI APOKRIA". The events are completed on Clean Monday. In addition to the great parade of the groups, THE CHILDREN'S HUNTER OF CRYMMENOS THISAVROS and THE HUNTER OF CRYMMENOS THISAVROS the program includes Musical Concerts, Kantades, Theatrical events, mask contest, exhibition of carnival costumes, visits of the Municipality Philarmonic and groups of stilts, jugglers, and volunteers in the districts of the Municipal Districts and neighboring municipalities.
All events take place freely. http://www.kastrino-karnavali.gr/

The Heraklion Municipality Festival entitled “Crete: One History, Five plus One Cultures” is dedicated to Crete. An island with an amazing countryside, long summers and important cultural heritage. We remember the island’s most important historical periods through dancing, singing, theatrical performances, exhibitions, lectures and many other activities which last approximately 20 days. Our goal is to highlight the fact that Crete, because of its location, has always been an area of geostrategic significance and has been influenced by a multitude of different and opposing cultures.

Το Διεθνές Συμπόσιο Γλυπτικής ξεκίνησε το 2006 στο Βενεράτο για να τιμήσει την ιδιαίτερη τέχνη της γλυπτικής που στη χώρα μας έχει μια αξιόλογη και πολυσύνθετη πορεία που ξεκινάει από τα αρχαία χρόνια. Έκτοτε πραγματοποιείται κάθε καλοκαίρι με τη συμμετοχή πολλών και σημαντικών καλλιτεχνών από την Ελλάδα και το εξωτερικό. Οι εκδηλώσεις συνήθως πραγματοποιούνται μέσα στο χωριό, όπου μπορείτε να περπατήσετε και να δείτε εξαίρετα κτίσματα της ενετικής kathodonπεριόδου, ενώ κοντά βρίσκεται και η Ιερά Μονή Παναγίας Παλιανής, μία από τις παλαιότερες της Κρήτης.

A unique festival which takes you on a journey to the city’s hidden secrets! 

The city of Heraklion, albeit an ever-evolving and ever-developing city, is also a place of contradictions, marginalisation, abandoned landscapes and deprived districts, just like any other large urban centre. These “invisible cities” within the city are the main inspiration and target of Atheati Poli (Invisible City) initiative, under the auspices of the Architects Association of Heraklion, which each year focuses on a different area of Heraklion that is facing social, economic and urban deprivation. 

The main goal of the seven-day festivities, which are organised each year by the Region of Crete - Heraklion Regional Unit as part of World Tourism Day celebrations, is to promote tourism, culture, tradition and Cretan products. Hundreds of exhibitors from all over the island occupy the main squares of Heraklion and promote tourism, culture,