Lasithi Plateau

The tranquil Lasithi Plateau, 900m above sea level (bring a sweater even in summer), is a windswept expanse of green fields interspersed with almond trees and orchards. Offering a sense of secluded rural Crete, it’s really more a plain than a plateau, sitting as it does in a huge depression amid the rock-studded mountains of the Dikti range. It's sparsely inhabited, with just a few villages dotted along the periphery. Most people visit on a day trip to Psyhro, the gateway to the Dikteon Cave, where – so the myth goes – Zeus was born and hidden as an infant to protect him from his voracious father.