Cost of living in Crete

This Cost of Living in Crete page is from the Living in Crete section of the Completely Crete website.

Rules and fees last checked: October 2026. Always confirm with the official source before you act.

Precise cost comparisons between Crete (Greece) and the UK are very difficult to make. Wages are lower here, so you would expect prices to be too. In the past, a UK work or retirement pension went a lot further in Crete than in the UK. A pension paid in pounds still rises and falls in value with the exchange rate, which squeezes UK ex-pats whenever the pound is weak against the euro.

The austerity years of the Greek debt crisis put paid to the notion of Greece having the cheapest grocery basket in Europe. Some prices given on this page are past figures from our earlier research, and we label them with their date.

Food and General Cost of Living

The cost of living in Crete for things like local foods is still competitive. Buy fresh local produce and you can still feel that things are cheaper than in the UK and northern Europe. Things are more expensive than in the recent past, primarily because transport costs and taxes have increased considerably.

Eating out in Crete costs less than in the UK and France, in our experience. Competition in the resorts is fierce, so many restaurants battle to keep prices down, and the pinch can come in quality at some places.

We found that with many things, what we would pay in the UK in pounds we would pay the same in Crete BUT IN EUROS. For example, if something were to cost £1 in the UK, you could buy the equivalent in Crete for €1.

Generally alcohol is much cheaper in Crete. Most local spirit and wine is produced by the person selling it to you, and there's no duty of course. Imported spirits and wines are more expensive. Imported beers are expensive though.

As you would expect, some items are more expensive than in the UK such as branded toiletries, cosmetics, sun lotions etc. Also 'British' foods such as Heinz baked beans, HP sauce, Kellogg's cornflakes, Typhoo tea bags etc are more expensive too.

But if you choose to eat more like a local and opt for only fresh seasonal locally produced foods, take advantage of local markets and eat out at non touristy places you'll soon find the Euro in your pocket goes much further.

Eating out in Crete

Eating out in Crete is a pleasure, and if you choose places off the beaten track you will be surprised at how little it costs still. Look to see where the Cretans eat for good value and quality.

These meal prices are past figures from our earlier research, so expect to pay more today. Back then, a meal with wine for two in a traditional kafeneion regularly cost no more than €15-€20, and a plusher eatery or Estiatorio cost about €25-€30.

A carafe of local wine from the barrel cost about €4-€6 at that time. Watch out for the free carafe of raki at the end of your meal if you are driving!

Utilities

Electricity is charged on how much you use and you'll also pay a small standing charge every two months. As far as the cost of living in Crete for electricity goes it can be quite expensive, especially if you use air conditioning in the summer or electric heaters in the winter.

Local council charges for refuse collection and street lighting are added to your electricity bill, together with a TV licence fee (whether you have a TV or not!). In our experience, electricity costs roughly the same as electricity and gas combined for a similar-sized home in the UK.

Greece has no council tax as such, but property owners pay an annual property tax. AADE, the Greek tax authority, explains the Unified Tax on the Ownership of Real Estate (ENFIA), which is paid in up to 10 monthly instalments.

Unlike many Greek Islands water is less scarce, but is still a precious resource. Again, you pay for what you use. A water bill plus sewage costs added to this will make the water charges about ½ what we paid in the UK.

The cost of living in Crete for telephone costs vary between companies and mobile telephone providers. We've found that costs compare very favourably to UK telephone company charges and rates.

Motoring Costs

Petrol prices vary from place to place and from garage to garage in the same place, so shop around. Fuel costs feed into the price of almost everything else on the island.

Petrol on Crete cost more than €2 a litre in 2026. Unleaded averaged about €2.21 a litre in Chania and €2.23 in Heraklion on 22 September 2026, according to average retail fuel prices reported by To Vima. For comparison, we paid €1.45-€1.55 a litre in July 2017.

Car insurance can be expensive compared to the UK, in our experience.

Road tax (teli kykloforias) depends on the car. Cars first registered before November 2010 pay by engine size, up to €1,380 a year for engines over 4,000 cc, and newer cars pay by CO2 emissions, according to AADE's road tax rates.

Water, phone and bills in practice

Water supply

Water supply in Crete is the job of the local municipality where you live. You pay for the water you use. Water is less scarce on Crete than on many Greek islands, but it is still a precious resource. A home outside the village or town boundary, or an olive grove inside it, counts as an agricultural water supply.

Phone lines and mobile phones

Many homes in Crete have no street name or house number. Give a clear description of how to find your home when you order a phone or internet line, so the engineer can find you. We recommend a Greek SIM card if you live in Crete, because calls on a UK mobile phone are expensive, both within Crete and back to the UK.

Finding your bills at the village post office

Bills in many Cretan villages arrive at the post office, not at your door. We have no letter box and no proper address: our home is simply "that house with the pool just off the road to Vamos". So we collect our mail from the post office in the village, and we rummage through 2 boxes of letters to find ours.

The Greek alphabet makes the search harder. My name is Yates, which starts with a Gamma (Γ) in Greek, the third letter of the Greek alphabet. Some mail is filed under my first name, Graham, and Greek has no letter "G". Some official mail also adds your father's name to your own. In practice you check every piece of mail in both boxes, and it is easy to miss something. We once missed an electricity bill this way.

Fresh lamb from the village butcher

Meat from a village butcher in Crete often comes straight from a local farm. We once asked for a leg of lamb, and the butcher was apologetic: the farmer had not killed the lambs yet, so could we come back at 4 o'clock? That lamb was delicious.