First impression: a long mountain range in the sea, its dark brown outlines far ahead in the haze – you catch a glimpse of the island's striking profile far too briefly before the plane descends over the ink-blue sea.

Crete lies like a mighty barrier on the southern edge of the Aegean Sea. The mountains are never far away and form the very heart of the island. Four mighty mountain ranges dominate the landscape: in central Crete rises the imposing Ida massif, where the mighty father of the gods, Zeus, is said to have grown up.

In the west, the Lefka Ori, the ‘White Mountains’, form an imposing high mountain backdrop. In the east, the steep rim of the Dikti Mountains surrounds the Lassithi Plateau with its white-clad windmills.

And finally, the Thripti Mountains dominate the narrow easternmost part of Crete.

To the north, the Cretan mountains gently slope down into rolling foothills, forming large coastal plains where all the major cities and large holiday resorts are located. The south, especially the southwest, is different. Here, the two-thousand-metre peaks end in rugged cliffs: steep coasts with sandy and pebble beaches, tiny villages between high rock faces, where the sun beats down mercilessly. Some places and beaches can only be reached by boat, over bumpy dirt roads or on foot. Coastal hikes and the deep gorges that cut through the steep mountain slopes for many kilometres offer magnificent landscape experiences here. The world-famous Samaria Gorge, often referred to as Europe's longest gorge, is just one of the many highlights.