Greece / Crete
Golden Beach
Golden Beach is a 132 m-long sandy beach facing north, 7.5 km south of Ágios Nikólaos (Crete, Greece). The sea averages 25.2 °C in August, its warmest month, and 15.6 °C in February; it is 21 °C or warmer in June–October.
Average sea surface temperature by month. Current month outlined.
Month by month
October at Golden Beach
Beach-day index 7.6/10 · Greece median 7.0
| Measure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea °C | 16.1 °C | 15.6 °C | 15.8 °C | 16.8 °C | 19.1 °C | 22.4 °C | 24.5 °C | 25.2 °C | 24.5 °C | 22.7 °C | 20.2 °C | 17.8 °C |
| High °C | 15° | 15° | 16° | 17° | 20° | 24° | 26° | 26° | 25° | 23° | 20° | 17° |
| Low °C | 14° | 14° | 15° | 16° | 19° | 22° | 24° | 25° | 24° | 21° | 19° | 16° |
| Rain mm | 108 | 88 | 50 | 27 | 18 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 18 | 51 | 64 | 103 |
| Cloud % | 72 | 70 | 61 | 53 | 40 | 22 | 14 | 15 | 29 | 50 | 64 | 74 |
| Wind m/s | 7.2 | 7.0 | 6.3 | 5.8 | 5.0 | 5.7 | 7.0 | 6.8 | 6.2 | 5.7 | 5.9 | 6.9 |
| Daylight h | 10.0 | 10.9 | 11.9 | 13.0 | 14.0 | 14.5 | 14.3 | 13.5 | 12.5 | 11.4 | 10.4 | 9.8 |
| Record high/low | 19°/7° | 19°/6° | 21°/7° | 22°/11° | 26°/15° | 30°/19° | 29°/22° | 31°/23° | 29°/20° | 27°/16° | 25°/11° | 22°/8° |
| Beach index | 2.2 | 2.3 | 2.9 | 3.7 | 5.9 | 8.6 | 9.3 | 9.4 | 9.2 | 7.6 | 5.4 | 2.8 |
Long-term monthly averages: air from NASA POWER (2001–2020), sea from NOAA OISST (1991–2020); records are the extremes of 2001–2020. How the index works.
When to go
The beach-day index peaks in July–September; August scores 9.4/10 with highs of 26 °C, sea at 25.2 °C and 3 mm of rain.
That matches the median for beaches in Greece in the same month.
At its warmest the water here is 0.4 °C cooler than the Greece median for August (25.6 °C).
Across the year the sea averages 20.1 °C, warmer than 62% of the coastal beaches in the atlas.
January is the wettest month (108 mm) and July the driest (2 mm); the yearly total is about 540 mm.
Daylight runs from 9.8 hours in December to 14.5 hours in June; in mid-August the sun rises at 06:36 and sets at 20:07 local time.
Orientation, sun and shore
The shore faces north (5°). Open water fills about 33% of the horizon close by, which makes it an open stretch of shore.
At no time of year does the sun set over the sea here: sunset bearings run from 242° to 300°, behind the land.
Sunrise is over the sea in June–July.
Straight out to the north about 300 km of open sea lies before the next coast, enough for large swells to build. The beach is on an island of about 8,307 km².
About 1 km offshore the sea is roughly 37 m deep and 52 m at 3 km. Behind the beach the ground is about 95 m above sea level 500 m inland and 241 m at 1.5 km, so the beach is backed by steep slopes or cliffs.
Within 1 km, the land is 60% tree cover, 20% grassland and 11% shrubland (satellite land-cover map, 2021): a largely natural setting. Water makes up 41% of that circle.
- Tree 60%
- Grass 20%
- Shrub 11%
- Built 8%
Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m). Orientation from OpenStreetMap land polygons sampled in 36 directions; depths and heights from the GEBCO 2020 grid (about 450 m cells), indicative only.
Bathing water quality
The official EU bathing-water site “Voulisma”, 280 m from the beach centre, was rated Excellent for the 2025 season. It was Excellent in 11 of its 11 classified seasons since 2015.
- 2015Excellent
- 2016Excellent
- 2017Excellent
- 2018Excellent
- 2019Excellent
- 2020Excellent
- 2021Excellent
- 2022Excellent
- 2023Excellent
- 2024Excellent
- 2025Excellent
Source: European Environment Agency, EU Bathing Water Directive assessments · national site profile. Classes are based on four seasons of bacteriological sampling.
Average wind speed at 10 m reaches 7.2 m/s in January, the windiest month.
OpenStreetMap shows no lifeguard station within 1 km. Seasonal lifeguard posts are often unmapped, so check on site.
Photos
From above
Facilities within 1 km
- 13Restaurants, cafés & bars
- 2Public toilets
- –Showers
- 2Car parks
- –Lifeguard stations
- 7Hotels & guesthouses
- 1Grocery shops
- 12Bus stops (1.5 km)
Food and drink mapped within 1 km: 9 restaurants, 1 café and 3 bars. Accommodation: 7 hotels and guesthouses.
Counted within 1 km of the beach (bus stops 1.5 km) from OpenStreetMap features and Overture Maps places, release of 2026-10. Unmapped does not mean absent.
Around the beach
Islands in view
- Βρυονήσι 2.0 km E
Getting there
| Airport | Code | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sitia Airport Crete Island | JSH | 34.2 km | east |
| Heraklion International Nikos Kazantzakis Airport Heraklion | HER | 56.2 km | north-west |
| Karpathos Airport Karpathos Island | AOK | 132 km | east |
Straight-line distances from the beach; road distance is usually 20–40% longer.
Local transport: 12 bus stops within 1.5 km and 2 mapped car parks within 1 km.
2 towns and villages of 1,000+ people lie within 10 km (about 14.1K residents); within 30 km there are 11 (about 41.8K).
Map
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Data on this page
- Air temperature, rain, cloud, wind, humidity: NASA POWER climatology 2001–2020, 0.5° grid.
- Sea temperature: NOAA OISST v2.1 monthly normals 1991–2020, nearest ocean cell 29.5 km away.
- Beach outline, surface, rules and public facilities: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), feature w116631697; restaurants, cafés, bars and lodging: Overture Maps places (CDLA-Permissive-2.0).
- Towns and time zone: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Airports: OurAirports (public domain). Sunrise and sunset: NOAA solar equations.
- Photos: Wikimedia Commons, author and licence under each image.
- Satellite view: Copernicus Sentinel-2 (ESA), scene S2B_35SLU_20260531_0_L2A.
- Orientation: OpenStreetMap land polygons (ODbL). Depth and terrain: GEBCO 2020 grid.
- Bathing-water quality: European Environment Agency (site ELBW139310018101).
- Settlements: GeoNames places with 1,000+ inhabitants.
- Land cover: ESA WorldCover 2021, 10 m (CC BY 4.0).
- Search popularity: about 49.5K Google searches a month for the name (KeywordTool, October 2026).
Data compiled 2026-10-13. Something wrong? Report a data error.