Music festivals in Heraklion

The backbone is the Heraklion Summer festival (Irakleio-Kalokairi), run by the municipality and one of the city's oldest cultural traditions. From the start of July into September it fills the Nikos Kazantzakis garden theatre, the Manos Hadjidakis garden theatre and the Mikis Theodorakis open theatre at the Bethlehem Gate, all close to the Venetian walls, with more than a hundred events each summer: concerts by well-known Greek bands and songwriters, Cretan music, dance and theatre, with a good share of the programme free to attend. The Kazantzakis theatre, named after the writer who is buried on the Martinengo bastion a short walk away, is where the big openings usually happen, and on a warm evening the seats fill with locals who treat it as their summer living room.

Some of the most interesting music happens outside the city. About 20 km south, in the village of Houdetsi, Ross Daly's Labyrinth Musical Workshop hosts a summer festival in July, with three evenings of Cretan and world music, from Iranian and Azerbaijani traditions to modal ensembles, played in gardens and village spaces. Further west, up in the mountains in Anogeia, which belongs to the Rethymno region, the Yakinthia festival holds concerts in an open-air theatre on Psiloritis in late July, about an hour's drive from Heraklion. Back at the Venetian harbour, in front of the Koules fortress, the newer RE:KRETE festival has mixed electronic music with Cretan sounds on late September evenings.

A few things first-timers learn fast. July and August in Heraklion are hot and bright, and the meltemi wind can blow hard in the evening, so bring a light layer for the open-air theatres. Shows usually start around nine or later. Parking near the walls is tight on concert nights, so walk in from the centre or take a taxi. For Houdetsi and Anogeia, you will need a car or organised transport, and the roads back are dark and winding, so plan the return before the last song.