We visited Chania for 4 days in July 2022. We stayed in an AirBNB so we could easily make gluten free breakfasts. A great Greek breakfast is simple yogurt with fruit, walnuts, and honey. Our hosts were wonderful and owned a grocery store next door where we were able to get snacks and such. We even tried oregano flavoured potato chips!
Greek food in general is fairly safe, with Greek salad, grilled meats, and roasted vegetables being commonplace. I’ll include restaurants on my list that seemed to have good knowledge of gluten free, with labelled menus or they had come up in my research ahead of time. Of course, do your own research, ask questions ahead of ordering, and reach out ahead of time when needed. We found many Greek restaurants outside of Athens did not have posted menus or websites. As a result, you may need to look them up on Instagram or Facebook to find contact information.
A Legal Nomads restaurant card may come in handy in Chania (I brought one with me).
I have included a map that may be helpful in planning your meals or finding food when out and about.
To Xani
In the old Venetian port area of Chania, To Xani is nestled in the narrow streets. We had read nothing but good things about their gluten free offerings. However, when we arrived during prime dinner time were told that if we didn’t have a reservation, it was going to be tough to fit us in. Despite how busy they were, we were able to get a table about 2 hours later. Moral of the story: make a reservation!
The lamb dish they recommended was delicious, and they brought me homemade gluten free bread at the start of the meal! As you can see, I was very excited for the bread.
Me Gusta
Located a bit outside of Chania near Agia Marina beach (Planatias). You have to be looking out for it or follow the signs, as it is set a bit back from the road. It has a beautiful view of the water, we got to see an amazing sunset, and there was live music. The menu is marked with GF for safe items, and a GF* for items that need modification in order to be safe. The beef stifado and baked feta were delicious! The drinks had a lot of ice so ended up being small for how much you pay (even though my picture makes it look huge). The chicken gyros were just okay.
To Stachi
To Stachi is a vegetarian restaurant. It had come up in my prior research as an excellent place to get gluten free options (they also have vegan options). The waitress was very helpful with recommendations for what to order. Almost every main dish on the menu was gluten free. We got to try gluten free moussaka for the first time, which I was super excited for! We also had stuffed zucchini flowers (so good), stuffed vine leaves, and an eggplant appetizer that was their special for the evening.
Phyllo Breakfast & Brunch
It seems like they may close for the off-season, so definitely check ahead of time if this is somewhere on your list. Also recommended to make a reservation if you don’t want to wait, as this place is POPULAR! Phyllo was the only place in Chania that came up in my search that had breakfast-y foods and gluten free, so I really wanted to try it. They had gluten free options, and the waiter was very helpful. I ended up with a mushroom truffle omelette and Ahmed had a prawn, feta, and egg toast. His seemed small and he was still hungry after. But, the flavours were good. However, I’m not sure it’s worth waiting around for as long as we did. Make a reservation if you’re tired of making your own breakfast or really want a sit-down breakfast.
Kanelis
Recommended by our AirBNB host as a great place to get traditional Cretan food, this restaurant was not one that I had found when I researched. It is located a bit outside of Chania in the area of Planatias. Everything is made fresh in house, so the server was able to help me understand what would be safe to eat or not. We had been hoping to try their signature rice pilaf, but I was told this was not safe for me to eat, so we ordered a chicken dish and grilled halloumi. While we had better food throughout our 3 weeks in Greece, we were happy to try some traditional food from the area we were visiting.
Sklavenitis
A popular grocery store in Greece. There are several locations throughout Athens. We were able to find gluten free bread, crackers, biscuits, etc. This is where we bought groceries here to make our own breakfasts during our stay. We also bought a biscuit called “Papadopolous”. They were thin, chocolate biscuits that were divine with coffee. We ate multiple packages during our 3 week stay in Greece.
Map of Gluten Free Options
If you want more options, here is the Wanderlog map I made of everywhere I could find that was still open post-COVID and had good gluten free reviews, labelled menus, and/or indications that gluten free was safe at their restaurants. There are also a couple of options in Heraklion (we ate at Amalia’s Kitchen – yum!). Please note that I did not personally eat at all these restaurants, and as always, do your own due diligence and reach out or check their websites/menus ahead of your visit.
HOW TO USE THE MAP: Click on the Wanderlog logo in the bottom right corner to open the full-size map up in a new tab. There, you can choose to just look at one category at a time or see all of the categories on the map at once (click the 3 squares in the top right to choose). You can also export the map to Google Maps, share the map with others, or save the map.