Matala Beach Festival 2025

The Matala Beach Festival offers the opportunity to people of all ages to enjoy a 3-day event full of music, dancing, and many activities on the beach of Matala, right next to the legendary caves where the hippies lived freely back in the 60s. The festival began in 2011 as an homage to the hippies of the town’s past. During the event, great bands and top artists of the Greek and foreign stage, will perform live. The last Sunday before the festival, the streets of Matala are transformed into a huge canvas where painters of all ages leave their own unique imprint on the streets where the hippies walked, an relive an unforgettable era.  This year, Matala Beach Festival welcomes the “Matala Busking Project”, an initiative directly linked to the culture of Matala and the philosophy of the festival.

This festival is the greatest musical event in Crete, and attracts people from all over the country and from abroad as well. The event is organized by the Municipality of Phaistos and the Cultural Association of Pitsidia – Matala. 

How to get to Matala

Matala is located on the southern coast of Crete, 63 kilometers south of Heraklion. It is pretty easy to get to Matala from Heraklion with any means of transport you choose. You can get there by car, bus, taxi or private transfer. If you are travelling by car, the journey takes around 1 hour, but note that it may be difficult to find parking space in Matala during the 3-day festival. Although there is a large parking area in town, it fills up quickly, so you will have to park on the outskirt of town and walk. Travelling by bus during that period is probably the much convenient way. There are daily buses to Matala departing Heraklion’s Central Bus Station.