Hania is an excellent base for western Crete, and some of the best of it is within an easy drive or bus ride. The Akrotiri Peninsula, the rocky tongue of land that encloses the bay just northeast of the city, makes the simplest escape: it has fine beaches such as Stavros, three historic monasteries, good fish tavernas, and the hilltop tomb of the statesman Eleftherios Venizelos, all reachable in well under half an hour.
For something more remote, Paleochora is the main village on Crete's southwestern coast — roughly 90 minutes over the spectacular mountain road across the Selino plateau. It is a slow, low-key resort town with a long sandy beach on one side, a pebbly beach on the other, and the free-to-enter ruins of a Venetian castle above. From its harbour a summer passenger ferry runs east along a largely roadless coast to Sougia, Agia Roumeli, and Hora Sfakion.
The most famous day trip of all is the Samaria Gorge, a 16-km descent through Europe's longest limestone gorge from the Omalos plateau to the Libyan Sea. Take the early bus to the trailhead, walk down through the Iron Gates, and return by ferry and bus along the south coast — a long but unforgettable full day from Hania.