Today, the village has been reborn and is fulfilling a new role as an environmentally-conscious agro-tourism retreat for individuals wishing to escape from the ever-amassing burdens of everyday life. Milia was little more than ruins in 1982 when the Tsourounakis and Makrakis families merged their ancestral properties and took on the challenge of restoring the village with respect for its history and original foundations. Although reconstruction and renovation of its timber and stone houses was completed in 1993, they continue to work on it with obvious devotion.

Possibly unique in Greece, the relatively undiscovered settlement allows visitors to experience the Cretan brand of hospitality in its most traditional of forms. Those seeking a more hands-on experience are invited to milk sheep, make cheese, cure olives or distil the potent local tipple raki. Milia strives for self-sufficiency and, like its late-16th century settlers, if it cannot raise or grow it, the village does without. Tomatoes, for instance, are only available in summer. Fruit trees and vegetable crops are tended to without fertilisers and pesticides, while livestock is reared for local consumption. Excess is shunned, recycling is mandatory and nothing goes to waste.

Wholesome Cretan cuisine, which alone has drawn increasing numbers of health-conscious visitors to the island, is served in a common dining room. In winter, cast iron stoves warm the villages 13 different, antique-furnished rooms. Wood-fired central boilers heat water for bathing. Candles light the way at night as electricity does not exist, though a generator and solar panels do provide limited power. Nearby springs supply fresh water (considered to facilitate digestion), which is also used to irrigate the area.

In efforts to keep reminders of modern-day life as far away as possible, Milia has only one telephone. Even the road leading up to the site remains unpaved so as to engender a sense of entering another, more peaceful world. Milia, 55km from the prefectures capital, Chania, is an ideal base for hikers and travellers wanting to explore the surrounding countryside, visit the Chryssoskalitisa monastery, the ancient cities of Polyrrinia and Falassarna or swim at the azure beaches of Elafonissos islet.