Crete Tour
In so many ways, Crete is to Greece as Sicily is to Italy. Each has a culture and history that is distinct and unique, and each is large enough to feel – at times at least – more like a separate nation than an offshoot of the mother-country. Cretan fierceness and courage during the Nazi occupation of World War 2 have with reason inspired many novels and films.
Once the cradle of the Minoan civilisation, Crete is home to some of the most important archaeological sites and museums in Greece. Knossos – controversially reconstructed by Arthur Evans – is the most famous, though Phaistos, off the beaten tourist track, is, in our opinion, far more evocative. Travellers will also get a heady taste of the Cretan countryside – and visit the cave where Zeus was said to have been born. Crete has several dynamic cities, but for most people Chania is the winner, a charming Venetian-Turkish port, though the back-streets and market of Rethymno are also wonderful. Finally, as Crete produces some of the finest olive oils, cheeses and wines in the Eastern Mediterranean, we couldn’t let you leave without visiting a vineyard or sampling local cheeses and different kinds of honey.
Book this tour
Tour Features
- Fully guided tour of Crete
- Small group travel: maximum group size is 12 guests.
- Guaranteed departure dates
- UNESCO World heritage sites
- Accompanied by a Tour manager throughout your journey
- Tour cost includes entrance fees to main sites/museums
- Private minibus
- Tour cost includes all hotel city taxes
- Heraklion
- Knossos
- Chania
- Rethymno
- Phaistos
- 3 nights in Heraklion (classic room)
- 2 nights in Rethymno (classic room)
- 2 nights in Chania (classic room)
- breakfasts
- lunches on days 2,3,4,5 & 6 (free day on day 7)
- All evening meals (with wine) are included (excepting day 1 if flight arrival after 10pm)
- Arrival airport: Heraklion airport
- Departure airport: Chania airport
- Transfers and pick-ups/drop-offs from/to the main airport of arrival on the day of arrival/departure of the tour are included
- Some walking involved – you should be able to walk a kilometre without difficulty.
Itinerary
Day 1
Arrival in Heraklion
Transfer to our hotel in Heraklion.
Overnight in Heraklion.
Day 2
Knossos and the Archaeological Museum in Heraklion
A visit to Crete is incomplete without a visit to Knossos – the site excavated by Arthur Evans in the early 1900s. Although Evans’s gaudy reconstructions have been a source of opprobrium in the years since, they were nevertheless once a brave attempt to bring to life to the lay-visitor the fascinating Minoan culture that existed on Crete between c.3500BC and 1100BC. And our visit to Knossos thus provides the backdrop to our tour of Crete.
In the afternoon, we return to Heraklion to visit the splendid Archaeological Museum – arguably one of the finest in the whole of Greece, with an unrivalled collection of Minoan frescoes, ivories, gold, ceramics and cult objects. Perhaps the most astonishing is a fresco of a leaping bull from Knossos.
There is some free time to explore Heraklion before our evening meal – early evening is when the town is at its liveliest, the streets and food market teeming, the gardens full of strollers.
Evening meal and overnight in Heraklion.
Day 3
The Lasíthi Plateau and Agios Nikolaos
Today we head east from Heraklion onto the Lasíthi Plateau. Famously billed as the site of a thousand windmills, in fact, the number of working windmills is tiny, but nevertheless, the drive to get here is worth it to see rural Crete at its finest.
In the late morning, we pay a visit to the Dhiktean Cave – according to legend, the site of the birth of Zeus. A cult centre from the Minoan period onwards, offerings to the Mother Goddess and Zeus dating from Classical times have been found in the cave.
After lunch, we pay a visit to the wonderfully picturesque seaside town of Agios Nikolaos before returning to Heraklion.
Evening meal and overnight in Heraklion.
Day 4
Gortys & Phaistos
We head to the more remote southern coast of Crete and start with a visit to the Ancient city of Gortys, set on the fertile plain of Messara: once the capital of a Roman province, charged with ruling over Roman territories in North Africa. Sites include an Odeion, where theatrical performances were staged. Most importantly however, it is also the site of a Law Code, written in an obscure early Doric-Cretan dialect. Measuring 9m by 3m, it is the largest ancient Greek inscription ever found.
After Gortys, we travel to the nearby site of Phaistos – a wonderfully scenic location high on a ridge and enjoying stunning views of Mount Psiloritis. Phaistos is the most important Minoan palace on Crete and if the crowds and gaudy replicas of Knossos were not to your taste, Phaistos will be manna to the soul. Far out of reach of the tour buses, here we are able to really get a feel for this fascinating ancient civilization.
In the afternoon we cross through the stunning mountains of central Crete to arrive in Rethymno, a marvellous town with a minareted mosque, Venetian fortress, crumbling back-streets and disarmingly pretty little fishing harbour.
Evening meal and overnight in Rethymno.
Day 5
Rethymno
After the busy travels of the previous few days, today we have a change of gear. We spend the morning exploring the back streets of Rethymno and tasting some of the products that form the bedrock of the Cretan diet. In the markets we touch and smell herbs and spices, taste the local cheeses, and sample the Cretan honey and olives.
Having learnt about the local ingredients, with the help of a local Cretan cook, we prepare ourselves an authentic Cretan lunch.
In the afternoon there is free time to relax and enjoy the gentle rhythm and side-streets of Rethymno.
Evening meal and overnight in Rethymno.
Day 6
Cretan wine, a Botanical garden and Aptera
We depart Rethymno after breakfast and strike west. Our first stop is at the archaeological site of Aptera – once one of the most important city-states in Crete. Already referred to in Linear-B tablets back in the 13th century BC, by the 4th century BC it had developed into an important commercial and political centre. Today it is a remote archaeological site with sweeping views over the Souda bay, a deepwater inlet with an island at its mouth – heavily fortified by Venetians, it resisted the Turks for years after the rest of Crete had fallen to the Ottoman Empire.
After Aptera we head to the Botanical garden and take a walk through some of the typical Cretan flora.
After lunch, we visit one of the local Cretan wineries before arriving in the beautiful town of Chania which is to be our home for the next two nights.
Evening meal and overnight in Chania.
Day 7
Chania
Arguably the most charming town on the island, Chania – Crete’s second city — is peppered with vestiges of its Venetian and Turkish past and makes for a fascinating day exploring. Today, our last full day on the island, we have a free day to do exactly this.
Evening meal and overnight in Chania.
Day 8
Departure
Departure from Chania airport.
