Highlights of Crete

About this trip

Exactly what you do each day, where you sleep, and how it flows — written by us, from the real itinerary.

1. 1
   Day 1 · HeraklionHeraklion

   

   You'll arrive in Heraklion, Crete's capital and a port city stuffed with Minoan art at the Archaeological Museum. There's time to see the Palace of Knossos or the Museum of Ancient Greek Technology before your 6pm group meeting, then a leader-led walk through the city centre to get oriented.

2. 2
   Day 2 · KnossosHeraklion to Knossos

   

   Head out to Knossos, Europe's oldest city, and explore the ancient ruins with your leader. Afterwards visit a local winery to taste different grape varieties and small-batch wines, then travel inland to the mountain village of Omalos at 1000 metres altitude to experience authentic Cretan countryside.

3. 3
   Day 3 · SougiaSougia

   

   Hike through the gorges, stopping at Agia Eirini Gorge's entrance where your leader will share stories of Greek rebels hiding here during Turkish occupation. Keep an eye out for endangered Cretan wild goats and dittany trees as you walk, then travel down the south coast to Sougia—a quiet beach village overlooked by mountains with a free afternoon.

4. 4
   Day 4 · SougiaSougia

   Take a boat trip along the coast with swimming stops, then join your leader and a local family for a traditional homecooked meal in a rural area. The afternoon is yours to explore coastal trails, swim, or relax on the beach.

5. 5
   Day 5 · SougiaChania

   

   Catch a local bus from Sougia to Chania. Your leader will walk you through the Old Town, the Ottoman neighbourhood, the Jewish quarter, and past traditional pottery workshops and city markets. The rest of the day is free to explore, with your leader able to recommend restaurants for dinner.

6. 6
   Day 6 · ChaniaChania

   A free day in Chania: take a boat tour to Balos and Gamvousa Islands, or join a kalitsounia workshop to learn how this famous Cretan pastry is made and choose your own cheese or sweet fillings. Your leader can recommend a restaurant for a final dinner.

7. 7
   Day 7 · ChaniaChania

   Your trip ends after breakfast with no planned activities. You can arrange extra time on the island with your booking agent if you'd like to stay longer.

What's included

• Guide: All Intrepid group trips in Europe are accompanied by one of our local European group leaders. ’Local’ in this context means a leader who is European or lives in Europe. The aim of the group leader is to take the hassle out of your travels and to help you have the best trip possible. Intrepid endeavours to provide the services of an experienced leader however, due to the seasonality of travel, rare situations may arise where your leader is new to a particular region or training other group leaders. Your leader takes care of logistics, will provide information on the places you are travelling through, offer suggestions for things to do and see, recommend great local eating venues and introduce you to our local friends. While not being guides in the traditional sense you can expect them to have a broad general knowledge of the places visited on the trip, including historical, cultural, religious and social aspects. At Intrepid we also aim to support local guides in the individual cities or locations we travel to. If you are interested in delving deeper into the local culture at a specific site or location then your leader can recommend an optional local guide service in most of the main destinations of your trip.
• Meals: 6 breakfasts, 1 lunch
• Activities: Knossos - Archaeological Site Dourakis - wine tasting Sougia - Agia Irini Gorge Hike Sougia - Coastal Boat Ride Sougia – Family lunch Chania - Old Town guided tour
• Transport: TRANSPORT IN EUROPE: Half the fun of travel is the travelling itself, that's why we like to travel the local way – whether that means mingling with commuters on a local train, watching the scenery roll by from the window of a long distance bus, arriving on a high speed train in the city centre of your next destination, or navigating each city's public transport system. In Europe, you are guaranteed to travel by genuine local public transport wherever possible, which puts you right in the centre of the action., STRIKES: Ferry strikes, bad weather and the general unpredictable nature of Greek public transport means you need to be prepared for possible delays and itinerary changes. Public bus, Private vehicle, Boat, On foot
• Accommodation: The style of accommodation indicated in the day-to-day itinerary is a guideline only and may change. On some occasions, alternative arrangements may need to be made due to the lack of availability of rooms in our preferred accommodation. In these cases, we will use a similar standard of accommodation. Throughout the trip, we request that our properties prepare rooms in time for our arrival, especially if we're arriving prior to normal check-in time. However, this isn't always possible which means we won't be able to check-in immediately on arrival at some hotels. Instead, we can store our luggage and explore our new destination or on some trips, have use of shared day rooms until all rooms are available., OCCASIONAL ALTERNATIVE ACCOMMODATION: The style of accommodation indicated in the day-to-day itinerary is a guideline. On rare occasions, alternative arrangements may need to be made due to the lack of availability of rooms in our usual accommodation. A similar standard of accommodation will be used in these instances. TWIN SHARE BASIS: Accommodation on this trip is on a twin basis. We pair up solo travellers with another traveller of the same gender as per the gender marker on each of their passports. Please note there may be times where facilities will be shared rather than ensuite and rare occasions when you share a room with passengers travelling on different Intrepid trips than your own. CHECK-IN TIME: Throughout the trip we request that our hotels prepare rooms in time for our arrival, especially if we're arriving prior to normal check-in time. However this isn't always possible which means we won't be able to check-in immediately on arrival at some hotels. Instead, we can store our luggage and explore our new destination. PRE/POST TRIP ACCOMMODATION: If you've purchased pre-trip or post-trip accommodation (if available), you may be required to change rooms from your trip accommodation for these extra nights. FACILITIES: Your accommodation may not always have private en suite facilities or air-conditioning. European hotels generally don't provide kettles or fridges. Hotel (3 nights), Guesthouse (3 nights)

How travellers rate it

Your free day in Heraklion

Landing early, staying on, or filling free time? The best-rated day experiences in Heraklion — you book on Viator (we may earn a commission).

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