Crete: Knossos, Chania and the Samaria Gorge

1. Day 1: Arrive in Heraklion

   Heraklion Airport to your hotel in the old town of Heraklion

   • Drive about 18 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Heraklion
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Heraklion Airport (HER), about 5 km east of the city centre, and plan to land by about 4 pm (the exact latest arrival is confirmed with your final itinerary). A driver meets you in the arrivals hall for the short ride to the hotel, which sits inside the old Venetian walls within walking distance of the harbour. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing on the week: what to pack for the gorge day, how the boats on the south coast work and how the days are paced. Then we walk out together as the evening cools: Lions Square and the Morosini Fountain of 1628, the arcaded Venetian Loggia, the church of Agios Titos, and down to the old harbour, where the Venetian Koules fortress guards the entrance. Dinner is a welcome meal of Cretan mezze, grills and local wine at a taverna near the water.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Heraklion Airport (HER)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Evening walk: Lions Square, the Morosini Fountain, the Venetian Loggia, Agios Titos and the Koules fortress
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

2. Day 2: Knossos at opening, then Archanes

   Heraklion to Knossos and Archanes, then back to Heraklion

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Heraklion
   Day 2 details

   We leave the hotel at about 7:40 so we are at the gate of Knossos when it opens at 8 am, about 20 minutes south of the centre. Tour coaches mostly arrive from mid-morning, so the first two hours are the quietest of the day and the stone is still cool. A licensed local guide walks you through the palace, the centre of Minoan Crete in the Bronze Age, excavated by Arthur Evans from 1900 and partly rebuilt in concrete in his time, which is a debate you will hear both sides of: the Throne Room, the Grand Staircase, the storerooms lined with huge clay jars and the north entrance with its copy of the charging-bull relief. From Knossos it is a short drive south to Archanes, a village of restored stone houses among vineyards, for a tasting at a family winery and a long lunch on the square. We are back in Heraklion by mid-afternoon, and the rest of the day is yours.

   Included

   • Knossos from the 8 am opening with a licensed local guide
   • Wine tasting at a family winery in Archanes
   • Lunch in Archanes

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Heraklion

   Activity: About 2 to 3 hours on foot at Knossos, on uneven stone and steps with little shade. Bring a hat and water.

   

3. Day 3: The museum at opening, Arkadi and Rethymno

   Heraklion to Arkadi Monastery, then Rethymno

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Rethymno
   Day 3 details

   Yesterday you saw the palace; this morning you see what was found in it. We are at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum when it opens, with a licensed guide, for about two hours among the originals: the frescoes from Knossos, including the bull-leapers and the Prince of the Lilies, the faience snake goddesses, the bull's-head rhyton and the Phaistos Disc, its stamped spiral of signs still undeciphered, and, upstairs, the Roman statues from Gortyn. Then we drive about an hour and a quarter west to Arkadi Monastery in the hills above Rethymno. Its church front of 1587 is one of the finest Venetian facades on the island, and in November 1866, during a revolt against Ottoman rule, the defenders blew up the powder store rather than surrender, which made Arkadi a national symbol. Lunch is at a village taverna nearby, then it is half an hour down to Rethymno. After a rest, your guide walks you through the old town in the early evening: the Rimondi Fountain, the minaret of the Neratze Mosque, the lanes and the small Venetian harbour.

   Included

   • Heraklion Archaeological Museum at opening with a licensed guide
   • Arkadi Monastery
   • Lunch at a village taverna near Arkadi
   • Early-evening walk of Rethymno's old town with your guide

   Free time: Evening free in Rethymno

   Activity: Arkadi is a working monastery: covered shoulders and knees, please.

   

4. Day 4: The Fortezza, Aptera and Chania

   Rethymno to Aptera, then Chania

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Chania
   Day 4 details

   Rethymno's Fortezza, the Venetian citadel built on the headland in the late 16th century after pirate raids on the town, opens in the morning, and we go up early while the walls are cool, for the view over the rooftops and the domed mosque inside. Then we drive west along the north coast, about an hour, to Aptera, high above Souda Bay: the remains of an ancient city-state with its long walls, a small theatre and vast Roman cisterns, and an Ottoman fort on the edge of the hill. Lunch is at a taverna in the village. Chania is twenty minutes on, and we check in to the hotel where we stay four nights, so this is the last time you pack until the end. Late in the afternoon a local guide walks the old town with us: the Venetian harbour, the Mosque of the Janissaries, the vaulted shipyards of the Arsenal, Splantzia Square, the old Jewish quarter and the Etz Hayyim Synagogue. We finish along the breakwater at the Venetian lighthouse as the light goes.

   Included

   • Rethymno's Fortezza in the morning
   • Aptera: the walls, the theatre, the Roman cisterns and the view over Souda Bay
   • Lunch near Aptera
   • Chania old-town walk with a local guide, ending at the Venetian lighthouse

   Free time: Evening free in Chania

   Activity: The old-town walk is about 2 hours on flat lanes; the breakwater to the lighthouse adds about 1.5 km return.

5. Day 5: Choose your gorge, then the boat to Loutro

   Chania to the Imbros Gorge (or the Samaria Gorge), Chora Sfakion and Loutro by boat, then back to Chania

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Chania
   Day 5 details

   This is the walking day, and you choose how much. Strong walkers take on the Samaria Gorge: a local transfer leaves Chania at about 6:15 am for Xyloskalo on the Omalos plateau, at about 1,230 m, and a local mountain guide walks the 16 km down through pine and cypress, past the abandoned village of Samaria and through the Iron Gates, where the walls close to a few metres apart, to Agia Roumeli on the Libyan Sea. That early start is the only one on the trip: it keeps the walk in the cool and catches the afternoon boat. Everyone else leaves at 8:30 with your See Sight Tours guide for the Imbros Gorge, about 8 km and three hours downhill on a rocky path between high walls, then the short boat from Chora Sfakion to Loutro, a white village with no road. Lunch, a swim and a slow afternoon follow. In the evening the boat from Agia Roumeli brings the Samaria walkers along the coast, we all continue to Chora Sfakion together, and our van has us back in Chania by about 9 pm.

   Included

   • Imbros Gorge walk with your guide (park entry included)
   • Boat from Chora Sfakion to Loutro, and back along the coast in the evening
   • Lunch in Loutro, or in Agia Roumeli for the Samaria walkers
   • Samaria Gorge with a local mountain guide, entry and early transfer included, for those who choose it

   Easier option: Skip the gorge: ride with the van to Chora Sfakion and take the midday boat to Loutro for a lazy lunch and a long afternoon of swimming.

   More active option: The full Samaria Gorge: about 16 km and 5 to 7 hours, with about 1,200 m of descent on rocky path and stream crossings, starting from Xyloskalo at about 7:30 am.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Loutro

   Activity: Imbros is about 8 km downhill on loose stone, 2.5 to 3 hours. The Samaria park normally opens in May and closes in mid to late October, depending on the weather, and shuts on days of storm or high wind; we confirm it at booking for late-October departures, and in April, or if it is shut, Samaria walkers do Imbros with everyone. If wind stops the south-coast boats, we swap this day with day 6 or 7.

   

6. Day 6: Elafonisi in the morning, Elos for lunch

   Chania to Elafonisi, then Elos and back to Chania

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Chania
   Day 6 details

   We leave at 8 am for the far south-west corner of the island, about an hour and three quarters by road, through the Topolia gorge and the chestnut villages of the Innachori. Elafonisi is a shallow lagoon between the shore and a low islet you can wade across to, with sand tinted pink by crushed shells at the water's edge. The area is protected under Natura 2000 and the islet is kept free of building. Arriving before 10 am puts us there well ahead of the day-trip coaches, which come in from late morning. You have about three hours to swim, walk the islet or sit in the shade. On the way back we stop at the Chrysoskalitissa Monastery on its rock above the sea, then climb to Elos, a village shaded by chestnut trees, for a long lunch at a taverna. We are back in Chania by about 5 pm, with the evening free after yesterday's long day.

   Included

   • Elafonisi lagoon and islet, about three hours on the beach
   • Chrysoskalitissa Monastery
   • Lunch at a taverna in Elos

   Easier option: Stay on the sheltered lagoon side, where the water is waist-deep and calm, and keep to the shade.

   More active option: Walk the coastal path east from Elafonisi towards Kedrodasos, a cove backed by old juniper trees, and back: about 2 hours on rough path.

   Free time: Evening free in Chania

   Activity: The longest driving day, about 3.5 hours in all, broken by the beach, the monastery and lunch. Bring swimwear, sun cream and water shoes.

7. Day 7: A cooking lesson in the hills, a free afternoon

   Chania to a village in the Apokoronas hills and back

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Chania
   Day 7 details

   A slow morning: breakfast late, a walk along the harbour before the cafes fill, or a swim at Nea Chora, the town beach a short walk west of the old port. At about 10:30 we drive half an hour east into the Apokoronas hills, between the White Mountains and the sea, for a cooking lesson in a village kitchen. You roll dough for kalitsounia, the small cheese pies of Crete, build dakos on barley rusks with tomato and soft cheese, and cook wild greens and whatever is in season, with the family's own olive oil. Then we sit down together to eat it all over a long lunch with local wine and a glass of raki. We are back in Chania by mid-afternoon, and the rest of the day is yours for the shops of the leather street, the harbour or a rest. In the evening we meet for a farewell dinner in the old town.

   Included

   • Hands-on cooking lesson in an Apokoronas village, with lunch, wine and raki
   • Farewell dinner in Chania

   Optional experiences

   • The day boat from Kissamos to the Gramvousa fortress and the Balos lagoon, in place of the cooking lesson (price shown when you book)

   Free time: Morning until 10:30 and the afternoon free in Chania

8. Day 8: Fly home from Chania or Heraklion

   Chania to Chania Airport (CHQ), or a shared transfer to Heraklion Airport (HER)

   • Drive about 24 min
   • Breakfast
   Day 8 details

   Breakfast at the hotel, and a last walk round the harbour if your flight allows. Chania Airport (CHQ) is on the Akrotiri peninsula, about 15 km and 25 minutes from the old town, and we drive you there in good time: book a flight leaving after about 10 am. Heraklion Airport (HER) has more international connections, so if you fly home from there, a shared transfer leaves Chania at about 9 am and takes about two hours on the north coast road, past Rethymno; book a flight leaving after about 1:30 pm. Your guide sees each group off and checks your flight before saying goodbye. If you would like more time on Crete, ask us about extra nights in Chania and a later transfer to whichever airport you need.

   Included

   • Drop-off at Chania Airport (CHQ), or a shared transfer to Heraklion Airport (HER)

   Activity: Chania Airport (CHQ) is about 15 km and 25 minutes away: book a flight after about 10 am. Heraklion Airport (HER) is about 140 km and 2 hours: book a flight after about 1:30 pm. Drive figures above are for CHQ.

Wildlife and weather: April and May bring wildflowers and mild walking weather, with the sea still cool for swimming; June and September are warm with the sea at its best; October is mild with shorter days, and the Samaria Gorge can close for the season in mid to late October, so we confirm the Samaria option at booking for late-October departures. We avoid July and August, when the heat and the crowds at Knossos, Elafonisi and Samaria are at their peak. On the gorge walks look out for the kri-kri, Crete's wild goat.

• Heraklion2 nights
• Rethymno1 night
• Chania4 nights