Top Heraklion Day Trips

Amazing guide Katerina. So much patience for our two kids (9 and 12) who are not used to walk around archeological sights and museums… she was so engaging and took good care of the family. Nikos was also great. Cold water waiting for us, very nice guy and helped move us around between locations. Thank you!

Stavros was a terrific guide on our full day tour of Knossos & Lasithi Plateu Villages Tour. He kept us informed and entertained with his humor throughout the day. The highlights for sure were learning about how to select the best olive oil, hiking up and entering the beautiful Zeus cave, and seeing Knossos Palace. Definitely consider this tour if you are visiting the island of Crete.

"Fantastic" is the best word to describe this tour. George was very professional throughout the experience, from the pickup to returning us back to our apartment. His van was very comfortable, too. The drive to the gorge was long, and George filled the time with commentary about the landscape and culture. He is quite informed about the history and, despite our visiting the archeological museum earlier in the week, was able to provide an outstanding summary of the island's history over the past 7000+ years. George gave the occasional "quiz" to see if we were paying attention. We stopped for coffee at a small cafe -- nice, quiet location and excellent coffee. George also treated us to sesame and honey snack bars (Pasteli). As recommended, we prepurchased our entry tickets to the gorge -- this made entry seamless and quick, although there were no other people waiting when we arrived. We followed the steep steps (be forewarned as you'll need to climb back up later) down into the gorge. At the bottom, the only way to see the waterfalls is to swim in the very cold spring water, about 50m. Did I mention the water was very cold?! We took advantage of the waterproof bags for our mobile phones, and this allowed us to take some photos of the waterfalls. George watched our belongings during this time. We toweled off, then climbed back out of the gorge. Although not essential, some people wore wetsuits to reduce the chilling effects of the cold water. For our next stop we chose to stop at Preveli Beach and palm tree forest. You need to climb more steps up and over a hill to get to the beach (about 15 minutes), and it was worth it. The river from the gorge flows across the beach, and there is plenty of shade under the trees. After about an hour of wading in the river and the sea, we headed back to the meet up point. On our return trip to Heraklion, we stopped at Taverna Dionyssos in the mountain village of Myrthios for lunch. We were treated to a preview in the kitchen of the daily specials which, of course, we had to order. Lunch was fantastic! We were staying in the heart of Heraklion and George delivered us almost to our front door, saving us a 15 minute walk from our original pickup location. Later that evening, George sent a WhatsApp message with a summary of our day. What an unexpected and welcome surprise! We absolutely and highly recommend George as a guide, and this tour was outstanding.