South Crete Tour: Explore Nature, Traditional Villages, and Botanical Gardens from Rethymnon
4.6
17 Ratings
Patsos
Embark on a South Crete tour and immerse yourself in the stunning natural landscapes, traditional villages, and botanical gardens. Discover the healing properties of Cretan plants and enjoy a refreshing swim in the South Cretan Sea.
Duration: 9 hours
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • St. Anthony Gorge (Gorge of Patsos) - In the wonderful gorge, with a river and specific trees, we will walk for 300m in the path above and at the side of the river and we’ll discover the small stone church inside of the mountain..
  • Spili - We will visit one of the most important villages of Crete. The famous village with the 32 lions heads which are faucets where the water is running from. This water its famous because it’s mineral and comes directly from the montains (hundreds of years now). They’re located in the square.
    You can walk in the traditional village and also visit the folklore museum - free entrance -(like a Cretan house 100 years ago)..
  • Kourtaliotiko Gorge - We will make a short stop in this gorge. Kourtaliotis gorge is an amazing and wild gorge where you’ll be amazed seeing the top and the birds..
  • Plakias Beach - This is the last stop of this day tour.. Plakias village and the beach. This location is in south Crete, a relaxed place to enjoy your lunch and also the beach if you want to swim..
  • Potamon Dam - In the dam of River of Amari valey, we will make a short stop above at the lake for photographs.. and the valey of Amari its full of aromatic herbs and you can smell it in the atmosphere !!
  • Spili - During the way, before the village of Spili, we’ll stop in the top of a hill (800m altidute) and we’ll discover from a unique spot, the west - east - north - south, from the best place in Rethymno area.
What's Included
  • In-vehicle air conditioning
  • Pick up and Drop off in multiple locations
What's Not Included
  • Food and Beverage
Additional Information

Embark on a journey through the untamed natural beauty of Crete that imbues an innate sense of vitality. Departing from the river dam by the lake, our destination is the captivating Saint Antonios gorge filled with lush vegetation, featuring a petite church nestled within a rocky cave. As we traverse through quaint villages, we’ll pause to capture moments at the region’s highest vantage point, offering vistas of North and South Rethymno as well as Crete’s two tallest peaks. Next, we’ll explore a botanical garden for a 40-minute guided walkthrough, where you’ll be introduced to flora native to Crete renowned for their medicinal qualities. Following our tour, unwind with a tea, allowing the enchanting aroma of Crete’s wilderness to permeate your senses. Our journey continues towards Spili, heralded for its natural springs, for a visit to the folklore museum. As we navigate the majestic Kourtaliotis gorge, we conclude our expedition at the seaside town of Plakias, lavishing in a refreshing swim and lunch by the striking South Cretan Sea.

Location
St. Anthony Gorge (Gorge of Patsos)
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.6
(17 Ratings)
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Valerialucky2005
Jul 31, 2023
AMAZING - Discover South Crete - Amazing trip from the north to the south of Crete, discovering authentic villages in the magnificent mountains and gorges of Crete. Very well organised and a comfortable bus. Thanks to Leftheris and our guide Nicholas, we have seen and learned a lot of interesting things. TOP excursion!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Grazyna52
Aug 23, 2022
Crete from sea to sea - Very interesting trip. Beautifull landscapes,peaks and old vilages.Exciting expedition that allowed us to get know Crete between the Aegan and Libyan seas; everything with extensive and enthusiastic comments from our guide Janis. Thanks to him we got know the customs, stories, plants, birds and animals. The trip is not tiring; nice choice for anyone who wants to see and know more about Crete. We highly recommend this venture.
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Lei
Oct 14, 2021
Very interesting tour about history on the South of Reythnmo - It was well worth the tour. It was very informative about ancient times and it's history, and the location of where it all happened.
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Tashahooper
Oct 4, 2021
A whole day's smorgasbord of interesting activities - What a fabulous experience today led by Enda and exceptionally driven through the mountains by Maniolis. Enda really knew his stuff and the day was smattered with interesting stories, histories and anecdotes. It was truly packed with interest. And, though I am now (happily) exhausted, the day was very well paced. There were lots of interesting little stops and some bigger: it was a smorgasbord of interest to suit all. We started out at Amari dam, which is spectacularly beautiful and interesting, not what you'd expect from a dam! The flora and fauna were exceptional and the beauty blew a lot of us away. We saw pairs of buzzards flying on the thermals and an enormous vulture: thrilling to see. Spili was beautiful and a place to go back and explore, as were many places we saw along the way. We ended up in the fabulous compact and bijou Plakias where we ate really well at a super restaurant owned by a lovely lady in her 80s, who was overseeing everything and am sure misses nothing! And if that isn't enough to whet your appetite, the highlight of the day was the visit to the Maravel Botanical Gardens where we had a fascinating personal tour and the hibiscus tea with Greek yogurt which had a wonderful hibiscus flower to eat. I definitely intend to go back there as there is a wealth of knowledge to be learnt there (apparently their products are available online btw 😁: no I don't own shares, honestly!). Oh my goodness, almost forgot to mention St Anthony the Healer/Hermes's cave: fabulous place. Thank you for a superbly organised, wonderfully interesting day. I absolutely advise you go on this trip. It's outstanding value for money.
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Kevandsuesmith
Oct 4, 2021
The best value tour ever.... - What a fantastic value for money Tour. Our guide, a larger than life very amiable Irishman called Enda, was incredibly knowledgeable on all things, not only Creta history, but local flora and fauna. He made the tour very interesting and loads of fun. The tour driver, Manola (sorry if the spelling is incorrect), was very safe and patient. The coach was clean and perfect for the job. The tour itself was well planned and covered a good cross section of awesome scenery, history and local life and we would recommend it to everyone.
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Andrewcc1992
Aug 10, 2021
Lovely Staff - They offer plenty of activities. We talked to Anna, who grew up on Crete. She helped us find good activities for us to book for our honeymoon. She is very nice and you could feel that she loves her job which made us feel very happy to be in Rethymno.
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J
Jul 28, 2021
Nice Tour with beautiful beach - Beautiful Trip with some nice places and a really friendly tour guide, who speaks english, french, netherlands and german (and i would guess even more). The driver was always on time and we felt safe for the whole Trip. I can absolutely recommend to visit the Throubi Taverna in Plakias, which was a recommemdation from the guide. It was so delicious and only the food would be worth the Trip!
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Alan
Sep 21, 2020
Back to the 1990’s in comfort - Chose 3 tours in total with this excellent little company, this one of South Rethymnon, took in many of the places we had walked to or visited in the 1990’s when we were obviously much younger and had used Plakias as a base, mainly for gorge walking. The trip was excellent and Michael our guide and driver was informative, safe, funny and observed all the COVID protocols we all have to endure these days. It was exactly as described in the brochure and further described by the charming Amelie who sold the various tours from the Checking Creta office
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Paul
Sep 20, 2023
Perfect if French is used - The guide is very kind and entertains the group well but does not speak a word of French!! While this argument was decisive for us Good timing and good choice of stops and their duration
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G2651bnalisonm
Sep 30, 2023
Disappointing - Oh dear. Been on many of these type of excursions on holidays- this was not one of the better ones. the destinations on this tour are all lovely so nothing wrong there. However the guide was absolutely useless- completely dis-interested and the commentary was pretty much non existent. Coach passed through stunning scenery and villages - guide did not utter a word about any of it. When there was a commentary it was only about the price of olives. As visitors we need to hear about the Cretian way of life in the places we pass through and maybe some history - none of that was provided. Coach passed through a stunning gorge just before we got to Plakias village- did not offer to stop for 5 minutes for photos despite there being a parking spot large enough for a coach to pull into. Very disappointing- could have been so much better with an interested and engaged guide.
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May 2024
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