A Bronze Age palace, the longest walkable gorge in Europe, a lagoon the colour of a swimming pool, a beach with pink sand, an island nobody was allowed to leave, and a Venetian harbour with an Egyptian lighthouse on the end of it. Six days, and the best way to book each.

★★★★★★★★★★4.6· 3,191 walkers on the most-booked departure

Samaria is the famous one and the hardest: it runs downhill only, ends at a village with no road, and closes for half the year. Imbros gives you the same White Mountains limestone in a morning. Kourtaliotiko finishes at a palm river running into the Libyan Sea.

• 1Full-Day Samaria Gorge Trek Excursion & Guidefrom $41
• 2Samaria Gorge Full-Day Trek, Pickup & Guidefrom $37
• 3Samariá Gorge Guided Hike with Pickupfrom $37

The long one

Samaria: 16km, downhill, one way

6–7h walking· ferry out included· May to mid-October

Down from the Xyloskalo steps at 1,230 metres to the Libyan Sea, through the Iron Gates where the walls close to a few metres apart. There is no path back: walkers finish at Agia Roumeli, take the boat to Chora Sfakion and ride a coach over the mountains.

The half day

Imbros: the same walls, half the walk

2–3h walking· easier underfoot· open most of the year

Eight kilometres of the same limestone, narrower than Samaria in places, finished before lunch. The path ends in Komitades, where the tavernas have been feeding gorge walkers for decades.

The one that ends at a beach

Kourtaliotiko: gorge, river, palm forest

Full day· short walking· runs year round

Past the chapel and the waterfalls at the top, then down the river to Preveli, where a palm forest runs out of the ravine and straight onto the sand.

Compare every gorge day →

More travellers take these than anything else on the island — and each one earns the day it costs you.

1

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 6,755 reviews

From Kissamos Port: Boat Cruise to Balos Lagoon & Gramvousa

Sail from Kissamos to Balos Lagoon and Gramvousa, with swims, a Venetian fortress hike, and big-views day-trip comfort on a 7-hour cruise.

From · $47

Read our review →

2 ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 4,416 reviews Day Trip to Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga Island from $44 3 ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 3,191 reviews Full-Day Samaria Gorge Trek Excursion & Guide from $41 4 ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 3,031 reviews Boat Trip to Spinalonga with Swim Stop from $29 5 ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 2,579 reviews Dia Island Sailboat Cruise with Swimming and Meal from $95 6 ★★★★★★★★★★ 3.9 · 2,251 reviews Knossos Palace Entry Ticket with Optional Audio Guide from $30 7 ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 2,055 reviews Heraklion Area: CRETAquarium Admission Ticket from $9 8 ★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 2,014 reviews Day Trip to Elafonisi Island Pink Sand Beach from $38

Every tour on the site, sorted by the price on the door. A very good Cretan day starts at about the price of dinner.

Under $45

277 tours

Entry tickets, old-town walks, tastings and the short gorge hikes — the everyday best of the island.

• 1Day Trip to Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga Islandfrom $44
• 2Full-Day Samaria Gorge Trek Excursion & Guidefrom $41
• 3Boat Trip to Spinalonga with Swim Stopfrom $29

$45–120

601 tours

The full-day classics: Balos boats, the Samaria trek, Knossos with a guide, safari days with lunch thrown in.

• 1From Kissamos Port: Boat Cruise to Balos Lagoon & Gramvousafrom $47
• 2Dia Island Sailboat Cruise with Swimming and Mealfrom $95
• 3Balos & Gramvousa With Pickup & Boat Ticketfrom $50

$120 and up

725 tours

Private drivers, chartered boats and the small-group days that exist to keep the numbers down.

• 1Knossos-Zeus Cave -Old Traditional Villages-Olive Oil Factoryfrom $136.65
• 2Knossos Palace Skip-the-Line Ticket & Private Guided Tourfrom $247
• 3Santorini Guided Day Trip From Crete with Ferry Ticketsfrom $199

Beaches and boat trips belong to the whole Mediterranean. A gorge you cannot walk back, an island nobody was allowed to leave and the cave a god was hidden in belong to this one.

One direction only

The Gorge You Cannot Walk Back

Samaria runs sixteen kilometres from the Xyloskalo steps down to the Libyan Sea, and there is no road out of the bottom. Walkers finish at Agia Roumeli, a village you can only reach by boat, and ride the ferry to Chora Sfakion before a coach carries them back over the White Mountains. Wardens count everyone in at the top and out at the sea. The gorge shuts from mid-October until May, and on any day the forecast turns.

1. 1Full-Day Samaria Gorge Trek Excursion & Guide★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 3,191 reviews
2. 2Samaria Gorge Full-Day Trek, Pickup & Guide★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 1,610 reviews
3. 3Samaria Gorge with Professional Hiking Guide★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 720 reviews

See all 44 →

Sealed until 1957

The Island Nobody Was Allowed To Leave

Spinalonga is a Venetian sea fort with an Ottoman village inside the walls, and from the start of the last century until 1957 it held Greece’s leper colony — the last one in Europe. The people sent there built shops, a church and a cinema behind the ramparts. Boats cross from Plaka in a few minutes, from Elounda in about fifteen, and you walk in through the tunnel gate they named after Dante.

1. 1Day Trip to Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga Island★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 4,416 reviews
2. 2Boat Trip to Spinalonga with Swim Stop★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 3,031 reviews
3. 3From Ag. Nikolaos: Spinalonga & Kolokytha Cruise with Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 735 reviews

See all 59 →

Where a god was hidden

The Cave That Raised Zeus

The Lasithi Plateau is a bowl of farmland ringed by mountains, high enough that the road to it climbs through three passes. On its southern rim the Dikteon Cave drops into the rock where Rhea is said to have hidden the infant Zeus from his father. It is a twenty-minute climb up from Psychro, the stalactite chamber at the bottom is lit, and the drive up is the best hour of road on the island.

1. 1Full-Day Small-Group Tour in Crete with Zeus Cave Visit★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,099 reviews
2. 2Lasithi Plateau and Cave of Zeus Off-Road Safari Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 886 reviews
3. 3Knossos-Zeus Cave -Old Traditional Villages-Olive Oil Factory★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 694 reviews

See all 43 →