Heraklion Suggested Itineraries
Written by Viator, October 2011
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Ruin - Ancient
Heraklion Suggested Itineraries Reviews
We've found 17 Heraklion Suggested Itineraries reviews from Viator.com travelers and members: what they loved, what they liked and what they think could be improved. It's all here to help you make the most of your next trip.
Reply by Viator, May 2013
Doing what: Full Day Tour to Samaria Gorge
Fantastic day out. Spectacular scenery a walkers delight.
Tour is well organised, getting you there and back, but leaving you to enjoy walk at your own pace.
It's an early start and late back, but always interesting with nice views across the island.
With rest/food stops along the way to break the journey.
Reply by Viator, April 2013
Doing what: Full Day Tour to Samaria Gorge
Whereas we had to walk 16 or 18 km in a normal valley, the actual gorge is about 3 km long, which disappointed us a bit. We arrived very early at the end of the gorge and had to wait very long. Despite this, the organisation of the tour was good.
Note from Viator: Thanks for your feedback and alerting other travelers to this issue. As you note, there is relatively long walk but there is plenty of time to do it, so you may take your time to enjoy the view as you go.
Reply by Viator, April 2013
Doing what: Ancient Palace of Knossos Tour
This is one of the worst tours we have ever taken. I was surprised as this was not our first tour with Viator and we really expected it to be much better. The tour was rushed, and we did not even enter the most important part of the palace, the throne and painting rooms. The tour guide said we had to do that on our own, but with only half an hour and hundreds of people waiting in line we were left with absolutely no time. The tour included a trip to see a film about wine making in Crete, which was not part of the original itinerary, and I really did not see what that had to do with an archeological tour. I do not recommend this tour. It was a huge disappointment.
Note from Viator: We are following up with our local supplier based on your feedback. Thanks for alerting us to this issue, your feedback is a critical part in our ability to ensure a quality experience from our local suppliers.
Reply by Viator, September 2012
Doing what: Full Day Tour to Samaria Gorge
Samaria Gorge was one of the most spectacular hikes I have had in some time now. I highly recommend this for people who do not mid a long and tiring hike through a wonderful and one-of-its-kind landscape. The towering heights of the gorge simply dwarf you and leave you awestruck!. The tour was so well arranged, that I couldn't have asked for more. Sufficient stops for toilets, coffee etc., we were even offered free Tea service at one stop in the morning ( a surprise- didn't know this!). The tour operators were well organized (hats off to viator for teaming with them). The Guide Rithi was absolutely amazing, she was so fluent in so many languages. I really appreciate the punctuality of the tour operators and to my surprise also other tourists on-board. All-in-all a must-to-do activity for anyone in Crete. Of course, the activity calls for a lot of fitness!
Reply by Viator, July 2012
Doing what: Full Day Tour to Samaria Gorge
The trip and everthing was great, not commenting on the views here which were amazing, since this not the point of the review. What really annoyed us was that we "ran" through the gorge in 6 hourse since we were given targets as to when to leave the stops on the way, just to find out that we had 2 and a half hours left at the other end where we just sat around and waited for the stupid ferry. We would have loved to spend more time taking in the scenary and take photos.
Reply by Viator, July 2012
Doing what: Full Day Tour to Spinalonga Island with BBQ Lunch
Great service being picked up directly from my hotel. Slight confusion as you book with viator but the trip is run by another company. Lovely day out with really well informed tour guides. Shame that you only have 30mins to explore Spinalonga on your own, also be prepared for the masses of other tourists doing the same thing.
Reply by Viator, October 2011
Doing what: Ancient Palace of Knossos Tour
Both of our guides were really good and had a lot of knowledge on the area. They were also helpful in making sure we made our connections back to the hotel so that we could catch our flight to Rhodes. The only complaint would be the cost of the tour for what we received. The booking said it was a 5 hour tour but really was 1.5 hours at site and then a short bus ride to the town square for a couple hours of shopping / free time. I expected more. The museum is closed due to renovations so perhaps that is part of the problem.
Reply by Viator, September 2011
Doing what: Full Day Tour to Samaria Gorge
The hike through the gorge is absolutely amazing! I would recommend it to anyone traveling to Crete as a must! however- there are several things I was disappointed in which is why it is receiving a 3 star instead of 5, I do not think that Viator made these things clear until it was too late to change the reservation. I was picked up in "Malia Area"-well my hotel was the furthest out which meant that I was the first pickup and also the last drop off- this meant that I needed to be picked up at 5 am- not 6am as the original booking said and I was not dropped off until after 11pm- this was quite exhausting and I spent as much time on a bus as I did hiking. If you plan to do this hike I would suggest staying in a town closer to the Gorge. Also I was very disappointed to find out that the 5 euro fee for the park entrance and the 9 euro boat ride fee were not included in my 74 euro Viator voucher! i was not told this until the day before the trip- 74 euros already seemed expensive and then to learn that i needed to pay more seemed ridiculous. in Malia I saw the same tour offered for only 44 euros in total- a much more reasonable price so consider booking your ticket once in Crete. Additionally the "boat ride" to a town and island is just a ferry stop on a very crowded ferry- do not assume it is an extra visit to a town as I did. I highly recommend the hike but I would not recommend using Viator to purchase your ticket.
Reply by Viator, August 2011
Doing what: Ancient Palace of Knossos Tour
We enjoyed the trip and had a first class guide for the palace of Knossos. Glad that the trip was in the morning as it was very hot as we were leaving.
Reply by Viator, August 2011
Doing what: Full Day Tour to Spinalonga Island with BBQ Lunch
We had a great day out and enjoyed the BBQ and swimming from the boat. The day was well planned.
Reply by Viator, November 2010
Doing what: Full Day Tour to Spinalonga Island with BBQ Lunch
Amazing day of relaxed sailing, swimming and seeing a wonderful island with an unusual history.
Reply by Viator, October 2010
Doing what: Ancient Palace of Knossos Tour
Wonderful tour with excellent guide. Fascinating place. All the most famous pieces are in archaeological museum though. It's still amazing to walk thru
Reply by Viator, July 2010
Doing what: Full Day Tour to Spinalonga Island with BBQ Lunch
Okay so I've read The Island By Victoria Hislop and thats the reason I wanted to visit. I actually think having read the book it made the trip more real. I would have loved to have seen the inside of the hospital but this was having work done. We went out of main season so got chance to explore without the crowds. Would recommend reading the book before you go, Horrifying to think how lepers were treated in the past. Perhaps the cretan government would consider donating some of this tourist monies
Reply by Viator, January 2010
Doing what: Santorini Island Day Trip
Santorini is stunning.
Reply by Viator, January 2010
Doing what: Santorini Island Day Trip
The sea was very rough on our visit, which caused not only the entire boat full of tourist to vomit for 3 hours straight but it also caused us to land late on the island. This caused a strain on time as we only had 1 hour in Oia and about 20 minutes in Fira before we had to get back on the bus and go back to the boat. I can only hope that on a more smoothly run trip that the time on the island lasts longer than that If not, then I would suggest allowing tourist much more time on the island. Leaving earlier from Heraklion would be a good start. I also wish there was a more convenient way for the tour guides to communicate with people on the bus. Listening to the same description 5 different times, first in English, then Dutch, then German, then Italian, then French, etc. etc. gets extremely tiring. You start to ignore all of it after a while. Maybe a recording with headsets would be more reasonable.
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