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West Crete Tour: Discover Chania, Rethymnon Old Town, and Kournas Lake
4.0
30 Ratings
Heraklion
Embark on a captivating tour of West Crete, exploring the enchanting old towns of Chania and Rethymnon, and immersing yourself in the natural beauty of Kournas Lake.
Embark on a captivating tour of West Crete, exploring the enchanting old towns of Chania and Rethymnon, and immersing yourself in the natural beauty of Kournas Lake.
Duration:
12 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
-
Heraklion - We will start collecting participants from pick-up points in the morning.
Depending on the place of your hotel/apartment the bus drive will differ.
Approximately, the bus trip to Chania will take 3 hours. - Chania Town - Our groups will have 2.5 hours to wander around the beautiful Venetian streets and neighbourhoods of this…
-
Heraklion - We will start collecting participants from pick-up points in the morning.
Depending on the place of your hotel/apartment the bus drive will differ.
Approximately, the bus trip to Chania will take 3 hours. - Chania Town - Our groups will have 2.5 hours to wander around the beautiful Venetian streets and neighbourhoods of this picturesque town of Greece. Walk through its roads full of little shops, markets and local restaurants around the picturesque old port.
-
Lake Kournas - Bur Drive from Chania to the Lake: 1 hour
We will visit the lake of Kournas for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
The largest natural lake of Crete reflecting the White Mountains gives you the sense of an Alpine landscape. Grab the opportunity to hire a pedal boat for a lovely ride around the lake, swimming and enjoying a meal in one of the little tavernas (not included) -
Rethymnon Old Town - Bur Drive to Rethymnon will take 20 minutes.
Visit Rethymno and its picturesque venetian town. Enjoy 1.5 hours to walk along the old port and beautiful oriental beach road of the town. -
Heraklion - Bus Drive back to Heraklion: 2 hours
Embarkation in the buses and drive back to the hotels where we gathered participants in the morning.
Depending on traffic and on the pick-up places of each one, the time of journey back to the hotel will differ .
What's Included
- Liability Insurance Coverage by ALLIANZ for our tour participants
- In-vehicle air conditioning
- Professional Driver
- Tour Guide
- All fees and/or taxes
- Liability Insurance Coverage by ALLIANZ for our tour participants
- In-vehicle air conditioning
- Professional Driver
- Tour Guide
- All fees and/or taxes
What's Not Included
- Breakfast
- Lunch
- Pedal Boat Hire (at Kournas Lake)
- Museum Entrances
- Breakfast
- Lunch
- Pedal Boat Hire (at Kournas Lake)
- Museum Entrances
Additional Information
Join us on a combined tour to the West Side of Crete! You will enjoy a visit to two beautiful and traditional old towns, those of Chania and Rethymnon as well as a visit to the Lake of Kournas! Experience the charming town of Chania which attracts many tourists every year, walk around its picturesque streets and admire the unique old harbor of this…
Join us on a combined tour to the West Side of Crete! You will enjoy a visit to two beautiful and traditional old towns, those of Chania and Rethymnon as well as a visit to the Lake of Kournas! Experience the charming town of Chania which attracts many tourists every year, walk around its picturesque streets and admire the unique old harbor of this town. Enjoy a visit to the Lake of Kournas and relax in this beautiful landscape of Cretan nature. Lastly, visit the town of Rethymnon and walk through its streets along the port to the old town.
Location
Heraklion
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.0
(30 Ratings)
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A5798gjchloer
Oct 20, 2024
west crete tour - what a lovely little trip! we were only in crete for a short time and wanted to see as much of the island as possible, this helped us to do that. the views were absolutely stunning with so many photo opportunities and our guide was so helpful and knowledgeable. the lake was amazing, although i feel like it would have benefitted from having more time there as we felt very rushed and there wasn't enough time to do everything we wanted there
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Anthonyo156
Oct 16, 2024
Lovely day trip - Had a great time on this day trip . Got to see a lot of the island, the lady who guides us was very happy and lovely really knew her stuff and can speak very good multiple languages very impressive. Gave us clear information and instructions on where to go and where to meet back and times . Well worth the money
Review provided by Tripadvisor
312r_gisg
Sep 23, 2024
People happy to show their ILE - Hello, Madam, Sir,
My wife and I spent a week at the Lyda Club Inn. We left with a Trips Agency that offered excursions on site; we attended the briefing. In the residence is a Greek travel agency, we will see (Awards by our organizer a little expensive). We meet a Greek man (too bad I don't know his name) charming although not speaking French and I very little English we managed to make ourselves understood. Awards were more within reach of our leaflet, we take excursions for the duration of our stay 4. This gentleman knew how to offer us, sell, excursions to very beautiful places with a lot of patience on his part, (my wife not practicing a foreign language and me very little). I thanked him at the Check-out, I would have liked to meet him under other circumstances, we could have become friends. A Guide marked us, her name Isabelle, my wife was suddenly tired, we went to meet her (we were on the bus that took us to our destination); she had the driver arrested so she could relieve herself. All this was done in a good mood especially as the bus was full.
This person was also our companion for the excursion the next day. We had the chance to meet such a person
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Maria_w
Sep 15, 2024
This trip is great opportunity to explore western Crete. - It was absolutely amazing tour. Don’t miss this opportunity to explore old western towns of Crete. Obviously it would be great to have more time in each town but everything was timed well, just enough to get an idea. Each town would need more than a day to explore . Just a tip for Rethymnon , as there is a very very limited time : if you want to see a castle , just download the map in advance so you know where to go, it’s easy to get lost there. Lunch at the lake was nice , but not enough time to swim. This part could be skipped to allow more time at Rethymnon maybe.
We were extremely lucky to have an amazing guide Elizabeth . She was very professional . She has wealth of knowledge of Cretan history and culture. I have learned a lot from her. It was very interesting to listen to her as she spoke from her heart . She was very nice and helpful . I think she is one of the best guides in the world.
Review provided by Viator
Lynnerw7292dt
Oct 3, 2023
Well worth the long trip from Hersonissos area - A long day due to all the pick ups and drop offs. However, very glad we did it. The driver and guide were excellent. We particularly liked Chania.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
James_c
Oct 6, 2024
Excellent tour - We done this tour on 2nd October with Cretan Odyssey. Picked up near hotel at 7:30am then a long but pleasant drive to Chania with a short WC pit stop on route. Our Guide Elizabeth was fantastic and so informative of all the places we were passing and the history of the Island. We stopped for just over 2 hours in Chania and were free to explore the main harbour, Old Town and fort. A truly special City with clear Venetian heritage. We then moved on to Lake Kournas for some lunch and a swim (for those prepared). Our final stop in late afternoon was the smaller port city of Rethymon. Again we walked the harbour and seen the fort but didn't have time for the castle too. A long day around 12 hours pickup to drop off but really great value.
Review provided by Viator
Galahad24
Oct 24, 2023
Stunning West Crete - West Crete Tour is exceptional.
Tour guide Elizabeth is very helpful and this is a very informative tour.
Chanai is a busy area full of tourist as this is the cruise ship docked. This is area you expect that the prices much higher than the other stop. Busy high street with full of souvenir shops.
The 2nd stop of the tour is Kournas lake. You can enjoy your lunch here and cheaper compared to Chanai.
Enjoy the paddling boat 3 persons for only 15 Euro in an hour. This is a breathtaking lake and we love the fresh air- kids enjoy this area.
My opinion is better to have more time in Kournas Lake.
Rethymno is another busy high street with many souvenirs shop tiny compare with Chanai . There is s seaside port as well . With Rethymno should less hour .
Overall this really good just for a day able to see the west part of crete
Review provided by Tripadvisor
F1cars
Oct 13, 2023
Worth the long day - The travel to and from the venues was planned well except if you were the early pickups, this made the trip into quite a long day. However the venues of Chania and Rethymo were splendid and culturally rich in architecture, history and ambience. The lake was OK, but the food and pricing at the recommended Taverna was excellent. Good trip
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Miakw9072ty
Nov 15, 2023
Right tour guide and no Lake will be better ... Chania and RETHYMON was wonderful - So this tour would be nice if it wasn't for the long way by bus. Chania was beautiful. Rethymon was fine too . Kournas Lake is something what they could take off this tour.But in my eyes the tour guide was not what I expected I sign up for ENGLISH tour, and I foudn myself in ENGLISH GERMAN tour . Where tour guide a lady sorry I don't remember her name was speaking fluent English and German but it was poorly executed. I felt like listening to the book reading, more than being interested in real life there. She was jumping from one language to another, in the middle of the story, so no one except German tourists were getting full story at one time. She was prone to them, the English version you could say was much shorter . She even got mad at people when they started talking, because when you switch languages this is what you get, when the part of the bus doesn't understand that language. The tour was on 21 of October. I would recommend to visit Chania and Rethymon they interesting cities but going on the bus without AC or poor AC in hot temperatures is not what I've had in mind, and not the tour guide who didn't care about English speaking people, or even telling people to stop talking when she was switching the language. Even though they weren't loud at all, but they for sure were bored like me. This tour in the right weather, and with the right tour guide might have been great. To all prepare for long ride on the bus. But it is worth to see CHANIA and RETHYMON.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sneha_r
Oct 22, 2023
Chania, Rehthymn and Lake Kournas - We loved Chania but Lake Kournas was a waste of time. Also, the food served at the taverna in Lake Kournas was below par.
Review provided by Viator
