Walking in Crete

A brilliant holiday if you like being active. The scenery is superb, rocky gorges and peaks that are breathtaking, and the vegetation varied between evergreen trees in more mountainous spots, to low thorny shrubs and thyme on exposed sunny slopes. The sound of goat bells and the scent of the herbs make it a multi-sensory experience. Our wonderful guide Smaro was always careful to make sure everyone in the group was happy, and looked after us well. She is such a warm, happy person, loved by everyone we met.

A very enjoyable week, highlights for me were the two gorges which I found reasonably straightforward. I would have liked a couple more longer walks or another gorge to walk but stunning and varied scenery. Accommodation was very good as was the variety of Cretan food to be tried. Crete is certainly a lovely island which we were very lucky to have our excellent tour leader Smaro to show us around

This was a good combination of walking and relaxation. Apart from the 8 hour trek down the Samaria Gorge, the walks were neither long nor too arduous, which was appropriate considering the high temperatures. The hotels were all comfortable with the one at Chora Sfakion being the best. Smaro was an excellent leader who was very keen to keep everyone safe and happy. There was one day of travel that did not include a walk but it would have been a good idea to fit one in, albeit a shorter one.

Smaro was an amazing , passionate, knowledgeable and a very safe guide. We were well looked after.

Very good trip, very well organised and led and quite relaxed. We were a small group ( only 7) but we all seemed to get on well. The walking was fairly straightforward for a regular walker, the highlight being the Samaria Gorge. The Zaros gorge walk at the end was also lovely. The other walks were fairly short though that did give us a chance for some downtime, including swimming in some places. Both food and accommodation were very good and I really enjoyed travelling through different parts of Crete. I added on a few days at the end for sightseeing which I would really recommend.

Please add Knossos palace to the itinerary

The whole tour was excellent, but I would've changed the trip to the monastery and liked to have visited knossos or any other historical sites instead.

Walking in Crete has a great range of walks. Our leader Panagiotis was knowledgeable, cheerful, adaptable and gave us a really good experience. He gave good restaurant recommendations and took account of the different walking needs of the group.

This was a very good holiday. Our tour guide Peter was amazing, he was very knowledgeable, kind, thoughtful and made every effort to ensure all the group were able to enjoy the experience. Due to weather and other factors there was some switching about But this did not matter at all. The food and accommodation was also very good We were very lucky to have Peter Great guy

Very enjoyable holiday. Sadly unstable weather meant we could not walk the Samaria gorge but the alternative walk was great and the walk in the Zaros gorge at the end of the week was stunning.

Missed out on hiking the Samaritan Gorge, it was closed on our scheduled date. No attempt was made to switch other scheduled walks around. Tour leader was careful and supportive, this led to our hikes being paced at the slowest walker’s speed. Ordinarily, this is a good thing, however, this proved dangerous on one hike where a number of walkers suffered from the effects of the heat.

Excellent trip. The last trip I did with Explore was 30 years ago. I am recently retired and decided to join a small walking group . Used Explore again and was not disappointed. Excellent team in London. Guide professional, knowledgable , super safety conscious and sociable as I would have expected. Walking terrain in Crete is quite challenging but thanks to our guide we all managed to complete our hikes. Great group of people too!

It should be trecking in Crete not walking. The terrain is very rocky and can be very difficult for people who are expecting more of a dirt trail. Most people on our trip were over 70 and the first hike was so difficult they never tried the other hikes offered.

Christoff was wonderful. Very patient with 70+ year old people. We had a fabulous time. Crete was my favorite Greek island. Please remind him to work on introducing a dirty martini to Greece!!!!😊♥️🍸

The itinerary was well designed catering for all capabilities with options to skip a trek if one preferred to spend more time swimming in the beautiful lybian sea.

Really great trip. Spectacular scenery, great food and a really friendly group of fellow travelers. Will be choosing another holiday very soon.

Walks were great and varied. After reading previous reviews felt walks weren’t as tough as had expected. Didn’t use poles myself, but useful to bring along in case. Scenery very striking, very good standard of accommodation and great food. Kostas our leader made the trip very enjoyable and informative. Looked after us very well. He was the best.