Recommendations for Tour Guides in Heraklion and Chania, Crete

Did you check Toursbylocals.com? It is like a clearing house for guides. We have been using their guides for years and in many cities. Here are a few reasons I like them

You can read a description of the tour.
Prices are listed, with per group or per person breakdown.
The maximum/minimum number of participants is stated.
They tell you if it will be by car or public transport.
They let you know any extra charges, such as lunch etc.
If entrance tickets are needed, they pick them up. Sometimes they are included, sometimes an extra charge but they let you know up front.
The dates they are free are clearly marked on their calendar.
There is a picture of the guide along with a blog about them.
They list the languages they know.
If just your group you can customize your tour. Such as remove stop A to linger longer at stop B.
You can email with them for further info or questions.
Other tours by the same guide are listed after you click on their name. We’ve done a few with the same guide.

I have friends who live in Chania and they recommended Maria of diktynna-travel.gr to us.
Maria was excellent to work with when planning
our travels in Crete and I highly recommend her.

Many thanks to Barbara and Suki for your responses. I did read about Tours by Locals in this RS Forum but my preference is to go with an individual who people have used before. But if I am unable to find someone, I will definitely look into Tours by Locals.

Suki, I will send your recommended guide a message and see what we can work out.

Thanks again to both of you for your help.

Penn

Hello Suki, do you happen to have the direct contact for Maria. I reached out to the travel agency at their website a week ago and they have not responded to me. Thanks for your help.

Penn

Hello Again everyone

It is almost time for my family and me to go to Crete on a holiday and I am still looking for a tour guide who can take us around Knossos Palace in Heraklion. I've not received any recommendations and the travel agent who responded to my March posting is not contactable. Any information and recommendations you can give me will be greatly appreciated.

Penn

Penn - I thought a guide in Italy was ignoring my request for a booking, but the owner of our B&B correctly guessed that the guide's reply to my email went to my spam folder instead of my inbox. Maybe try the guide again and monitor your spam folder for their email.

I'm hoping you find some good guides and share them here - Crete is on my radar.

Hello Friend

Yes, I too wondered if responses were going to Spam but that was not the case. I recall reading a post from a tour guide on one of the threads on the Italy Forum but now I cannot seem to find it. I really hope someone can give me a good recommendation soon.

Penn

Hi All

Here is an update on my quest to find a tour guide in Crete. Based upon the recommendation from someone in a different thread on this Forum, I contacted Niki Vlachou ([email protected]). I believe Niki is a tour guide recommended in Rick's Greece guidebook. Niki obviously knows tour guides in Crete and she was able to find me a tour guide for our visit to Knossos Palace. She is very prompt at responding to E-Mails and provides detailed responses. So far I am very impressed.

Penn