Hello,
We will be spending about 2 weeks in Greece and were originally planning on splitting the time between Naxos, Santorini and Peloponnese. That turned into a definite struggle as we ended up needing 2 weeks for Peloponnese alone. So, we went back to the drawing board and are considering focusing instead on Crete. Although by no means a substitute for Naxos/Peloponnese, it seems to have much of what attracts us to those 2 places. And we really want to cap the trip off with 2-3 days in Santorini just to see it.
So I’m looking for some feedback on the 10 full days we will have in Crete. We are currently planning to be there in early/mid May, although we likely have some flexibility in the days.
Day 1 – arrive Chania by air from USA via Athens late in day. Overnight Chania
Day 2 – relax, recover and explore Chania. Overnight Chania
Day 3 – buffer day for Chania. Potentially day tour to Elafonissi Beach or Akrotiri Peninsula sights (Seitan Limania and Agia Triada Tzagaroli) or spend more time relaxing in Chania. Overnight Chania
Day 4 – PU car very early and drive to Kissamos to get day boat tour to Bolas Beach. Return to Kissamos in time hopefully to catch sunset at Falasarna Beach. Overnight Chania
Day 5 – Here’s where it gets interesting. Early AM departure for Hora Sfakion (HS). Although a bit out of the way, perhaps detour to Preveli Monastary and beach enroute. Park car in HS and take afternoon boat to Agio Roumeli (AR) and overnight there. I know boat schedules aren’t available yet, but is a late afternoon boat likely?
Day 6 – Visit Samaria Gorge the lazy way. Start early and walk up as far as comfortable and return to AR. Grab bags and take (early?) afternoon boat to Loutro and spend the afternoon and night there. Again, any guidance on boat schedules AR-Loutro?
Day 7 – Morning boat (if available) Loutro to HS. Pick up car and drive to Rethymno. Spend the rest of the day relaxing and visiting the town. Overnight Rethymno
Day 8 – relax around Rethymno; take a food/wine tour and/or cooking class. Overnight Rethymno
Day 9 – an early start with a drive to the Arkadi Monastery followed by a drive around the Amari Loop and ending around Archanes. Overnight Archanes (or maybe a farm stay in the area?)
Day 10 – potential day trip from Archanes to visit Agios Nikolaos/Elounda and/or Lasithi Plateau. Overnight Archanes
Day 11 – AM visit to Knossos followed by afternoon visit to Archeology Museum in Heraklion. Overnight Heraklion
Day 12 – early boat Heraklion to Santorini
Main questions:
1. To the seasoned experts, does this seem doable?
2. Is the Samaria Gorge visit as planned feasible? If not, we’ll likely just do it as a “typical” day trip from Chania and suffer through the knee pain and unfortunately miss out on Loutro
3. Is there safe parking for a couple days in Hora Sfakion near the boat terminal?
4. Do the boat tours to Bolas from Kissamos finish up in time to make it to Falasarna Beach by car by sunset (around 8pm)?
5. We want a “rest” day around Day 8/9. Any opinions on whether it is best to do that from Rethymno or from Archenes? We’d like to experience small-town rural atmosphere, so maybe Archenes would be better. But then we also want to have access to activities such as food/wine tour or cooking class, so maybe Rethymno?
Thank you so much!!