Crete group guided tours

Send inquiries to [email protected]
They are based in Chania and do a lot of travel planning for travel agents in other countries who send clients to Crete. We used them for part of our trip there. Ask for Maria.

There are several companies that offer tours of Crete some which include ancient sites and others for beaches. This September we discovered a brand new guided tour out of the KTEL bus station of Chania.
Here is an excerpt from my trip report.
Our 4th and last day in Chania proved to be a highlight. We walked to the KTEL bus station when my wife stopped at a small booth at the entrance to the bus station and asked the lady about what she was selling. This is a new tour company called Smart Tours. They offer several different half day tours including a wine and oil tour, Akrotiri including Agia Triada Monestary, and Theriso Gorge. This day they were running the Wine and Oil tour. It promises to be” off the beaten path to places the locals love.” This turned out to be the best tour we have ever taken. The bus only holds 12 so the group was small. We visited an old bridge and witnessed the results of the flooding in the spring. The next stop was the German War Cemetery. It was sobering, particularly when we read the ages of most of the soldiers who were just teenagers.
Next stop was a the Odigitria Monestary in Kissamos, then into the mountains to visit the olive grove at Vouves where one of the oldest olive trees in the world still produces olives. This is the tree where a twig is taken to be awarded to the winner of the Olympic marathon.
Our next stop was at the village of Anoskeli where we visited a modern olive oil operation and winery. Included was an olive oil tasting with small snacks plus a wine tasting of 5 different wines. This was the most generous pour we have ever seen in a wine tasting. Oh yes, the lady Nicole we met at the bus station not only promotes the tours but was also the tour guide and driver. She was quite responsible and partook in the oil tasting but not the wine.
We continue the olive oil and wine tasting on the Smart Tours. The lady we met at the bus station is Nicole, not only promotes the tours but was also the tour guide and driver. She was quite responsible and partook in the oil tasting but not the wine.

Our table mates were an Englishman and his Spanish wife along with the Nicole. During the discussion the Englishman mentioned he was a sea captain. My wife said “My father was a Shell Oil tanker Captain,” then Nichole chimed in “My father owned a shipping company.” I guess that made her the winner of the bragging contest.

We thought the tour was over, however our final stop was at a small village at a taverna where a table was already set for us. We were served a variety of small pies, bread and olive oil and lots of Raki. By this time we were a pretty loose happy group. A mother and daughter from Sweden sang us a drinking song and shot a glass of raki to finish. They did such a good job that we all asked them to do it again so we could video it and of course chug more raki. Not to outdone the Spanish lady led us in one of their traditional drinking songs. While the cost of this stop was not included in the tour we each paid only 6 euro for the refreshments, which is a pittance considering how much we ate and drank.

You can read the whole trip report of our three weeks in Crete here.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/greece/our-celebration-of-life-trip-crete