Guided Visits and Boat Trips in Crete

A tour in Crete is usually two purchases: the transport or guide, and the entry ticket for the site. Operators rarely bundle the two, so the headline price can look low. This page splits each popular outing into those parts. Everything is priced in euros, and the smaller boats prefer cash.

Palace of Knossos

  • Site entry: EUR 20 full, EUR 10 reduced, every month of the year, sold by Hellenic Heritage. Ticket details are on its Knossos page .
  • Guide: licensed guides gather near the entrance. A shared tour costs around EUR 10 to 15 per person, and a private walk of about 90 minutes runs EUR 90 to 120 for the group.
  • Extras: the Heraklion museum is a different ticket, and no joint pass exists.
  • Context: the palace is among the Minoan Palatial Centres that UNESCO listed in 2025. Much of what you see was reconstructed in concrete during the 1900s, which is the best reason to take a guide.

Balos and Gramvousa by boat

Cretan Daily Cruises is the operator to look up first. Its boats start at Kissamos port, roughly 40 km west of Chania, between May and October. The loop calls at Imeri Gramvousa, where an optional uphill path reaches a Venetian fortress, then continues to Balos for a long swim stop and returns in the late afternoon. Adult fares sit between about EUR 25 and 45 across operators, and a municipal fee of a euro or so is paid in coins. Check the current schedule on the operator’s website . Nothing on this trip involves diving, because Balos is shallow and protected.

Spinalonga ferries

Spinalonga is a fortified islet that became a leprosy colony in 1903 and stayed one until 1957. Visitors should keep their voices down and treat it as a place of memory.

  1. Plaka is the shortest crossing at 7 to 10 minutes. Caiques go roughly every 30 minutes through the season, and a return ticket is about EUR 10 to 12.
  2. Elounda has bigger boats with a 20 to 25 minute crossing and a return fare of about EUR 12 to 15.
  3. Agios Nikolaos sells half-day cruises with swimming and a barbecue for about EUR 25 to 35.

On every route the island ticket is separate: EUR 20, or EUR 10 for reduced fares.

Jeep tours on the Lasithi Plateau

Off-road day tours collect passengers from Heraklion, Hersonissos and Agios Nikolaos. The route climbs through the Aposelemis area to shepherd huts and the plane-shaded village of Krasi, then crosses the plateau, where the old windmills are the main sight. Lunch is normally in Psychro. If Dikteon Cave is on the programme, budget EUR 15 or EUR 8 for entry, and remember that it shuts on Tuesdays and keeps hours of 08:30 to 15:30. The site has been open again since late May 2026, but ask the operator to confirm that day’s access.

Historical Museum of Crete

Located at Sofokli Venizelou 27 in Heraklion, this museum shows two works by El Greco, which are the only ones on permanent display in Crete. The same galleries cover Venetian stone carving and the writing room of Nikos Kazantzakis. The ticket is a few euros. Summer opening is 09:00 to 17:00, and winter days are shorter, with Sundays closed.

How to pick

Choose a guide at Knossos, a boat to Balos, a ferry to Spinalonga or a jeep to Lasithi according to the region you sleep in, since each starts from a different coast.

Read more: Sightseeing in Crete , plus the Knossos place page

For comparing departures, use Viator alongside Hellenic Heritage .