Full-Day Private Tour: Knosos Palace and Zeus Cave Exploration from Rethimno
4.9
17 Ratings
Mochos
Embark on a full-day private tour from Rethimno to explore the ancient Knosos Palace and Zeus Cave. Discover the birthplace of Zeus, visit historical sites, and enjoy optional visits to the Heraklion Archaeological Museum and Greek Mythology Thematic Park.
Duration: 10 hours
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • Mochos - Mochos is a mountainous traditional village and has its roots back in the second Byzantine period.The views on the way to Mochos are magnificent.

  • Krasi - Walk the cobblestoned streets and enjoy a refresing beverage under the 2400-year-old plane tree, also known as the Writers’ Tree.

  • Windmills Of Lasithi Plateau - Admire the stunning view from the mills and get some amazing photos.

  • Cave of Zeus - Walk up to this ancient Minoan sacred cave, which is believed to be the birthplace of Zeus.

  • Greek Mythology Thematic Park - A unique theme park that will walk you through the Greek myths. Greek mythology is presented in a fun and interactive way.

  • Heraklion Archaeological Museum - Optionally, you can visit the Herakleion Archaeological Museum which is one of the largest and most important museums in Greece, and among the most important museums in Europe.

  • Knossos Archaeological Site - Visit the Knosos Palace where Zeus’s son, Minoas, intertwined his name with the oldest civilization in Europe.

What's Included
  • Fridge
  • Honey/Raki tasting
  • Bottled water
  • V.I.P.- class air-conditioned vehicle
  • Fully equipped First-Aid-Kit
What's Not Included
  • Drinks and meals
  • Souvenirs and personal expenses
  • Tickets to Knosos and Museum (15€, 12€)
  • Ticket to the cave of Zeus (6€)
  • Ticket to the Thematic Park (8€)
Additional Information

Begin your journey at the quaint village of Mochos, famous for its labyrinth-style streets and vibrant gardens. Proceed to Krasi to marvel at the historic Writers’ Plane Tree, an antique of 2,400 years. Next, the tour moves up to the Diktaion Andron, the reputed birthplace of the God Zeus, from which you can admire the stunning panorama of the Lasithi Plateau. Continue to the Knosos Palace, a kingdom that bears the legacy of Zeus’s son, Minos, and the earliest civilization of Europe. If you desire, you have the option of touring the Heraklion Archaeological Museum and the Greek Mythology Thematic Park. Feel free to grab a bite at any restaurant you fancy, whenever hunger strikes.

Location
Mochos
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.9
(17 Ratings)
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Paomaga
Jan 15, 2024
Marvelous - We had a wonderful day in Crete, we couldn't find a tour in Spanish but Kostas saved the day, he came for us and took us to see Heraklion, and the most important places, he gave us recommendations to visit and where to eat delicious, he even brought us honey what they make at home and some delicious sweets. Highly recommended! He provides private transfer service, but does not give tours to the places, however he explains the history and customs of the city.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Hannahld3919ip
Jul 8, 2023
Beautiful Crete - The Island of Crete is great! Angie was is an amazing guide. Very informative about the island of Crete as well as the Greek myths and legends. Along with Costa, they both made the tour enjoyable. The Museum was fun...lots of pottery. The ruins of Knosos were ok but definitely not for the summer heat as it's very open. The Greek Mythology Thermatic Park was the highlight for both my 17 and 9 year old. Nico was amazing making time to do some pottery with my daughter. Angie knows all the good spots and not having to wait around for other people made the long tour enjoyable.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Hannah_l
Jul 5, 2023
Angie the tour guide is the best! - What an amazing experience. Angie was brilliant and very informative. She made the trip relaxing and fun. No rushing around or waiting. Costa was great too. Making sure we had tickets beforehand to avoid queues.
Review provided by Viator
I3153qyveronicad
Sep 4, 2022
Day Tour - Kostas was very nice and accommodating. We were a party of 7 and we had a great time site seeing the Heraklion area and learned about history and current Greek life. Kostas went out of his way to make sure everyone saw something they were interested in including a stop to show us almond and walnut trees! Would highly recommend this trip!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jacklv2572sr
Aug 16, 2022
Best excursion EVER!! - Kostas was awesome, dare I say, the best part of our short week visit to the wonderful island of Crete. Our excursion started off with an on time pickup in an immaculate Mercedes VIP level mini bus. Loaded with waters and snacks, handmade by his mother. The trip was filled with expert advice on how to spend our limited time in Crete, amazing local culture and stimulating conversations about his homeland… and food, oh my, the food recommendations were out of this world fantastic. Kostas was the perfect ambassador to Crete. We never felt out of place or lost, never felt uneasy or unsafe, like we have with other excursions in other cities around the world. If you are thinking of taking a trip to Crete and want to get the best bang for your buck, book this trip and hope Kostas is available!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Carole_l
Jul 31, 2022
Great Day with Kosta!!! - JUNE 2022: Private Full-Day Knossos, Lasithi Plateau, Cave of Zeus from Rethimno OMG what an AMAZING experience with KOSTA in Crete Private day tour! KOSTA is your man in CRETE… First, he picks us up in advance at our hotel with the luxury van and his lovely smile. We knew right away that he wanted to make this day the best of our Greece trip. We visited not only the planned trip from Viator, but Much more. Kosta went the extra mile for us, stopped at places we wanted and came back safely to the hotel. Along the way, we never stop Tasting different HOMEMADE Greek food that Kosta’s mom prepared for us! Wow, this was really appreciated and YUMMY!!! We had friendly conversation about the myth and history of Greece, interesting conversation with Kosta, since his interest on a lot of subjects made the trip QUITE captivating! Weather was 30 degrees; Kosta took particularly good care of us and listen to our needs. The CAVE OF ZEUS was really a pleasant surprise for us and the myth/history of Zeus…. You must be at least a minimum of shape to go to the top and go down and up the cave. (Donkeys are at the bottom of the road for you to go up if needed with a fee$$$) The Knossos Palace worth the detour for Archeology fans…very well preserved! (Go in the morning not too crowded). Kosta picked from the tree, cherries for us, they were SO good! He chose a family restaurant for lunch; the MOUSSAKA was the best one I ever ate…Thank you for this. And what a view! End of day, we ask him for specific shopping, and he did bring us to the stores to buy what we were looking for…that was NOT in the tour. We really appreciated. To concluded, without Kosta it would not been a GREAT Crete memory… THANK YOU, KOSTA, FOR MAKING OUR TRIP MEMORABLE! Karol
Review provided by Viator
Enrico1930
Jun 30, 2022
Great tour with a great tour guide - The tour guide Kostas is almost the main attraction during this full day trip. His background as a teacher shines through with a healthy splash of irony and humor. The kids loved him and his offerings of local goodies to eat and drink. Knossos palace is a surprisingly small area, overcrowded, and you will find far more spectacular caves elsewhere than the Zeuz-cave. But as a day-tour in Crete it's great!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Zooter57
May 4, 2022
Great tour by Kostas! - The tour was great, there were 8 of us in our group and we all enjoyed the tour. Kostas was our tour guide and was very accommodating and gave us a lot of info about Crete. We learned a lot from him about Crete, the culture, the food and Raki/Rakomelo :) He also provided us with goodies made by his mom. Excellent tour and guide! We would definitely recommend him to our friends and family traveling to Crete in the future.
Review provided by Viator
Calllum-shea
Apr 14, 2022
Incredibly positive trip - Amazing experience with an incredible host, very positive and cheerful experience even after he slipped into icy water he had a very positive attitude and made the journey even more enjoyable, very cosy vehicle that seated the whole family and kept the journey comfortable. Kostas is the best guide you could hope for.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Ictravellers14
Jul 21, 2022
Enjoyable but room for improvement - We were a group of 5 adults who booked the Cave of Zeus, Lasithi Plateau and Knossos Palace tour from Rethymno. We were glad to see this tour was available with SGP Tours as it seems that not many companies offer tours to these sights from Rethymno. This was €550 for our group. Our guide was Kostas for this excursion. Kostas kindly met us at our hotel and transport was in a very clean, modern, and comfortable Mercedes VIP minibus. Overall, the tour was good but there are several areas that in our opinion feel could be improved to add a more enjoyable and informative excursion: Sadly, we were unable to take up the optional visit to Heraklion Archaeological Museum (as advertised)- something that consolidates any information from your Knossos Palace visit (as there is limited signs around the site). Kostas did kindly offer to arrange a tour guide for Knossos (quoted as an additional approx €100) and did apologise about this and explained that this was due to legal caps on the amount of time he and local drivers could spend driving. Obviously, this was partly something out of Kostas' control but if we were made aware of this important information early in the tour or were given any direction regarding the advised/maximum time to spend at each of the points of interest through the day, we could have accounted for this (especially if visiting from Rethymno, as this is >1hour from all stops along on the tour). More information about each sight to be visited during tour would be nice- whilst Kostas was engaging and did chat to our group during the tour, including recommendations for Crete and some information about Ancient Greek Mythology, the tour could have provided more background information about each point of interest.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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