Join us on a combined tour to the West Side of Crete! You will enjoy a visit to two beautiful and traditional old towns, those of Chania and Rethymnon as well as a visit to the Lake of Kournas! Experience the charming town of Chania which attracts many tourists every year, walk around its picturesque streets and admire the unique old harbor of this town. Enjoy a visit to the Lake of Kournas and relax in this beautiful landscape of Cretan nature. Lastly, visit the town of Rethymnon and walk through its streets along the port to the old town.
*Please, notice that the excursion program in Polish language doesn’t include a stop at Lake Kournas and this time is added to the other two sites, Chania (3 hours) and Rethymnon (2 hours).
Posted By : miakW9072TY
So this tour would be nice if it wasn't for the long way by bus. Chania was beautiful. Rethymon was fine too . Kournas Lake is something what they could take off this tour.But in my eyes the tour guide was not what I expected I sign up for ENGLISH tour, and I foudn myself in ENGLISH GERMAN tour . Where tour guide a lady sorry I don't remember her name was speaking fluent English and German but it was poorly executed. I felt like listening to the book reading, more than being interested in real life there. She was jumping from one language to another, in the middle of the story, so no one except German tourists were getting full story at one time. She was prone to them, the English version you could say was much shorter . She even got mad at people when they started talking, because when you switch languages this is what you get, when the part of the bus doesn't understand that language. The tour was on 21 of October. I would recommend to visit Chania and Rethymon they interesting cities but going on the bus without AC or poor AC in hot temperatures is not what I've had in mind, and not the tour guide who didn't care about English speaking people, or even telling people to stop talking when she was switching the language. Even though they weren't loud at all, but they for sure were bored like me. This tour in the right weather, and with the right tour guide might have been great. To all prepare for long ride on the bus. But it is worth to see CHANIA and RETHYMON.
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Posted On : 2023-11-15 14:46:29 
Posted By : galahad24
West Crete Tour is exceptional.
Tour guide Elizabeth is very helpful and this is a very informative tour.
Chanai is a busy area full of tourist as this is the cruise ship docked. This is area you expect that the prices much higher than the other stop. Busy high street with full of souvenir shops.
The 2nd stop of the tour is Kournas lake. You can enjoy your lunch here and cheaper compared to Chanai.
Enjoy the paddling boat 3 persons for only 15 Euro in an hour. This is a breathtaking lake and we love the fresh air- kids enjoy this area.
My opinion is better to have more time in Kournas Lake.
Rethymno is another busy high street with many souvenirs shop tiny compare with Chanai . There is s seaside port as well . With Rethymno should less hour .
Overall this really good just for a day able to see the west part of crete
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Posted On : 2023-10-24 06:11:52
Posted By : Sneha_R
We loved Chania but Lake Kournas was a waste of time. Also, the food served at the taverna in Lake Kournas was below par.
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Posted On : 2023-10-22 14:36:16 
Posted By : F1cars
The travel to and from the venues was planned well except if you were the early pickups, this made the trip into quite a long day. However the venues of Chania and Rethymo were splendid and culturally rich in architecture, history and ambience. The lake was OK, but the food and pricing at the recommended Taverna was excellent. Good trip
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Posted On : 2023-10-13 08:01:28
Posted By : lynnerW7292DT
A long day due to all the pick ups and drop offs. However, very glad we did it. The driver and guide were excellent. We particularly liked Chania.
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Posted On : 2023-10-03 08:34:51
Posted By : Ben_M
The towns of Chania and Rethymnon were interesting themselves, good old architecture and picturesque streets to explore. We had lunch at Chania instead of the scheduled lunch stop at the lake, due to the length of stop in Chania.
The lake I wouldn't have been bothered not going all together. Didn't really add much and the time allocated for it's stop wasn't enough to see the lake and have lunch at the cafe. (which was haphazard during the rush)
Tour guide was good at explaining the history of crete and it was most insightful.
We got picked up in Hersonissos and all in all it was a 13 hour day, most of which spent on a double decker bus with asthmatic aircon!
In reflection it would have been better to have hired a car and gone at our own pace instead. As it was practically straight along the motorway and plenty of parking options (which put us off originally driving as we didn't know the deal with parking)
It was 4 hours from pickup in Hersonissos until we got to Chania. I felt a bit sorry for other guests who were the first pick ups / last drop offs.
It would have made sense for the operator to have a few minibuses in each area collecting people then all boarding the bus at a central location.
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Posted On : 2023-09-17 12:49:24
Posted By : Scott G
A great way to see Chania and Rethymnon in a day without having to rent a car or worry about driving. Rated 3 stars as you must be aware of the “air conditioned bus”. Air conditioning only works while the bus is en route (I.e. moving) and takes a while to stabilize. It’s never cool or cold and tremendously hot when boarding at each stop along the way.
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Posted On : 2023-09-09 13:37:57
Posted By : Regina_C
Our tour guide gave us some information on the bus as we drove these long distances. However, once at the destination, all there really was to do is shop and eat. You are dropped off in a marketplace. There is no real historic sites to visit or sites to see outside of the port. The 2 hours in Chania and Rethymnon went by very fast. You get an hour at the Lake. I don't think I truly got to see any of these cities. But just to get out to the other part of the island, it was good. And it was also really hot during this time.
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Posted On : 2023-08-24 14:01:12
Posted By : 896orlaneb
A day full of discovery of the beautiful towns of Crete Chania, Rethymon and Lake Kournas. A fascinating guide, who introduced us to the culture, history, and richness of her country. Thank you for this beautiful day of excursion which I really enjoyed, I have very good memories of it.
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Posted On : 2023-08-20 15:30:48
Posted By : guldark2022
Amazing Day trip to take. Had pick up and drop off from hotel. Really convenient.
Bus driver was proffesional and felt safe all the time.
Guide was really fluent and talked really good english and we learned a lot about Crete. She was really friendly and informative about everything. Thank you.
Chania old town was just incredible. You can walk around or just have good food with lovely view to sea.
Kourna lake was amazing. Water is crystal clear and those mountains on back makes you feel like youre in paradise. Paddling boats are really cheap and water is warm. Deffinately reccoment to do both.
Thank you Cretan Odyssey for incredible awesome day trip.
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Posted On : 2023-07-14 04:37:43
