12 Best Day Trips from Rethymno

Rethymno sits almost exactly in the middle of Crete's north coast, which makes it the best day-trip base on the island. Two of the three great gorges, the pink lagoon at Elafonisi, the Minoan palace at Knossos, the fortress island of Spinalonga and the palm river at Preveli are all reachable and back in a day — without changing hotels.

Below are twelve, sorted by how far you have to drive. All times are one way by car in normal traffic.

All twelve at a glance

#	Day trip	Drive from Rethymno	Day length	Difficulty	Our tour
1	Rethymno old town food and history	0 — on foot	4 h	Easy	Rethymno Walk & Taste
2	Lake Kournas & Argyroupoli springs	25 min	4 h	Easy	Lake Kournas & Argyroupoli
3	Margarites, Eleftherna, Arkadi & Melidoni	25-30 min	5 h	Easy	Timeless Crete: Villages & Monasteries
4	Kourtaliotiko Gorge, Preveli & Triopetra	40 min	6 h	Easy	South Crete Highlights
5	A working mountain sheepfold	40 min	5 h	Easy	Shepherd for a Day
6	Spili, Kourtaliotiko & the Kalypso fjord	45 min	6 h	Easy	Cretan Nature & Village Journey
7	Imbros Gorge	1 h 15	6 h	Easy	Imbros Gorge Guided Tour
8	Knossos & the Heraklion museum	1 h 15	7 h	Easy	Knossos Palace Private Tour
9	Aradaina Gorge	1 h 45	9 h	Hard	Aradaina Gorge
10	Samaria Gorge	2 h to Omalos	12 h	Moderate	Samaria Gorge Explorer
11	Pachnes summit, 2,453 m	2 h	9 h	Moderate-hard	Pachnes Summit
12	Elafonisi pink sand lagoon	2 h 15	8 h	Easy	Elafonisi Beach Tour

1. Rethymno old town — on foot

The one day trip that involves no transfer at all. Rethymno's old town is the best-preserved Renaissance quarter in Greece, and the way to understand it is not to look at doorways but to eat your way through it: the bakeries still using stone ovens, the producers selling oil and mountain herbs, the Rimondi fountain and the Fortezza above.

Four hours, morning start, and you are back for lunch. See Rethymno Walk & Taste. For the evening version, Romance & History in Rethymno walks the same streets at 17:30 when the light is better.

2. Lake Kournas and the Argyroupoli springs — 25 minutes

Crete's only freshwater lake, ringed by hills and shallow enough at the edges to wade in, then twenty minutes north-west to Argyroupoli, built over ancient Lappa, where spring water pours out of the hillside beneath enormous plane trees and runs through the village in channels. Cool on the hottest day of August. A half-day at most: Lake Kournas & Argyroupoli Springs.

3. Margarites, Eleftherna, Arkadi and Melidoni — 25 to 30 minutes

The densest concentration of interesting things anywhere near Rethymno. Margarites is the island's pottery village, where wheels still turn using shapes that have not changed since the Minoans. Ancient Eleftherna is a Dorian city with a first-class site museum. Arkadi Monastery is where, in 1866, the defenders blew the powder magazine rather than surrender — the founding story of modern Cretan identity. Melidoni Cave holds a comparable and older tragedy.

Five hours, no long drives: Timeless Crete: Villages & Monasteries.

4. Kourtaliotiko Gorge, Preveli and Triopetra — 40 minutes

The classic south-coast run. The road drops through the Kourtaliotiko Gorge, where the wind through the rock gives the gorge its name, past Preveli Monastery to the river beach where a palm forest runs down a freshwater stream to the sea, then west along the coast to Triopetra's three rocks.

Six hours from a 09:00 pickup: South Crete Highlights.

5. A working sheepfold in the mountains — 40 minutes

Not a demonstration farm. You milk, you make cheese, you eat antikristo lamb cooked upright around an open fire, and you spend the day with a family who have done this for generations. It runs weekends and it is the single best thing on this list for children old enough to be interested. See Shepherd for a Day.

6. Spili, the Kourtaliotiko and the Kalypso fjord — 45 minutes

A slower variation on the south coast day. Spili is a green village on the flank of Mount Kedros with a Venetian fountain whose twenty-five stone lion heads pour cold mountain water; you fill your bottle there like everyone else. Then the gorge, and a swim on the fjord-like inlet at Kalypso. Six hours: Cretan Nature & Village Journey.

7. Imbros Gorge — 1 hour 15

The right gorge for most people. Eight kilometres, three to four hours, almost all of it downhill on a good path, through a canyon that narrows in places to under two metres between walls hundreds of metres high. It is open year-round, unlike Samaria, and it finishes at Komitades with lunch by the sea in Chora Sfakion.

A six-hour day from a 07:00 pickup: Imbros Gorge Guided Tour.

8. Knossos and the Heraklion Archaeological Museum — 1 hour 15

Knossos is the largest Bronze Age site in Europe and the least self-explanatory. Sir Arthur Evans's concrete reconstructions confuse as much as they clarify, and almost everything portable that was found there now sits in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum twenty minutes away. Do the two together, with a guide, or do neither. Entry is €15 for the palace, €12 for the museum, €20 combined.

Seven hours: Knossos Palace Private Tour.

9. Aradaina Gorge — 1 hour 45

For hikers who found Imbros too easy and Samaria too crowded. Aradaina drops from an abandoned village through a steep, boulder-strewn canyon to the sea at Marmara, with the famous 138-metre bridge above it. There are iron ladders bolted to the rock near the top. Nine hours door to door and genuinely hard.

See Aradaina Gorge.

10. Samaria Gorge — 2 hours to the Omalos trailhead

Europe's longest gorge and the classic Cretan walk: 16 km from the Xyloskalo steps at 1,250 m down through pine forest and past the abandoned village of Samaria to the Iron Gates, where the walls close to a few metres, and out at Agia Roumeli on the Libyan Sea. There is no road out; you leave by ferry.

Twelve hours from a 06:30 pickup, entry €5, and open 1 May to 31 October only. Samaria Gorge Explorer.

11. Pachnes summit — 2 hours

The highest peak of the White Mountains at 2,453 m, and the second-highest point in Crete. A full day of ascent on scree and limestone with views over the whole south coast and, on a clear day, the outline of Africa. Nine hours, and you need hill fitness rather than technique. Pachnes Summit.

12. Elafonisi — 2 hours 15

The furthest of the twelve and the most photographed: a shallow lagoon between the shore and a low island, with sand tinted pink by crushed shell. The water between the two is knee-deep for a hundred metres. It is a long drive south-west through the Topolia Gorge, so leave early and treat it as a full day.

Eight hours from a 07:00 pickup: Elafonisi Pink Sand Beach Tour.

How to choose

If you only have one free day, take the gorge if you walk, Elafonisi if you swim, and the old town food walk if you would rather not spend four hours in a vehicle. If you have three, take one gorge, one coast day and one culture day, and leave a rest day between the gorge and anything else.

Two more worth knowing about if food is your thing: the Cretan Honey & Wine Experience and the Authentic Cretan Cooking Class, both within 40 minutes of town.