Knossos Palace & Lassithi Plateau Zeus Cave, Villages & Monastery

We were a bit disappointed in this given the price we paid. Most of the day is spent on the coach, including 2-3 hours of picking people up. The monastery was nice but we were expecting more viewpoints or at least one viewpoint of the Lasithi Plateau. But mainly we drove through it and stopped for lunch with no extra time. Zeus’ cave is closed until next summer. Then it was on to Knossos, the guided tour was good but again no free time and a rush back to the bus to go back to hotels. So apart from Knossos and the monastery, we were just dropped at a pottery shop for 30 minutes and a taverna for lunch. Was hoping for a bit more from the experience - especially the first half - even just one viewpoint to admire the incredible scenery at Lasithi. As well as the tour price, you pay your own entry at Knossos and the monastery.

Our day did not start off too well as we originally had booked to be lifted at 8.55am on the Wednesday morning at the bus stop near our hotel. A couple of days previously we got a phone call to change the time to 8.20am which we were fine about the change. However on the morning my husband and son were walking to the bus stop and the bus drove off as they were crossing the road. The tour operator had rang me at 8.20am and I had told her that they were there and gave her my husband's phone number to ring him. She did not ring him and chose to drive off instead. I sent her a text to ask why she would have driven off known that they were there. She did not respond and when my husband also phoned her she was cheeky and told untruths that she had waited 20 mins however as taxis also sit here they were quite aware that she was telling lies. Considering the fact that we accommodated this company changing the time it was a cheek to not wait until my son and husband crossed the busy road. They had to end up getting a taxi which cost and extra 45 euro and the kind taxi driver was very helpful and managed to catch up with the tour bus. She was also late back at the end of the trip and kept everyone waiting and spent a long time talking about very little. We found the trip quite boring and sadly a waste of money.

This day trip was a full experience into learning about Greek mythology, Greek history and expericing the small mountain towns of Crete. The trip had a few extra stops that weren't on the itinerary in the small towns, which we didn't mind as it added to the day but it did make the trip a bit longer than expected (again, wasn't a problem for us but worth bearing in mind!) The palace and the Monastary were definitely the highlight, both were stunning and so full of Greek history. It was a great day out, the kids did well, it probably wasn't the most interesting thing for them but kept their attention enough!

The tour covered a lot of places: the Cave of Zeus, a convent, and Knossos Palace. It was a fair price for the amount of ground covered. However, the tour was not what I expected in many ways. It was in English, French and German, so you have to listen to everything three times. The pre-organisation was poor and we did not learn until the day beforehand where the meeting point would be - this is not acceptable for travellers who may have to make arrangements to reach it. Also, the Cave of Zeus is not that great, and although you have lunch in Tzermiado, you don't actually get to see the village. The Lasithi Plateau is not that big - the amazing view is actually driving up into the steep mountains. The tour of Knossos hit all the main points and was quite good. The rest of the content was not fantastic, but if you want to see Lasithi Plateau without hiring a private driver, this might be the best way to do it. I also found the Viator booking platform extremely unhelpful, forcing me to use this unreliable chat instead of emailing the tour provider. Will avoid in future.

We did this visit combined with the other brilliant tour of the tour operator tour-Line Crete (Lassithi Plateau and Caves) this combo and just brilliant I happily invite you to read my first opinion on the latter. This combo or in the morning our English-French guide Kati brings us into the myths and legends as well as the history and cultures of Crêtes. With a visit to one of the oldest Orthodox monasteries on the island, then direction the cellars of Zeus, then meal in a typical Greek tavern, and after this succulent lunch we head towards Knossos to visit the cradle of the Minoan civilization one of the oldest in the world and which is the origin of the Greek civilization itself, according to legend the ruins of Knossos are the place where King Minos locked up the terrible Minotaur and where Daedalus built the famous labyrinth . Kati takes us on a tour of this incredible place full of history or legend and historical fact this mixture. A magnificent place that I advise you to see.

I think the most important isn't the weather (little rain). But to discover another culture through its history.