PRIVATE TOUR - Winery+Olive Oil Factory-Old Traditional Villages

Can’t even explain the amazing time we had! A++++

Ed is the most fabulous tour guide you could get. He is so knowledgeable and kind! Best tour guide you can get!

Amazing day today in Heraklion Crete. Thank you so much to Explore Real Crete Tours. Our guide at Knossos Palace, Roula, was fantastic with the time and her stories of Knossos brought the place to life for us today. She was great making sure our 84 year old father had several breaks. She was also excited to meet him as he toured Knossos Palace back in 1967. Akis, our driver for the day, was also amazing. His driving was fantastic and he did such a great job sharing Crete with us. The restaurant he took us to was our favorite place to eat so far on our trip the past two weeks. The family that owns it was so welcoming and the food was incredible. This restaurant is Σκαλοπάτια” Μεζεδοπωλείο-Καφενείο — in English, roughly “Skalopatia” Meze Restaurant / Café in Katalagari, near Heraklion. Such a great day. Thank you so much for working with us to schedule your company and helping us make these wonderful memories.

We have toured Crete with Stavros from Explore Real Crete Travel Agency twice, and both times have been highlights of our travels. If you want more than the standard tourist stops, this is the tour to book. This most recent visit was in February 2026 and we traveled in a private Mercedes van that was new, spotless, and extremely comfortable. Stavros curated the day around real local experiences and genuine connection. We visited an olive factory where the owner personally welcomed us, explained the olive processing, and hosted a tasting. We stopped in an old village for coffee and ended up being welcomed into a local memorial gathering, which was deeply beautiful and moving. Stavros also made room for spontaneous moments that felt uniquely Cretan, including stopping to meet locals along the road, taking photos together, and pulling over for stunning windmills, ocean views, and scenery. Stavros is the kind of guide who elevates everything. He is warm, kind, personable, and genuinely fun to spend the day with. He is also a fantastic storyteller with real depth of knowledge about Crete’s history, culture, and daily life. He is proud of his heritage, and it shows in the way he introduces you to people and places. He even brought us into a local grocery store so we could see how people shop, and he bought us cheeses and sheep and goat milk yogurt to try. It was incredible. Lunch was at a family-owned, farm-to-table restaurant where everything was grown locally and cooked over a wood fire, with the whole family there. Ron said it may have been the best meal he has ever had. Stavros also added thoughtful touches throughout the day and made sure we felt cared for and welcomed everywhere we went. If you are deciding between tours, choose this one. Couples, friends, families, first-time visitors, or repeat visitors. Everyone will love touring with Stavros. We already cannot wait to come back with our friends and family.

I do not even know where to begin. Ed was the most enjoyable guide we ever had, and we have done a good amount. He took us off the beaten path, seen and did things we did not expect. "I got your back Ed" (LOL). Tremendously fun day. Book him, you will not regret!

This tour with Ed was fantastic! We have traveled all over the world and done dozens of private tours. This tour with Explore Real Crete was one of the best we have ever taken. Ed is delightful and took us to places we would not have seen in a traditional tour. We loved exploring a small village, visiting an olive oil factory, picking tomatoes and strawberries, and drinking wine under the trees in the farm we visited. We highly recommend this tour with Ed at Explore Real Crete.

Stavros was incredible! We didn’t know what to expect going into the tour but any expectations were surpassed! We saw a locally owned olive oil factory and tasted some of the best olive oil I’ve ever had. We got to stop in many small villages on our way up the Creteian mountains and discover the local flora and fauna. On the way down we stopped for food and a delicious meal at a family owned restaurant as well as a stop at the beach for a glass of wine. Stavros was extremely knowledgeable and guided us the entire way, while engaging us in a lively game of trivia the entire way. He was personable and honest and gave us a great first experience in Crete!

Our third tour with Ed! It was a meet up with an old friend, we drank wine and visited beautiful villages, and met his friends on their farms and sampled their fantastic produce. We had lunch in a family owned restaurant that used fresh food from their farms. A great day!

We are just back from a day long private tour with Stavros. It was absolutely brilliant!! We have 3 teenage kids, and Stavros was so good with them. He was full of information about Crete's history and mythology and kept us laughing with our crazy answers to his quiz questions! We visited the olive oil factory, a traditional village with a coffee stop and wander in the local church and village square. Then we saw the old windmills and down to a farm on the Lasithii plateau. Here we picked abs ate fresh tomatoes off the vine. At another farm picked the most delicious strawberries and drank cold Cretan white wine under the apple trees. After lunch we went to Heraklion and visited the archaeological museum and then had a bit of time wandering the tourist shops before heading home. All in all it was a fantastic trip, worth every Euro and you should book a trip!!

Stavros was a fantastic guide who we had a great time with. The trip included some great history and sightseeing places.