We went on this trip from Rethymnon beach to Knossos palace and then on to Heraklion city. The tour operator was super organised, we had our exact pickup time confirmed the morning before we went (8.30am) and the tour guides were lovely and very well educated on the history of Crete and Greece. It was around a 1.5hr from pickup to get to the first stop, and then 15mins onto the city and around 2hrs back when we were leaving at 5pm. Knossos palace itself was quite crowded with lots of guided tour groups which made it quite slow and difficult to move around. It was a nice historical spot to see but you don’t really need a lot of time here (one hour is plenty). This particular trip also gave you the chance to have a group guided tour if you’d prefer that but we made our own way around. Heraklion was much more city vibes. We didn’t actually go to the archeological museum and chose instead to go to the fortress on the Marina which was 10€, small again but some really interesting history around the fall of Crete under the Venetians to the Ottoman Empire. Do take plenty of water as it gets quite hot walking around the dusty archeological sites and city!

Our tour guide was wonderful and picked us up on time with great communication before hand and provided interesting information along the way. Unfortunately we only had 1 1/2 hours at Knossos instead of the planned 2, which made it very rushed and needed to skip things since we did not have enough time. If we were short on time I would have preferred less time in the city. Also, you are on your own to get tickets for the archaeological museum. We needed to wait in line for 30 minutes, which if I knew in advance I would have order in advance.

It was just a great experience. Could have read more before the visit. Remember water because it's hot. The Cicaks were loud.

Anastasia was a amazing guide very helpful it was nice to go at your own pace around Heraklion 4 hours seems plenty of time to get food chill go to the museum and some shops didn’t need to rush The tour offers pick up and drop of but because the steeets can be tight in areas and one way systems we had to walk 5 minutes to a restaurant to be picked up witch was totally fine we had a phone call and a email to clarify pick up point (very reassuring) which was nice Knossos palace is amazing kept us intregued the whole time. remember to bring cash I recommend 70 if your doing the museum too Totally worth it