Cycling in Crete, Greece

Cycling in Crete, Greece: Crete has many cycling opportunities for summer and winter holidays. We can offer you various types of cycling holidays in Crete. MTB CRETE. We try to provide information on this page about the options. We offer summer and winter possibilities for accommodation and cycling in Crete, Greece. Cycling holiday in Crete (off-road) with mountain bikes. MTB tours in Crete, Greece: A cycling holiday with mountain bikes. We have several opportunities for cycling in Crete. You can make a tour of 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 days (possibly combined with accommodation). We offer bike tours that can be done individually, but we also organize group cycling tours a number of times a year. You can book cycling holidays in Crete throughout the year. If we are cycling with a group, we make tours of 40 to 60 km per day. We also have GPS routes for the interior of Crete.

organized by Ask for Travel Kokini Hani

You can cycle in several ways: Relaxed tour of around 40-60 km per day. Strong tour 80-100 km per day. Extreme tour from 100 to 120 km per day (through really heavy terrain). The relax MTB bike tour is a one day excursion.

All bike tours have up slopes and down slopes. In spring, autumn and winter, you need to consider wearing rainwear. The bike tours: Relax tour; we leave with the bikes from the accommodation, which saves a lot of traveling and time. We organize during the week a bicycle tour of 80 kilometers, then we let a bike trailer take us to Lassithi and we will cycle back to Gournes, Pediados over asphalt roads as well as off-road. Strong tour: During this tour we leave a few times with the trailer to the site, but we also depart from the accommodation. Extreme tours: these bike tours go through rugged terrain with many rocks and stones.

Crete Mountain Biking: Our trails are no official cycle routes; we have outlined the routes ourselves. You will cycle in a group with a guide. All participants will get a roadmap to take along. If you would like to go mountain biking individually in Crete, we'll give you instructions and a route map. Daily we will brief the cyclists about the routes; during breakfast we will explain what can be expected later during the day. MTB cycling around Crete.

Accommodation for cyclists in Crete We have 3 different accommodations where you can stay during your cycling vacation in Crete. You also have the option of half board. During your cycling holiday you can stay in a 1 up to 6 person apartment. These apartments are located at walking distance from Zorbas Beach.

It is important to always have with you a repair kit, rain gear and warmer clothing for in the mountains. We have our own tools, sets of tires, pumps, etc., and these are always brought along during the bike tours. Bring your own bike pedals for your bike shoes.

In addition we also offer possibilities for a combination holiday: cycling in Crete, hiking, diving, jeep safari, Crete 4x4, golfing and horseback riding. You can always email us for information about a combination holiday in Crete or an active holiday in Crete, but it is also possible to combine an active holiday with a relaxing holiday in Crete.

For whom are our tours in Crete: You can book all holidays that we offer individually, but we also offer group holidays such as team building holidays in Crete, and cycling clubs have found us already as well.

You can rent your bike through us, but you can also bring your own bicycle. We can pick up you up with your bike and your luggage from the airport of Heraklion. If during your vacation in Crete you should have special wishes for a bicycle, please let us know before you arrive here what material you require during the tours. We always make sure that when you arrive in Crete everything will be arranged.

Crete does not have official bike paths, but there are many nice tracks through the rugged landscape. During our tours you will not encounter many other cyclists; we want to remain unique with our bike tours. Every year we outline new bike routes in Crete. A successful route for us is a nice bike path where there are many things to see; an exciting bike tour, with a lot of nature and culture. We have over 10 years of summer and winter experience in Crete, Greece.

Off-road tracks in Crete (MTB): Generally you can pretty well cycle all the way through in Crete. The tracks (off-road) consist of sand, stones, gravel, (sometimes) mud, concrete up slopes and down slopes. We can cycle for hours without encountering other traffic.

We don’t give a complete description of our bike excursions on our website, because we prefer to keep these tours in Crete unique. Below we give you a description of the possibilities of our bicycle tours in Crete.

We offer you accommodation of 3, 2 & 3 days on different locations. This means: cycling on different routes from accommodation to accommodation. At each accommodation you will receive the following bicycle routes for the other days. You will stay on 3 different locations during one week. This is a beautiful cycle tour with lots of nature, culture and adventure.

Day 1: cycking on Crete, arrival at Gournes, Crete. The first day we welcome you at our accommodation and explain more details to you about your cycletour. Day 2: early breakfast and start of the first cycle tour: “the Gournes trail”, this tour is approximately 80-90 kilometers. Day 3: after your breakfast you will cycle via Lassithi to Agios Nikolaos, this cycle tour is approximately 100 – 120 kilometers. Day 4: een cycle tour in the area of Elounda, this tour is approximately 80-90 kilometers. Day 5: departure from Agios Nikoloas to Mirthos, this cycle tour is approximately 100 – 110 kilometers. Day 6: after your breakfadt you will cycle a route in the area of Myrthos of 100 kilometers. Day 7: today you will cycle back to Gournes, where you started you cycle tour, but this time through the South Coast of Crete. Day 8: we will bring you to airport of Heraklion.

This is a nice possibility to explore Crete by bicycle on a different way. You will see magnificent scenery through this tour.

MTB vacation bicycle tours in Crete, Greece: below we will describe a few routes:

Gournes active cycling (01) : Depart from your accommodation in Gournes Pediados. We will ride towards the old church on an off-road track of about 5 km. After the old church (from 1700), we head towards Galipe, between the olive trees on a sand and red earth track. After about 10 km we will stop in Galipe for coffee in the old village kafenion (Greek coffee house). After Galifa we will go on a long off-road track to Episkopi. On the way we will pass grape vines and olive trees. There is a lot to see along the way! We will pass a medieval arch bridge which cannot be found in history books. This region contains many old kalderinis; these are the old donkey paths between the Greek towns. In the old days this was the only connection between the villages in Crete. We will also pass a beautiful track along an old river. In Astraki, a beautiful village where tourists rarely or never come, we will have lunch. Now we will have driven 35 km. After lunch we will depart through the hills filled with vineyards back to Gournes. We will cycle back over the white donkey path; we have given the track this name because for many years already two white donkeys are grazing there. We will pass a special place where many turtles live. Tortoises are common in Crete. Some turtles are up to 40 cm long. Only in mid-summer these turtles are not around. This spot is practically deserted; we ourselves ended up here by chance. Via Koxari we will go to the cave of Skotino. You can see the entire inside of the cave! After visiting the cave we will cycle back to Gournes. This bike tour is 62 km long. We will cycle through mountainous - and hilly terrain with sand, gravel, stone - and clay ground. This tour is suitable for everybody who is reasonably in shape.

Potamies active cycling (02): We will start cycling from Gournes Pediados. After a bit of tarmac road we will ride off road to Kalo Chorio. We will visit the village in the old restored mill. From here you can have a beautiful view of the sea. We will drink coffee in Kalo Chorio in an ancient Greek kafenion. Kalo Chorio in Greek means "good village", we believe that it certainly is! After our coffee stop in the village, we will cycle through a bit on an asphalt road, and then we will continue cycling on unpaved roads. We will ride off-road to the village of Messa Potamies, which means "in the river".

The road to the village is via a steep path, and there are two parts where many cyclists get off their bike for a bit! We will climb a bit here in a relaxed manner. Then we cycle as during the tour "Gournes track 01" on a track along many old kalderinis. After 5 km when we have reached the top part we will have a short stop at a nice little church. Then we will cycle through forests of olive trees, bay trees, agave, etc. In this area you can see many birds of prey; sometimes they pass right in front of you on the road. On this track we will probably not encounter other traffic. Along the paths grows a lot of vasskomlio, this is a wonderful herb for making tea. Its smell is delicious. In Messa Potamies we will go for lunch; we will at a village inn. After the lunch at Messa Potamies we will go on an asphalt road for a bit to visit a small monastery, where no one lives. After the monastery we will follow a beautiful off-road track and at the end of the tour we will be in Pano Gouves. Through a surprising off-road bike track we will cycle back to Gournes Pediados. The entire tour is 58 km, with light to medium terrain. The terrain of the cycle paths is red clay, gravel, stone and concrete. We will cycle through hills surrounded by mountains.

Geraki active cycling (03): We will leave with a bike trailer to Lassithi. We will stop at Kaminaki where we will prepare our things and begin a wonderful bike tour. We will now make a long descent on a path that consists of gravel and red clay. A breathtaking descent with beautiful views! In spring there are many wild orchids growing here; by the way you can find more than 60 species of wild orchids in Crete. We will stop at a church that is built into the rocks; from here you will have a magnificent view over the mountains and valleys. In this area there are also many birds of prey. The landscape is not sheltered, so sometimes we can be bothered by the wind. When we arrive in Geraki, we will go just outside the charming village to an ancient Greek kafenion to drink coffee. We will drive on a nice asphalt road until Aski, then we will go off road to Avdou where we will enjoy our lunch. Through Avdou we go via a nice winding road to the tourist resort Piskopiano. Via a beautiful road we will go off-road to Agriana. After the Agriana village wewill go to the seaside resort of Analipsi where via a nice route we will drive back to Gournes Pediados. The last track is along the beach. The entire tour is 68 kilometers of light - to medium level terrain. You can sometimes be bothered by the wind a bit. The roads consist of red earth, asphalt, concrete and stones. We start the tour with a bike trailer, and we will begin to cycle from an altitude of 2000 meters, after which we cycle back down to sea level. This does not mean there are no up slopes in the tour.

Thrapsano active cycling (04) MTB Crete: We will depart from Gournes Pediados towards the mountains and hills of Kastelli. This track has a medium up slope. Along the way we will see a Roman bridge, at least its remains, but still visible. We will pass a lot of orange- and grapefruit trees, walnut trees, etc. In the small town of Lagos we will drink coffee in an old kafenion. Via the church of Kaleri Moni we will cycle off-road to Ano Karouziana, and then later we’ll descend off road to Kastelli. Via Kastelli we continue cycling towards Zofori. We pass a lot of farm land, with beautiful eucalyptus trees. After Zofori we will visit the pottery village of Thrapsano. We will visit the pottery farm of a Cretan school. Here many of the famous terracotta pots are baked. Just outside Thrapsano we will enjoy a lunch in an old village tavern. In the afternoon we will cycle on to Galatas, Voni, Sambas and Agia Trias. This environment is very diverse; we will be cycling through rocky landscape but also forested landscape, from a lunar-like landscape to an oasis. We will stop in the afternoon at a raki factory. Raki is the most famous drink in Crete. Via an off-road winding road we will reach Voros. Through this small village we will return to Gournes Pediados. The entire tour is 70 km. We will be climbing and descending heavily a few times up and down hills. We will cycle on tarmac roads as well as on roads with red clay, stones and gravel. This tour is medium level, but also has many descents.

Lassithi active cycling (05) MTB Crete: We will leave in the morning with the trailer and we will cycle to the mountain plateau of Lassithi. We will go to the highest mountain in the area: the Dikti Mountain. We will stop at 2147 meters altitude. From here we will cycle through Limnakaros to Lassithi. This is a difficult run, a hard road with many rocks. En route we will enjoy wild nature, beautiful carved rock formations and a lot of greenery.

At the end of the descent we will arrive at Agios Georgios. Here we will go for coffee at the oldest kafenion of the village. After the coffee break we will cycle across the plateau of Lassithi. You will see a lot of agriculture, greenery, and it's a fairly flat route. Lassithi is a mountain plateau, a landscape wedged in between the mountains. Via Kera we will leave the plateau of Lassithi. We go off-road to Gonies where we will enjoy our lunch. In the afternoon we will cycle through Krasi and Mohos back to the coast. In the afternoon we will cycle through a surprising shore back to Gournes Pediados. This time we cannot get out of seeing tourist, as we will cycle through the seaside resorts of Malia, Stalida and Hersonissos. The entire tour is 67 km. We will ride on rough terrain, but also on light terrain. The descent of Limnakaros is hard. You will need concentration for this descent. The roads we cycle on consist of sand, red clay, asphalt and concrete.

This was a brief description of 5 of our most popular tours. We have over 20 different tracks. Many of our bicycle guests in Crete choose a tour from 3 to 5 days. For a suitable tour, we prefer about 10 months per year. This means that we organize enough in July and August, but we never do a day tour in the warmest months. For more information about Mountain Biking, cycling in Crete, group holiday in Crete, individual Mountain Biking, Mountain Biking and accommodation in Crete etc. please email us at

Bike rental during your holiday in Crete Greece: We offer opportunities to rent a bicycle in Crete, both for the professional cyclist and for those who just want to ride a bike for a bit. We have our own trails on the island; our bike routes have been outlined by ourselves. We also offer opportunities for cycling in Crete, Greece in winter.

Bicycle trailer: For groups who want to go cycling in Crete: we have our own bike trailer with space for 16 bikes. We can go with rented bikes as well with your own bike to visit various locations. Minimum participation is 8 persons. We will bring you to your desired distance from the accommodation, and we will give you all the bike routes that you want.

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