Please share info for Heraklion and Katakolon

We will be visiting them during October. Please share info on DIY or paid tours with local company for Heraklion Crete, and Katakolon (for Olympia). Are they walking distance from the pier to the town, if you booked a tour with a local company, if you would tell us their name and tour price etc. Thanks in advance.

My day in Katakalon:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2075165

As for Heraklion, I've been there on a land trip, DIY with a rented car: drove to Spinalonga, very moving experience. Knososos Palace - interesting, but if you're doing Ephesus - one of them is enough.

We have done it by ship's tour, long day, too many people to hear the tour guide well. The next time we hired a private taxi for 4 of us, and though he couldn't take us inside (it must be a licensed guide inside the monuments), we had no trouble following along with another group to see the highlights. Much of it is fallen pillars, the guide you get with admission will show you to the fields and stadium, the most important part. It really is kind of amazing. What I loved about taking the private car was that afterward we were hungry and he took us to a village. I had asked about purchasing a nice religious icon, and he led us straight to a wonderful store, where I bought the most beautiful hand painted one I'd ever seen. The lunch in the tiny town was wonderful, menu translated by Andrew, our driver. Taxi Katakolon. It was a few years ago and I found them on Trip Advisor, we were happy to have paid the price for such a great day.

I would love anyone's ideas on Heraklion as well.

I did Katakolon in oktober 2011 and I was tjeking out my old links from last time and found this site:

http://www.olympia-greece.org/

Lots of information on Olympia.

Last time I went on a private tour to Olympia, but if I should do it again I would just take one of the buses from right outside the port. I notised you could just walk right up to them (it is possible to preorder as well). They cost around 10 euro, mayby 12...

The entry to the arkeological site is 6 euro and another 6 euro for the museum or 9 euro for a comboticket.

I do recomend the museum.

If you have time left when you get back to the port I would also recomend the museum of ancient tecnologi.

A smal museum with smalscale models and a lot of reading if you want to understand how it works. Some very surprising stuf in between.

A smal ticketprise mayby1-3 euro

It is in the other end of "town" from the port. On the opposit side of the road from the musik-museum (that I dont recommend, unless you are very interested in musical intruments)

We will be visiting them during October. Please share info on DIY or paid tours with local company for Heraklion Crete, and Katakolon (for Olympia). Are they walking distance from the pier to the town, if you booked a tour with a local company, if you would tell us their name and tour price etc. Thanks in advance.

We were there the beginning of September. The train from Katakolon to Olympia was running. The station is only about a 5 minute walk through town. It arrives based on the time a ship comes in. It costs about 10 euros each return. There were two trains (one left later than the other) that went straight to Olympia non stop and one train back which was fine. We would have liked more frequent service to quickly do what we want, and leave. Would have preferred to taxi with like-minded passengers, although I do recommend the train since it gives you plenty of time to see what you want and its clean. At the site in Olympia there are plenty of information boards written in English at each area, so you could manage without a guide.

We were there the beginning of September. The train from Katakolon to Olympia was running. The station is only about a 5 minute walk through town. It arrives based on the time a ship comes in. It costs about 10 euros each return. There were two trains (one left later than the other) that went straight to Olympia non stop and one train back which was fine. We would have liked more frequent service to quickly do what we want, and leave. Would have preferred to taxi with like-minded passengers, although I do recommend the train since it gives you plenty of time to see what you want and its clean. At the site in Olympia there are plenty of information boards written in English at each area, so you could manage without a guide.

Hi Cammy, do you recall the train times, particularly the return time from Olympia? Thanks, Ken

Katakolon - we go to in Oct. I reserved a car - wanted it only 1/2 day, but it is 1 price - same for full day - $50 eu. Another couple we met on CC is sharing with us - we plan on getting back to the old town for lunch and strolling. I was not aware of the train as an option - however we will be able to choose how long we stay with the car.

In Greece, you need an International Drivers License. DH picked one up at AAA office. Was very easy.

we used Katakolon taxi with George for Olimpia and surrounding areas and were very happy

sorry cant help with Heraklion

We cruised the Greek Isles this

Summer. Heraklion was one of the ports visited. It is very easy to DIY. The town provides a shuttle bus free of charge from the ship to the cruise terminal since it’s quite a distance. As soon as you exit the terminal on your left hand side you’ll see a big sign for public bus that takes you to Heraklion town. You can walk too it’s about 20 mins walk. Towards town there’s the fort where a lot of tourists go to take pictures. The town is filled with important buildings and lots of souvenir shops and museums. You can also choose to go to the Palace of Knossos. You can take a public bus to the palace too. As you exit the terminal you walk to your right for 4 minutes and can take a bus from that terminal. Crete is a very big island. Most travellers rent a scooter or a car. If you have a very long day you might want to consider going to Chania. It is a very nice port town. It takes over 2 hours by bus to Chania from Heraklion. The buses leave every hour and you can take it from the same terminal where the Knossos buses are situated. We enjoyed Chania so much. Spent 2 days there when cruise ended.

With regards to Katakolon, we’ve been there 2 years ago. We went to Olympia, took the E10 bus from the port. There’s a small beach right next to the ship if you want to consider swimming close by.

We have just got back from a Med cruise and we used Katakolon Taxies by George, it was a really good day out. He took us to Olympia and gave us enough info to go without a guide, followed by a trip to a local winery, lunch in a local restaurant and coffee at the beach. We had a fantastic day and George was great highly recommend using him.

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We reserved a car for this port but due to weather conditions arrived late. We stayed in port and enjoyed the town and lunch along with free wifi.

You can see my trip report at

http://winenchocolate.com/katakolon-greece/

We have just got back from a Med cruise and we used Katakolon Taxies by George, it was a really good day out. He took us to Olympia and gave us enough info to go without a guide, followed by a trip to a local winery, lunch in a local restaurant and coffee at the beach. We had a fantastic day and George was great highly recommend using him.

 

 

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Do you mind sharing how much your outing with Katakolon Taxis was? There are only two of us traveling.

We used this taxi service called Katakolon- express and it cost us $80 US for the half day (until 2pm actually, we were supposed to get back at 12) there were four of us but it was the same price 1 - 4 persons.

We expected a small coach but actually got a private taxi.

We booked online before we left and the service was reliable.