Easy-to-moderate walking with some ascents / descents, and occasional longer days.
The season for this holiday is:
24 April 2021 - 30 June 2021
29 August 2021 - 31 October 2021
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
°C | 14 | 14 | 16 | 19 | 23 | 27 | 29 | 29 | 27 | 22 | 19 | 16 |
mm | 137 | 104 | 78 | 32 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 17 | 77 | 77 | 104 |
We can only accept payment in GBP, but you can use this converter to find out how much the holiday equates to in your own currency.
7 nights: 24 April 2021 - 30 June 2021 & 29 August 2021 - 31 October 2021
Start any day | End by latest date(s) shown above
Starting | Price | Single room |
---|---|---|
24 - 24 Apr 2021 | £690 | £335 |
25 - 30 Apr 2021 | £725 | £340 |
1 May - 23 Jun 2021 | £760 | £345 |
29 Aug - 15 Sep 2021 | £795 | £345 |
16 - 30 Sep 2021 | £760 | £345 |
1 - 24 Oct 2021 | £690 | £335 |
3rd & 4th person discount | -£90 | |
Single traveller supplement | £90 |
Includes accommodation, meals and services integral to the holiday as described, plus walking notes and maps, but no travel from the UK, nor any connecting travel from the airport unless stated below.
Price includes: 7 days' category C car hire (eg Hyundai I 20/Hyundai Accent 1.3 or similar with air conditioning and manual transmission)
Drive time between the airport and the hotel: Chania 0h45, Heraklion 2h15
Book your flights through us and we'll find the best route and times to suit you. Please contact us to find out more about our flight booking service. We can also book connecting travel - see below.
Room upgrades (£ per person per night)
Elia Traditional Hotel, Ano Vouves | ||
---|---|---|
Deluxe: 24 Apr - 30 Jun 2021 | £12 | |
Deluxe: 29 Aug - 31 Oct 2021 | £12 |
Extra nights (£ per person per night) in a double or single room
Elia Traditional Hotel, Ano Vouves (B&B) | Double room | Single room |
---|---|---|
24 Apr - 30 Apr 2021 | £75 | £120 |
01 May - 30 Jun 2021 | £80 | £125 |
29 Aug - 15 Sep 2021 | £85 | £130 |
16 Sep - 30 Sep 2021 | £80 | £125 |
01 Oct - 31 Oct 2021 | £75 | £120 |
Travelling from the UK
Outward route | Airline |
---|---|
Belfast Intl. - Heraklion | jet2 |
Outward route | Airline |
---|---|
Bournemouth - Heraklion | TUI |
Outward route | Airline |
---|---|
Cardiff - Heraklion | TUI |
Outward route | Airline |
---|---|
Doncaster Sheffield - Heraklion | TUI |
Outward route | Airline |
---|---|
Nottingham East Midlands - Chania | Ryanair |
Nottingham East Midlands - Heraklion | jet2, TUI |
Outward route | Airline |
---|---|
Exeter - Heraklion | TUI |
Outward route | Airline |
---|---|
Gatwick - Chania | easyJet, TUI |
Gatwick - Heraklion | British Airways, easyJet, TUI |
Outward route | Airline |
---|---|
Heathrow - Chania | British Airways |
Heathrow - Chania (via Athens) | Aegean Airlines |
Heathrow - Heraklion (via Athens) | Aegean Airlines |
Outward route | Airline |
---|---|
Manchester - Chania | jet2, Ryanair, TUI |
Manchester - Heraklion | easyJet, jet2, TUI |
Outward route | Airline |
---|---|
Norwich - Heraklion | TUI |
This list of flight options should be used as a guide only, and you should check each airline’s website for current routes, frequency and schedules. Not all flights operate daily, and may not run for the entire season. You should also heed the latest flight arrival time and earliest flight departure time stated in the connecting travel section, as it may not be possible to arrange connecting travel outside these times. Please do not book your flights until we have confirmed your accommodation to you. Alternatively, our expert reservations team will be happy to offer advice and to make flight bookings for you. We charge £35 per person for our flight booking service (£60 for India and Nepal). Your flights are then covered by our package-booking conditions, which give you greater protection in the event of delay or cancellation, as well as providing ATOL cover.
If you've experienced this holiday first hand, why not write a review?
We are keen for as many customers as possible to review their holiday. To make it easier to do so, we include a specific review section on our post-holiday questionnaire, and this is what we publish here, unedited. Read our full review policy >
Highlight was the Hotel Elia and it’s lovely staff and location. We would certainly return. The walks were very suitable for us and the views superb. We were blessed with perfect walking weather. We enjoyed 4 superb lunches at excellent seaside fish restaurants - 2 at Nopigio and 2 at Kolimbari. A very welcome pleasure was plentiful supply of hot water in the Hotel and a superb terrace where we could watch the setting sun. The holiday is highly recommended.
Super accommodation at the Elia Hotel, however check out the accuracy of the walking routes.
Crete is a wonderful Country with very friendly people and great food and drink. The Elia Traditional Hotel is in a beautiful and private location, but it is worth taking the upgrade to ensure you get a good view from your room. I would suggest you take a car Sat Nav as some of the routes are quite tricky especially if any of the routes are blocked which is not uncommon. The Hotel location gives you easy access to Kissamos, Chania and all of the North West and some of the amazing gorges in the South West. 9 days was just not enough!
Highlight was the Hotel Elia and it’s lovely staff and location. We would certainly return. The walks were very suitable for us and the views superb. We were blessed with perfect walking weather. We enjoyed 4 superb lunches at excellent seaside fish restaurants - 2 at Nopigio and 2 at Kolimbari. A very welcome pleasure was plentiful supply of hot water in the Hotel and a superb terrace where we could watch the setting sun. The holiday is highly recommended.
Super accommodation at the Elia Hotel, however check out the accuracy of the walking routes.
Crete is a wonderful Country with very friendly people and great food and drink. The Elia Traditional Hotel is in a beautiful and private location, but it is worth taking the upgrade to ensure you get a good view from your room. I would suggest you take a car Sat Nav as some of the routes are quite tricky especially if any of the routes are blocked which is not uncommon. The Hotel location gives you easy access to Kissamos, Chania and all of the North West and some of the amazing gorges in the South West. 9 days was just not enough!
Elia is a beautiful relaxed family-run hotel set in peaceful olive groves. Very comfortable room, attentive service and excellent home cooking all made for a very happy week. The walking and driving routes were well chosen to give a comprehensive overview of western Crete.
A wonderful hotel and stimulating walking. But beware gorge walking is much more demanding than you would expect for the distance and elevations.
INNTRAVEL NOTE: Damage from spring storms this year appears to have made the gorge walks more demanding than in previous years, and we'll be reviewing our notes accordingly
The Elia Hotel is a gem. Totally unique, in our experience.
The hotel was delightful, both in terms of its position, facilities, staff and meals. There was so much to experience we now know that a week was insufficient and we will have to return to Crete in future.
Elia traditional hotel is a delightful and very peaceful place to stay with good views, accommodation, food and facilities and very friendly, helpful staff. It is however in the countryside about 20 minutes from the nearest town and beaches and a car is essential.
Great location and lovely hotel for a relaxing holiday and varied walks. Great way to see Crete off the beaten track.
We fell in love with Crete and its friendly and welcoming people, any taverna off the beaten track is just great.The Elia hotel is an oasis of peace and tranquility
This was our second visit to Elia with InnTravel and we could not have asked for a better holiday. The hotel makes this trip what it is, the staff are so kind and welcoming and cannot do enough to help you. The food at the hotel is delicious and meals over and above the package are outstanding value. Stakis is a great chef And if you do have any dietary requirements fear not they will be easily catered for!
On two mornings we chose to beat the heat by starting out early to complete the Irini Gorge and the Falassarna coastal walk (both of which are beautiful walks) and Stakis made up a breakfast tray for us with our picnics so that we didn’t miss out - a very kind thought!
Outside the walking, which is varied and beautiful, we particularly enjoyed our visit to The Botanical Gardens which have been very cleverly designed and the Taverna makes excellent use of the produce grown in the gardens.
Thank you InnTravel and all the staff at Elia
The Elia Hotel is excellent and all of the Staff were great, having the Spa was a lovely extra which we used. The locals walks were good for orientating ourselves and the Irini Gorge walk was excellent given that the temperatures were so high
Very friendly, very Greek, very lovely. Beautiful part of the world, although needs a bit of effort to find it.
We thoroughly enjoyed our holiday, hotel Elia is perfect.
We really enjoyed the walk in Sirikari Gorge and the very generous packed lunch from the hotel! We also enjoyed our massages with Aida and she made some great recommendations of places to go. A lovely drive to Paleochora and a walk around the ancient village of Rokku. Also recommend a meal at the Eleas restaurant on their terrace and the Frosinis Garden where we ended up on Monday night after discoering the Eleas doesn't open on Mondays. Do ask at the hotel for reccommendations - they are happy to give them and very knowledgable about the area. And the picnic lunch is huge!
The whole holiday was fantastic. The Elia is in beautiful surroundings - very peaceful and relaxing. The staff there are all very friendly; Effie is incredibly helpful, she advised us to go to the Samaria Gorge a little later to avoid all the crowds which we did and we were very fortunate to have it all to ourselves for a good part of the way - the highlight of the holiday. All the walks were great - the scenery and wildflowers spectacular. The winter storms have left many of the roads in bad conditions so care needs to be taken when driving.
The Samaria Gorge is spectacular and very beautiful. It is tiring but you have all day and, for us, it was the highlight. The beach at Elafonissi is lovely and scenic although the drive is fairly long and tortuous. If you can do without a bed and an umbrella, walk out onto the 'island' where there are a series of sandy inlets with lovely clear water where it is possible to find a quiet spot away from the crowds on the main beach. Visitors to Crete should be aware that the island was affected by serious storms and flooding earlier in the year which has caused extensive damage to roads (there are numerous land slides reducing road width and resurfacing work going on). It will take a long time for them to recover and care should be taken when you are off the main road.
The monastery at Kolymvari was an unexpected treasure. The walk up from Kolymvari to Afrata tough but outstanding views and lovely taverna at the top
The hotel made the holiday for us. The circular walks suited us as we are not inveterate hikers, only ramblers. The fact that some gorges were closed was not a major problem. We enjoyed the Sirikari gorge (although went temporarily awry again due to our misinterpretation!). The botanical garden and its restaurant was another pleasure, although early in the season some plants were not at their loveliest, but in compensation the all pervading perfume of the orange and jasmine was memorable.
Irini Gorge was our spectacular favourite - though difficult to chose just one highlight. The walk from the Monastery up over the peninsular villages, all done against the backdrop of snow covered mountains, was also memorable. (Think this was one of the alternatives offered due to closures elsewhere.) The sun shone, the flowers were glorious and everywhere looked lovely. Saddened to see the damage done by the bad winter rains. But Inntravel stepped up and presented us with extra interesting walking options - and plenty of extra exercise.
The hotel was spot on. We were there for the Greek Orthodox Easter (a week after ours) and enjoyed a terrific Easter Sunday lunch with the staff and family, culminating in the traditional distribution of hard boiled eggs dyed red which we smashed against each other's, the least damaged being the victor. Good food, very hospitable hosts and good company, wonderful.
We were very impressed by the enthusiasm of Effie and all her staff and the situation of the hotel amongst the olive trees was lovely. Takis' cooking was very good and dinner at the hotel was great fun.
Highlights were the Sirikari Gorge, the Polirinia walk (stunning wildflowers), and the Kolymbari [Gonia] Monastery. Also, chef Takis's meals at Elia were hearty and delicious and a much better option than driving elsewhere.
We really enjoyed the welcome from the staff, the setting and the food at the Elia Traditional Hotel. In terms of Western Crete, the botanical gardens and seeing a kingfisher up close at the Agia Lake were also a real highlight. We really enjoyed the dramatic Sirikari gorge walk with the griffon vultures circulating high above us. The Monastery at Kolymbari is well worth a visit for a history of its role in Cretan resistance and the seafood platter at the Argentina restaurant in Kolymbari was to die for.
We did all the drives (unfit pensioners in our mid-late 60s). Can recommend them all.
Tour 1: You cannot walk round the lake unless you divert onto roads for a much longer walk. Work finished and no link between the W & E sides. For the longest lakeside walk, turn right at the back of the Lakeside Cafe. Botanical Gardens a must, a highlight of the hoilday for us plant lovers. Spectacular but challenging driving thereafter, luckily very few other vehicles met in late September.
Tour 2: We recommend the monastery and the cadet memorial, great views and moving. Afrata Beach our favourite and the road to it is fine (repaired since "badly eroded" advice?). We went there twice, enjoying a lovely last morning there. About 20 Beach Umbrellas with pairs of loungers - free. Never more than about 30 people there. We had a super Sunday lunch at the beachside restaurant in Ravdoucha (the one on the left, by the rockpools). Deliana Gorge was just our level - easy! Only 2 people & 5 goats there.
Tour 3: Ancient Falarsana interesting (drive right to the site, don't park at the 1st car park 1km away). Super seafood beach lunch at Sfinara. Arrived at Elafonisi beach 1530 on a weekday afternoon in late September to find about 5000 others there! Beach Umbrella & 2 loungers for 9 Euros. Would only recommend it for families with young children (v safe, shallow, warm swimming).
We loved our holiday - our first time on Crete, the walks provided us with a wonderful introduction, the gorge walks especially spectacular. Elia Hotel and Spa was just perfect - a great country house feel, we met some lovely people, and the team just surpassed expectations. We thought this was a great value hotel and we would totally recommend it. A very relaxed and laid back feel - if this is what you're after, the Elia is perfect!!
The hotel is an absolute delight, with lovely authentic Greek meals, giving us a real taste for local food at an exceptionally good price. All the staff were so willing to help and advise on places to visit. We combined the Falassama beach - excellent for swimming with the quiet, attractive beach further down the coast at Sfinari. A really attractive coastal drive and the peaceful beach has two welcoming tavernas, both providing free loungers under shady canopies on the beach. We commend the Thalami tavern especially. The Botanical Garden is certainly very well worth the visit, especially having read the history of its creation. The drive through the little villages, each with their own taverna, perched up in the hills was also well worthwhile, ending with a lovely drive through the dramatic Theriso gorge.
The holiday exceeded our expectations. The Elia hotel was a haven of friendliness and peace, and we really enjoyed the food at the Rebetiko restaurent.
The Cretan people were lovely and very welcoming, the Elia hotel is superb.
An exceptional holiday in a special hotel In a beautiful setting. Very friendly and personal service from staff. Meals were great. Information folder gave very clear instructions for travelling and walking routes.
We loved the hotel. It is peaceful, relaxing & very friendly. The service is friendly & caring. Jo is always happy to offer help & advice. The food was tasty & plentiful & although dinner was a set menu, there was always the option of having just the starter, the main or a salad (a good idea if you want to have a nice lunch out - just let them know what you would like).
There is a lot to do nearby, some wonderful beaches (ask Jo for the best), fabulous walks & lots of history. The Botanical Gardens are amazing & also have a fabulous resturant.
We had a fabulous holiday & would highly recommend the hotel.
Beautiful accommodation in a quiet location, but not far from a good national road.
We enjoyed it and are considering going again next spring.
Do not expect to lose weight on this holiday, the Cretans don't understand small helpings.