Start from 34 curated places around Heraklion, GR, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Peskesi
A farm-to-table restaurant in a restored mansion in the heart of Heraklion, sourcing all ingredients from their own farm in Harasso village and a network of small Cretan producers. The menu rotates with the seasons and draws on pre-industrial Cretan recipes: rare legumes, wild asparagus dishes, slow-cooked lamb with askolimbros greens, dakos in multiple forms. The interior uses old stone, wood, and terracotta in a way that feels researched rather than decorative.
Merastri
An intimate Cretan taverna in a restored neoclassical house where a wood-fired oven drives the kitchen. Signature dishes include handmade pasta baked in zucchini broth with dry anthotyro, traditionally roasted lamb, and siglina (smoked pork). Many ingredients come from their own estate. Watching the chefs work the wood fire through the kitchen window is part of the experience.
Trails & outdoors
Rouvas Gorge (Zaros)
A 10km return hike from Zaros Lake through a spectacular limestone gorge in the foothills of Psiloritis, Crete's highest mountain. The E4 long-distance trail runs through the gorge, passing the monastery of Agios Nikolaos at the entrance and ascending through dense forest of oak, pine, and cypress. Griffon vultures are regularly spotted riding thermals above the gorge walls.
Dikti Summit Trail (Psychro)
A 13km return trail from Psychro village on the Lasithi Plateau to the Dikti summit at 2,148m, the third highest peak in Crete and the mythological birthplace of Zeus. The route climbs through rugged alpine terrain with panoramic views over the Lasithi Plateau, the north coast, and on clear days to the mountains of the Peloponnese. The Diktaean Cave makes a natural combined stop at the trailhead.
Things to do
CRETAquarium (Thalassocosmos)
One of the largest and most modern aquariums in the Mediterranean, built in the former American base at Gournes, 14km east of Heraklion. The focus is exclusively on Mediterranean marine life: 2,500 animals across 250 species, from sand tiger sharks and sea turtles to seahorses and Mediterranean octopus. Run by the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, the displays double as public science education.
Lyrarakis Winery (Peza Region)
A family winery in Alagni, 20km south of Heraklion in the Peza wine region, internationally recognised for reviving nearly extinct indigenous Cretan grape varieties. Lyrarakis produces single-varietal wines from Dafni, Plyto, and Melissaki grapes not found elsewhere, alongside their Vilana white and Liatiko red. Tastings are held under a pergola overlooking the vineyards and Dikti mountain range.
Landmarks & sights
Palace of Knossos
The largest Bronze Age palace complex on Crete, the nerve centre of Minoan civilisation roughly 3,500 years ago. Sir Arthur Evans excavated and controversially restored the site in the early 1900s; the painted reconstructions let visitors picture the labyrinthine scale of the building. The archaeological landscape spreads over 20,000 square metres with the Throne Room, Grand Staircase, and storage pithoi as the standout zones.
Heraklion Archaeological Museum
One of the most significant archaeological museums in Greece, holding the world's finest collection of Minoan artefacts across two floors. The frescoes from Knossos — the bull-leaping scene, the Saffron Gatherer, the Ladies in Blue — are displayed in full alongside seal stones, Linear A tablets, and the Phaistos Disc. The museum covers five millennia of Cretan history from Neolithic to Roman.