Walking with a group
Walking with a group doesn't mean walking in a pack, with the exception
of organized bus trips to the gorge of Samaria.
In the end deciding whether you want to come to Crete and organize your own walks,
by yourself, with friends or family or if you should book a walking tour with
a specialist is entirely up to you.
Advantages of walking with an organized tour:
- The biggest advantage of booking a walking tour
with an established company is that the itinerary will have been
planned by people with good knowledge of the area and that you
will see more than you would on your own, especially if you don't
know Crete and come for the first time.
- You will have someone knowledgeable at hand to ask questions
which may not be easily answered using a guide book.
- It is safer to walk in a group with a guide should an accident
happen.
- You will not lose your way and waste time retracing your steps
or wondering if you are on the right path. The paths are not always visible and rarely signposted.
- Most of the time luggage transport will be taken care of so that
you will only have to carry a day pack.
- Transport from the airport and to the beginning of the walks
will be arranged for you. This is important in Crete because public
transport to remote places is often non-existent and using a hire
car would force you to return to your starting point
- You will not have to take care of looking for accommodation and will not need to find out where the good restaurants are. You can just relax
and leave someone else to take care of these things.
- If you want to come to Crete on your own, being with
a group will provide company, especially at meal times where sitting
alone can be a little akward and, well...lonely.
Disadvantages of organized tour:
- You will have less flexibility choosing the dates for your holiday.
- You may not always be able to walk at your own pace and stop
when you decide to stop.
- You do not know who you are going to spend your holiday with.
- Organized tours will generally work out more expensive than doing
it yourself. But beware, this is not always the case because through
their contacts with restaurants, transport companies and hotel
owners they will often be able to get lower prices than you would
get on a one-off basis.
What to watch for when choosing a company to book a tour with:
- You need to choose the group carefully to match your own interests
and level. This is not always easy to know in advance.
- Although large travel companies have started to offer their own
walks in Crete it might be preferable to look for a specialist
in activity holidays. They might be more knowledgeable when creating
their programmes.
Additionally, if you prefer not to walk in a group but want an experienced guide to take you to some really special places, you could check my private walking guide page.