Heraklion Food Stories Walking Tour with 8 local-favorite stops
Description
Walk with us to experience Heraklion like a local and explore the best the city has to offer. Learn about the culinary culture and wander in local neighborhoods as you eat and sip your way through authentic Heraklion. Highlights: • Experience real Cretan food at 8 local-favourite stops away from the tourist crowds. • Sample unique Cretan cheeses and learn how to become an authentic Cretan cheese-expert by selecting the best ones. • Sample Heraklion’s bougatsa in a family-owned business that has been running since since 1920s. • Taste the world famous Cretan olive oil and find out why it is considered one of the best in the world. • Enjoy a glass of local wine and learn about the local wine making process that dates back to the Bronze Age. • Sip a a freshly brewed traditional Greek coffee in a local kafeneion.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Follow this four-hour Heraklion food and wine walking tour that will introduce you to the best food that Heraklion has to offer by treating your palate to traditional Cretan dishes and exceptional local wines! Being one of the healthiest and tastiest diets in the world and the base of the Mediterranean diet, the Cretan cuisine is so unique due to its strong tie with local culture, history and geography of the region. The best way to get to know a place is through its food and we will take you on an unforgettable tasty journey through Heraklion’s local neighbourhoods. After meeting your local guide, you’ll start off with a traditional Greek coffee also known as ellinikós kafés. Learn why Greeks love so much coffee and see it brewed the traditional way in sand and yes, we will teach you “cup reading”, a centuries-old tradition that reads your future!
Next, you’ll enjoy Heraklion’s well known bougatsa in a family-owned business that has mastered their bougatsa technique since 1922! Consisting of semolina custard, cheese, or minced meat filling between layers of phyllo, bougatsa is a must-taste pastry that you shouldn’t miss while being in the city.
Passing through the historical center of Heraklion, you’ll continue the exploration to a local market where you’ll meet the local vendors and learn about their products. Here, you’ll have the opportunity to sample some of the basic elements of Cretan cuisine such as olives, rusks, and cheese – and yes, we’ll teach you how to become a cheese–tasting expert by giving some local hints and learning how to spot the best local cheeses! And of course, taste the island’s famous olive oil and find out why organic Cretan olive oil is one of the best oils in the world.
At our next stop, you’ll sit down for a local organic meat dish or if you want to show yourself how brave you are, you can sample a dish that is loved by most Cretans and it is …fried snails! Moving on to our last stop, your Heraklion food tour couldn’t end without tasting some local Cretan wines in a family-run shop. Keep in mind that winemaking in Crete has a long history that dates back to the Bronze Age! Before you go, don’t forget to ask your local guide for more tips on what else to see, do and eat during your stay.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
Guests’ pickup is offered for the private group option. We will meet you at your hotel lobby or the cruise port. Our guide will be holding a sign with your name.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
- All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible
- Not recommended for travelers with poor cardiovascular health
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- How you help the local community by joining this tour: - During this tour, you sample locally-sourced food from Crete’s villages, farmers, and stock-breeders. - On this tour, you meet a local greengrocer, cheesemonger, butcher, and fishmonger, and other family-owned businesses that sell their own Cretan-only products. - By joining this tour, you are supporting a 100-year-old local bakery so it can keep flourishing and serving authentic local delicacies.
- Food Allergies: Unless you suffer from multiple, combined food allergies, or unless you are a vegan, we will figure it out. Vegetarians are welcome on all tours. Please wear comfortable shoes for walking.
- In general, there are few dress restrictions in Europe and dress codes are similar to those you are used to at home. Please note though that in many churches modest dress is required; no shorts or skimpy tops are permitted.
- If you are happy with the services provided by your local guides a tip – though not compulsory – is appropriate. While it may not be customary to you, it is of great significance to the people who will take care of you during your travels, inspires excellent service, and is an entrenched feature of the tourism industry. Please consider this when budgeting for your extra expenses on this tour.
Reviews(36)
Eva was amazing!!!!! I was unsure about doing a food tour but it was soooo much more than just that! Eva gave great history of the places we visited and was so positive and friendly, she made the experience 10x better! We left with authentic olive oil, honey, and memories with a great tour guide and friend. 10/10 recommend!
We did the Heraklion Food Stories Walking Tour last Friday and had a brilliant time. The food was excellent throughout, with plenty of different local dishes and drinks to try. Come hungry, because there is a lot of food included – far more than we expected, and great value for money. A special mention to our tour guide, who was fantastic. She was knowledgeable, engaging and had a great sense of humour, which made the whole experience even more enjoyable. We learned a lot about Cretan food, culture and local history while having a good laugh along the way. If you’re visiting Heraklion and want to experience authentic local food away from the usual tourist spots, I would highly recommend this tour. One of the highlights of our trip to Crete. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This food tour was excellent in and of itself but our guide, Eva, made it even more exceptional!!! While we visited several food and drink places we also toured some of the cultural and historical places as well. All throughout Eva was highly knowledgeable and informative. The pace was perfect, the food & drinks were awesome, and we thoroughly enjoyed Eva's company. If I could rate the tour higher, I would!!
We really enjoyed our food tour. Our guide Maya took us to a number of great places to eat & drink, some you would never find. Great food & drink, so much food that we couldn’t eat it all & some to food home with them. Another great point is where restaurants that looked fully packed magically produced tables & chairs for us.
This tour was exactly what we were hoping for. We wanted a little food, a little history, some interesting stories, all from an exceptional tour guide…and we got it! Highly recommend that you take advantage of this tour to experience Heraklion.
Ioannis is an amazing guide! We had a splendid time on our food tour with him! The food was delicious and our guide was funny and very knowledgeable about everything, we asked various questions and we got many interesting information. I can really recommend this activity!
This tour takes you to some unique local places and focuses mainly on the food and drink with some historical knowledge added in. It was a lovely afternoon spent enjoying really good food and company. A highlight for me was enjoying a cup of Greek coffee at a cafe that used to be a Turkish fountain (probably one of the most unique cafes I have been to) and the visit to a local herbal shop.
Guide Maya was sweet. We went to 4 food/drink places and an herbalist shop. No wine shop stop which I had hoped to go to. The food was abundant and delicious. A fun way to experience the Cretan foods.
A really great food tour thanks to our guide, Eva. She was able to strike the perfect balance between the history of Heraklion and their foods. We got to see parts of the city that we would have not found on our own and gain an understanding of how the various areas in the city evolved. Each of the stops provided us with tastes of Heraklion and we did not leave hungry. We really appreciated the education we received on judging the quality of olive oil that we will use going forward.
Our guide, Eva, was so kind and knowledgable about the Greek cuisine, sites, and history. Every restaurant and shop had the kindest people and the best food. The tour was fun and relaxing! Highly recommend!
