#1_Crete - Greece
378,56£ pp - 8 days
Flights: 103.36£ pp
London LGW 20:50 to Heraklion HER 02:50
Heraklion HER 18:00 to London LGW 20:30
Accommodation: 275.20£ pp
Flights: 103.36£ pp
London LGW 20:50 to Heraklion HER 02:50
Heraklion HER 18:00 to London LGW 20:30
Accommodation: 275.20£ pp
Holiday Period: from 23/09/2015 to 01/10/2015
How we book it
For me and Chiara this was our first real holiday together. Until April we didn’t
have a budget for holidays since we just moved together and Chiara just started
a new job. However, we really didn't want to skip our summer/beach holiday and therefore, in order to save some money in the meanwhile, we decided to push it to the end of September.
We thought that to get some warm and nice weather we should have
gone as south as possible in Europe. Looking on the map the choices were two: Canary
Islands or Crete.
In the middle of August we started to have a look on the internet if there were
some good deals for our holiday for the end of September. Seeking for the right
deal we noticed than Canary Islands were generally more expensive than Crete. Probably it’s because the Canary Islands are
an all year-round destination while for Crete end of September was the very end
of the summer season.
We therefore concentrated our researches on Crete being also attracted
by its cultural side.
After some researches, we found a very good flight + hotel deal through Expedia.
The hotel was a beautiful 5* hotel walking distance from Heraklion centre. The
deal looked perfect but…there was a downside. The departure from London
was in the evening, meaning that we would have arrived at Heraklion early in the morning of the day after with the hotel reserved from the day before.
Basically, we would have paid the hotel for a night without being there. Through the website, it was possible to select an earlier flight within the same holiday package but the price
would have consistently increased... so not a good deal anymore.
Still using Expedia, we tried to separate the researches of the flight and hotel. The result was
that selecting the same flight and hotel of the deal the price was the same and
actually only the hotel was discounted.
This gave us then flexibility in selecting the flight.
What we liked
We absolutely loved Crete all together!
The weather: even if it was the last week of September it was sunny all the time and the temperatures were more than 30 C during the day giving us the proper feeling of a summer holiday.
The beaches: some of them were absolutely stunning...nothing to envy to more exotic destinations. Here is the top 3 list of our favorite beaches:
- Balos
- Elafonissi
- Agia Pelagia
Cities and sightseeing:
- We were based in Heraklion, the main city of the island with a very nice city centre with historical buildings and a good night life
- Chania is the most tourist city of the island. All the area near the port is very nice and characteristic.
- Rethimno is the pretties and the most characteristic of the cities we visited in Crete. Absolutely not to miss it!
- Knossos Palace is few minutes away driving from Heraklion. If you love a bit of culture during your holiday then half day hanging around in the palace ruins is absolutely worth it.
Where to eat
We usually spent around 15€ in two for a lunch on the beach at the beach kiosks and around 30€ for two for a fish dinner including drinks. In the restaurants we never had to ordered a starter or a dessert because they were always offered by the restaurants with also a bottle of raki or a glass of ouzo.
We loved their hospitality!
Here there are our favorite places to eat, really good money for value!
- Ippokampos (Heraklion) Fish restaurant with sea view. The fish is fresh and everything we tried was amazing! We had dinner twice there because it was so good.
- Portes (Chania)
- Ahvoida (Heraklion) the best Gyros in town for 3.50 € each with a beer.
Our tips
- If you find a good whole package deal on the internet that has some downsides try to separate the researches for the flight and the hotel and see if the discount is applied only on one of the two so you can have more flexibility in planning your holiday.
- If you have one, book your trip with an American Express card since it has a complementary travel inconvenience insurance when you purchase a trip with it.
- Some places like Crete have a long summer season that last until late in September. The prices are lower in that period and also cities and beaches are less crowded of tourists
- Did you know that it’s cheaper to get to Gatwick airport from St.Pancras station with a Thameslink train rather than from London Victoria? Tickets are from £5.75 and trains run also during the night
- Avoid the tourist restaurants. The food is not good and the prices are higher. Personally we trusted the Lonely Planet advices on where to eat and we were really happy with them.
Lesson learnt
We really liked our hotel. It was very cosy with a nice swimming pool, gym a nice bar area but...we never used all these features.
Every day we left early in the morning to explore the island and we were coming back late in evening to have a shower and then going out again to stroll in the Heraklion city center.
Probably we could save even a bit more going in a hotel equally nice but with less features.
So our advice on this case is select a hotel that will fit your holiday otherwise you will end up paying for features that you will never use.
Additional costs
We hope that some of our experiences can be useful to someone and if you have other tips that you’d like to share please let us know leaving a comment!
Coming next: #2_Warsaw
Ciao!
Chiara & Piero
How we book it
Crete...what a wonderful island! Beautiful beaches, culture and lovely
food! What else can you ask for your holiday?!
For me and Chiara this was our first real holiday together. Until April we didn’t have a budget for holidays since we just moved together and Chiara just started a new job. However, we really didn't want to skip our summer/beach holiday and therefore, in order to save some money in the meanwhile, we decided to push it to the end of September.
We thought that to get some warm and nice weather we should have
gone as south as possible in Europe. Looking on the map the choices were two: Canary
Islands or Crete.
In the middle of August we started to have a look on the internet if there were some good deals for our holiday for the end of September. Seeking for the right deal we noticed than Canary Islands were generally more expensive than Crete. Probably it’s because the Canary Islands are an all year-round destination while for Crete end of September was the very end of the summer season.
We therefore concentrated our researches on Crete being also attracted
by its cultural side.
After some researches, we found a very good flight + hotel deal through Expedia. The hotel was a beautiful 5* hotel walking distance from Heraklion centre. The deal looked perfect but…there was a downside. The departure from London was in the evening, meaning that we would have arrived at Heraklion early in the morning of the day after with the hotel reserved from the day before. Basically, we would have paid the hotel for a night without being there. Through the website, it was possible to select an earlier flight within the same holiday package but the price would have consistently increased... so not a good deal anymore.
Still using Expedia, we tried to separate the researches of the flight and hotel. The result was that selecting the same flight and hotel of the deal the price was the same and actually only the hotel was discounted.
This gave us then flexibility in selecting the flight.
However any flights earlier than that one from the deal was still really
expensive…but then, we had the idea!
Since the last flight from London was scheduled in the evening
arriving in Heraklion early in the morning of the day after, we decided depart the day before of our hotel reservation. Arriving in Heraklion at 3am, the only thing we had to do was to sleep few hours in the Heraklion airport and
then, as soon the car renting office was open, get the car and go to the beach…and
so we did!
What we liked
We absolutely loved Crete all together!
The weather: even if it was the last week of September it was sunny all the time and the temperatures were more than 30 C during the day giving us the proper feeling of a summer holiday.
The beaches: some of them were absolutely stunning...nothing to envy to more exotic destinations. Here is the top 3 list of our favorite beaches:
- Balos
- Elafonissi
- Agia Pelagia
Cities and sightseeing:
- We were based in Heraklion, the main city of the island with a very nice city centre with historical buildings and a good night life
- Chania is the most tourist city of the island. All the area near the port is very nice and characteristic.
- Rethimno is the pretties and the most characteristic of the cities we visited in Crete. Absolutely not to miss it!
- Knossos Palace is few minutes away driving from Heraklion. If you love a bit of culture during your holiday then half day hanging around in the palace ruins is absolutely worth it.
Where to eat
The food in Crete is absolutely beautiful and if you avoid the tourist restaurants the prices are also low.
We usually spent around 15€ in two for a lunch on the beach at the beach kiosks and around 30€ for two for a fish dinner including drinks. In the restaurants we never had to ordered a starter or a dessert because they were always offered by the restaurants with also a bottle of raki or a glass of ouzo.
We loved their hospitality!
Here there are our favorite places to eat, really good money for value!
- Ippokampos (Heraklion) Fish restaurant with sea view. The fish is fresh and everything we tried was amazing! We had dinner twice there because it was so good.
- Portes (Chania)
- Ahvoida (Heraklion) the best Gyros in town for 3.50 € each with a beer.
- If you find a good whole package deal on the internet that has some downsides try to separate the researches for the flight and the hotel and see if the discount is applied only on one of the two so you can have more flexibility in planning your holiday.
- If you have one, book your trip with an American Express card since it has a complementary travel inconvenience insurance when you purchase a trip with it.
- Some places like Crete have a long summer season that last until late in September. The prices are lower in that period and also cities and beaches are less crowded of tourists
- Did you know that it’s cheaper to get to Gatwick airport from St.Pancras station with a Thameslink train rather than from London Victoria? Tickets are from £5.75 and trains run also during the night
- Avoid the tourist restaurants. The food is not good and the prices are higher. Personally we trusted the Lonely Planet advices on where to eat and we were really happy with them.
Lesson learnt
We really liked our hotel. It was very cosy with a nice swimming pool, gym a nice bar area but...we never used all these features.
Every day we left early in the morning to explore the island and we were coming back late in evening to have a shower and then going out again to stroll in the Heraklion city center.
Probably we could save even a bit more going in a hotel equally nice but with less features.
So our advice on this case is select a hotel that will fit your holiday otherwise you will end up paying for features that you will never use.
Lesson learnt
We really liked our hotel. It was very cosy with a nice swimming pool, gym a nice bar area but...we never used all these features.
Every day we left early in the morning to explore the island and we were coming back late in evening to have a shower and then going out again to stroll in the Heraklion city center.
Probably we could save even a bit more going in a hotel equally nice but with less features.
So our advice on this case is select a hotel that will fit your holiday otherwise you will end up paying for features that you will never use.
Additional costs
Car Hire: 123.78£ pp
8 days from Hertz - Pick up and drop off at airport
We hope that some of our experiences can be useful to someone and if you have other tips that you’d like to share please let us know leaving a comment!
Coming next: #2_Warsaw
Ciao!
Chiara & Piero
Very good Piero & Chiara !
RispondiEliminaThank you for sharing your experience ; it will be useful to plan an exciting journey.
Just two questions :
- for car renting, did you use an internet provider or did you seek a rent-a-car company on-site ?
- for visiting monuments and historical sites, do you suggest to book the tickets in advance ?
Waiting for reading about your next coming, let's me send you a warm "good day"
Hi,
EliminaThank you to have a look on our blog and for your queries!
- yes we booked it in advance through Expedia as well. Actually since we booked both the flight and the hotel through it we received a discount on the car renting.
If I can give you a further advice, generally when you book the car through one of these internet providers you have the free cancellation policy included. It is worth to check before your trip if the price of the car renting is decreased or there are other providers with better deals. If then you find a better deal, just cancel your booking and re-book it at the new price. We did this trick few times saving up to 30% of the original price!
- Because it was late September and the island wasn't that crowed of tourists we could be quite flexible and decide on the day whether going or not to the historical sites. When we went to the Knossos Palace we didn't have to book it in advance and we didn't find any queue at the ticket office. That was another good thing of going at the end of September!
Hope that these are of help for you in planning your next trip.
Follow us also on Instagram and watch this space for further reviews and tips on how to travel on a budget!
Piero