Athens 3 days

Description

When travelers fantasize about Greece they usually conjure up stark whitewashed island villages surrounded by a blinding blue sea. That’s the Cyclades. Blue and White, just like the Greek flag. Our bike tour uses ferries to hop from island to island. Read a day by day account of the Cycle Cyclades tour in Odyssey magazine at this PDF link.The 4 night Santorini hiking add-on offers Cyclades in all its glory. You climb to the highest point on the island and witness the sea 360 degress. Sail into the caldera and hike a volcanic peak. Visit undiscovered Thirasia island.

The Logistics in Planning a bike tour to Cyclades

Crete’s vast terrain means a diversity of self-guided routes are possible.  Both Herakleion and Hania have overnight ferries coming from Piraeus (Athens), as well as multiple daily flights with Athens.   Crete’s transportation infrastructure means cyclists can choose to bike east to west (Herakleion to Hania) or west to east (Hania to Herakleion).

Elevation-wise, Herakleion to Hania is the easier of the two routes.  However, if you plan to go to Santorini and other Cyclades islands, it makes sense to bike west to east in order to end the tour in Herakleion because no boats go to Santorini from Hania.

The number of days of your tour is also a consideration.   Our standard tour  is 7 nights with departure on the eighth day because this makes for a convenient one week trip.   Our standard 7 night east-west route is Arhanes-Arhanes-Zaros-Rethymno-Rethymno-Hania-Hania.   (Arhanes is a charming town 9 miles south of Herakleion).   See the Itinerary in the  Chart for each destination’s description.

Hania, with its Venetian and Ottoman façade, is Crete’s most beloved city.  We include it for two nights for a reason!   However, to spend two nights in Hania, you must bike the long, but do-able leg between Hania and Rethymno, 78.00 km, 48.50 miles with a 1500 foot climb.    Most riders who choose Crete don’t welcome this leg, yet other riders prefer a more smell-the-roses pace.   Thus, an alternative itinerary is to break up that long leg by adding an extra night to the tour (8 nights) in the lovely little town of Vamos which lies between Hania and Rethymno.

Add-ons 

Additionally, we offer a Lassithi Plateau add-on.   It is a 9 night, 10 day version of the standard tour with two extra days in the popular Lassithi Plateau, west of Herakelion-Arhanes.

For those riders who wish to lessen their Crete mountain experience, Zaros, the tour’s highest destination, can be substituted with an overnight in Axos located at a lower altitude.  However, in order to avoid dangerous highway traffic, this substitution requires a vehicle transfer for you and the bike to a safe point to start riding.  The transfer adds to the cost of the tour.

Although biking in Crete is mostly for the seasoned cyclist, we have created a means for moderate cyclists to enjoy the island, too.   We give you a car with a rear bike rack (or a mini-van for four or more persons) and, instead of biking to each overnight destination with luggage transfers, you drive to each overnight destination and bike easier loops in that region.   See the Chart titled “Drive-Bike Crete”