"Fantastic day out with an excellent guide - George. A tour with plenty to see and learn that isn’t completely full on and a good pace . It allows you to meet truly local people and discover their way of life , the brothers in the raki distillery were a high point . Nothing pushed and a great paced day with plenty to see would recommend to anyone visiting the area."
Heraklion · Peza
Heraklion Olive Oil Tours
Groves, mills and wineries south of the city
From
$137
per person
Free cancellation
- 5.0 / 5 300+ Reviews
- 8 hours Duration
- 4 Producers
- Hotel Pickup Included
- Free Cancellation
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The Experience
What Makes the Heraklion Side Different
Crete's oldest continuously planted wine and olive country, and the best-rated full-day tour on this site.
Highlights
- Tour an olive grove and its mill, then taste the oil fresh at the source
- Taste five wines at an organically farmed, family-owned winery
- Visit a raki distillery built around an ancient stone wine press
- Drink raki from the rakokazano, where the spirit is actually distilled
- Eat a full traditional lunch at a village tavern
- Throw a pot at a village pottery studio, in a village known for the craft
What's Included
- Hotel pick-up and return to your accommodation
- Transport by van with an experienced driver and tour guide
- Guided tour of the olive grove and olive mill, with an oil tasting
- Guided winery tour and a tasting of five organic wines
- Guided tour of the raki distillery and its ancient wine press
- Wine and raki tasting at the rakokazano
- A full traditional lunch at a local tavern
- Visit to a village pottery studio (optional, and closed on Sundays)
Booking a Heraklion Olive Oil Tour
Four things worth settling first.
Decide How Long a Day You Want
Heraklion's options run from ninety minutes on a family farm for $10 to a full eight hours across four producers for $137. There is very little in between.
Check Whether Transport Is Included
The full-day tours collect from your accommodation. The $10 farm does not — Prassas is in the hills south-east of the city and you need a car or a taxi.
Expect Wine and Raki, Not Just Oil
Peza and Skalani are wine country as much as olive country. The full-day route pours five wines and raki at the still, so factor that in if you are not drinking.
Avoid Sundays If You Want the Pottery
The village pottery studio that closes the full-day tour is shut on Sundays. Everything else runs; that one stop drops out.
Photo Gallery
The Groves South of Heraklion
Peza and Skalani, planted since Minoan times.
Guided Olive Oil Tour vs Doing It Yourself
Three ways to get at Cretan olive oil, and what each one actually gives you.
| Feature | RECOMMENDED Guided Olive Oil Tour | Drive to a Mill Yourself | Buy a Bottle in a Supermarket |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you actually do | Grove walk, guided mill visit and a structured tasting of 3–4 oils, with a guide who knows the zone | Turn up at a producer's shop, look around, taste whatever is open on the counter | Read a label in an aisle |
| Seeing oil being pressed | Yes, if you go November–February — and the operator tells you which you are getting | Only if you happen to arrive during harvest and the mill admits visitors that day | ✗ |
| Learning to taste properly | Taught directly — bitterness, the peppery throat catch, how to store it and what to cook with | Rarely — shop staff pour, but structured tuition is not the point of a retail visit | ✗ |
| Getting there | Hotel pickup included on most tours; 104 pickup points on the Chania day tour | Hire car or taxi, on mountain roads, and someone has to stay sober for the tastings | Walk to the shop |
| Cost per person | $10 for a farm walk, $11 for a mill visit, $45–137 for a full day with transport and food | Free entry at most producers, plus fuel, parking and the car itself | €5–15 a bottle |
| What you take home | Oil bought at the gate, usually in travel-safe packaging, plus knowing why it is good | Oil bought at the gate | A bottle you cannot yet judge |
| Best for | Anyone who wants to understand the product, not just own some | Drivers with a full day free and a producer already picked out | Stocking the villa kitchen |
| Check Availability | Browse Tours |
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Central Crete
Heraklion's Olive Oil Comes Bundled With Wine, and That Is the Point
Peza has grown vines and olives side by side since the Minoan era, so the tours treat them as one subject.
The Heraklion tours do something the western ones mostly do not: they treat olive oil as one of a set of Cretan products rather than as a standalone subject. That is a fair reflection of the land. Peza, Skalani and Archanes, the country immediately south of the city, have been planted with vines and olives together since the Minoan period, and three of Crete’s six PDO olive oil zones — Peza, Archanes and Viannos — sit in this regional unit.
The best-rated day on this site
The full-day wines, olive oil, raki and food tour is the highest-rated tour on this site with meaningful review volume behind it: 4.97 out of 5 across 300 reviews. Eight hours, hotel pickup, and four producers — an olive grove and its mill with a tasting, an organically farmed family winery pouring five wines, a raki distillery built around an ancient stone wine press, and a village pottery studio, with a full sit-down lunch in the middle.
The olive stop comes first and gets roughly an hour, which is more than the token visit that “olive oil” in a tour title often signals. What it is not is a dedicated oil experience: three of the four producer stops serve alcohol, so if you are not drinking, a good share of the $137 passes you by. Dietary requirements need to reach the operator 48 hours ahead, because lunch is cooked rather than plated from a buffet.
The cheapest olive experience on Crete
At the other end, the Traditional Olive Grove and Dragon Fruit Farm costs $10. The farm at Prassas has been in one family for more than five generations and has grown olives for over fifty years, and the tour is given by the people who work it. You walk the trees, handle the harvesting tools rather than look at them, hear the whole cultivation-to-extraction cycle, and taste the oil the way it is actually eaten here. Then there is dragon fruit, which the same farm now grows commercially — a genuinely recent arrival on Crete — and a coffee or a herb tea on the patio.
The catch is access. There is no pickup and Prassas is in the hills south-east of Heraklion, so budget a taxi. Even so, with 202 reviews at 4.8 it is the best value in the catalogue.
Combining oil with Knossos
A large share of Heraklion’s inventory pairs an olive oil factory with Knossos, the Lassithi Plateau or the Zeus Cave, because that is what most visitors to this coast want from a day. Those are real stops with real tastings, but the oil is a component rather than the subject. If you are based further east — Elounda, Malia, Ierapetra — the Zeus Cave and Lassithi route is built for you, and it states plainly that it does not usually collect from Heraklion or further west.
For the reverse case — oil as the whole subject — the Rethymno grove tasting an hour west is the most specialised on the island, and the mill tours page covers where to see a press actually turning.
Guest Reviews
What Heraklion Olive Oil Tour Guests Say
5.0/5
from 300 verified guests
Ratings and review counts are the tour operators' live figures on GetYourGuide and may shift slightly day to day.
"George was a wonderful guide and we had a great experience! The tour show us the authentic Cretan life and envolve us in traditions. It was a day to cherish! I congratulate the team for the organisation."
"Highly recommend this tour. Our guide, George, was excellent. He was very informative, funny, and great to talk to overall! He brought us to all local places and we got to try local olive oils, foods, wine, and raki. We also saw a local pottery workshop which was very cool. When we return we will definitely look to do other tours through this company."
"It was wonderful. George was an excellent guide - great personality and full of helpful information. The hosts were all so nice and accommodating and we learned a lot about Crete."
"We had an excellent day with George. He provided so much information on Crete and its culture and we felt like we really experienced the Cretan way of life. We highly recommend this tour to anyone who wants to immerse themselves in culture and get out of the city. Thank you for your hospitality George."
"Absolutely fantastic tour! We were lucky enough to end up having a private tour since nobody else had booked that day, which made the experience even more special. The food was delicious, but the absolute highlight was our guide, Crazy George. He was hilarious, incredibly entertaining, and made the whole day unforgettable. It definitely wouldn’t have been the same without him! If you’re unsure whether to book this tour: just do it! It’s absolutely worth it. Great food, great experiences, and an amazing guide. Thank you, Crazy George! 🇬🇷🍷"
"This was one of the highlights of our trip to Crete! Every stop on the tour was interesting and enjoyable. We loved visiting the olive mill, winery, distillery, and pottery workshop, and it was great to have the opportunity to buy fresh olive oils, local wines, raki, and other authentic Cretan products directly from the producers. The lunch at the traditional local taverna was absolutely outstanding – without a doubt the best meal we had during our entire holiday in Crete. Everything was fresh, delicious, and truly authentic. The whole day was well organized, relaxed, and gave us a wonderful insight into Cretan traditions, food, and culture. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Crete!"
"We had a fantastic 5-star experience! Communication was brilliant—we received a WhatsApp confirmation the day before and our driver arrived right on time at 9:30 AM (we were staying 30 minutes outside Heraklion). The transport was a spacious, air-conditioned 8-seater Mercedes Sprinter. As someone living with Crohn’s disease, travel can cause a lot of anxiety, but this was a breeze: drive times between stops were under 40 minutes, and every venue had clean, well-maintained toilets. The roads can be a bit bouncy, but the driver is very accommodating with accessibility needs. The day felt intimate, authentic, and truly local rather than a tourist trap. Plus, you get great chances to buy local wine, olive oil, and souvenirs. Highly recommended to anyone visiting Greece—even if you have to settle for Antony over George! 😉"
Read all 300 verified reviews
See All ReviewsBook a Heraklion Olive Oil Tour
An olive grove and mill, five organic wines, a raki still and a village lunch across eight hours — rated 4.97 out of 5 by 300 guests. Starting from $137 per person.
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Heraklion Olive Oil Tour FAQ
Peza, the $10 family farm, and what the full day covers.
The full-day Cretan wines, olive oil, raki and food tour, at 4.97 out of 5 from 300 reviews — the highest-rated tour on this site with real review volume behind it. Eight hours, hotel pickup, four producers and a village lunch for $137.
The Traditional Olive Grove and Dragon Fruit Farm at Prassas costs $10 for about ninety minutes, and it is the cheapest olive experience on the island. Five generations of the same family, the harvesting tools in your hands, an oil tasting and a coffee on the patio. There is no pickup, so add a taxi from Heraklion.
Usually. Peza and Skalani have grown vines and olives side by side since the Minoan era and the tours reflect that — the full-day route pours five organic wines and raki at the still alongside its olive grove and mill visit. If you are not drinking, a meaningful share of the ticket price goes unused.
Two of Crete's six protected designation of origin areas for olive oil, both in the Heraklion regional unit along with Viannos. They fix where the olives are grown, and the oil is made from Koroneiki. A guide who can tell you which zone you are standing in is telling you something real about the flavour.
The village pottery studio that ends the full-day tour is shut on Sundays. The rest of the itinerary — olive grove and mill, winery, raki distillery and lunch — runs as normal, so pick another day only if throwing a pot matters to you.
The full-day tour can, with at least 48 hours' notice to the operator. Lunch is a cooked sit-down meal at a village tavern rather than a buffet, so allergies and vegetarian meals have to be arranged ahead rather than mentioned on the day.
Still have questions? Email us at info@creteoliveoiltours.com
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