Day Trip Elafonisi Island From Chania Guided With Honey Tasting

We had an absolutely fantastic bus trip to the Pink Beach in Crete! Our driver and guide, Dimitri, made the experience truly unforgettable. He arrived right on time, was extremely knowledgeable, and drove safely and comfortably throughout the entire journey. Along the way, he shared interesting information about the area, including a stop to see an incredible olive tree that was over 2,030 years old. That was a highlight of the trip! Dimitri also recommended a restaurant based on exactly what we were looking for. We had lunch there, and the food was delicious. The waiter was friendly, attentive, and provided excellent service. Overall, it was a wonderful experience from start to finish. A big thank you to Dimitri for his professionalism, kindness, and for making the day so enjoyable. We highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Crete! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Our guide was demitrious! We had a late ferry and he was able to accommodate our schedule, he showed us all the great towns and traditional Greek food. Very smooth ride with lots of great information, letting us stop where we wanted and skip the parts we didn’t. I would highly recommend this tour and especially the guide! Overall such a fun day at the beaches and towns

Lovely day out. Elafonissi Beach is beautiful and even the journey there is scenic. The 2 stops to break up the drive and have a bite to eat is a great addition. The driver and Guide were friendly and informative. Great value for money.

We were staying in the centre of Chania, so travelling across Crete and seeing the wonderful inland scenery was great. And the driver, George, was amazing steering us around the windy gorge roads. We also enjoyed paddling at the edge of the water where the sand turns pink. But we were disappointed that there was no boat trip (which we thought there would be), and that basically it was a two hour journey each way, just to end up sitting on a crowded beach. Also felt the morning cafe chosen for a 30 min stop would have been unsuitable for anyone with mobility issues (we were fine), as it meant climbing up about 30 steep stone stairs. So overall, yes it was a good day out and a way to see inland Greece, but it was expensive and didn't meet our expectations.

Nice guide. Phillip our driver and guide was very nice, the weather was not very cooperative but he made best out of it for us

Good excursion up until Elios village on the way back when the coach broke down (no fault of driver or guide obviously).Simona the guide was very good, giving us plenty of information during the journey up to Elifonisi beach. The timings of half hour at the caves, just under 4 hours at the beach and an hour at Elios was pretty good.So everything was excellent until the bus broke down.We were delayed by 1 1/4 hours.Without doubt,the most disappointing part of the trip was when we arrived back in Chania,we had to alight from the coach and transfer to a taxi.Unfortunately the taxi driver we were given had a vehicle which should have held 6-7 people but for some bizarre reason,the 3 back seats were made unavailable and the driver insisted that 4 of the 5 people he had to drive back to their accommodation sit in the back in the 3 seats he had made available So 4 people were forced to endure around 15 minutes in very cramped conditions. Totally unacceptable in our view.Why were the 3 back seats unavailable? If so,another driver or vehicle should have been supplied. Also the driving of the driver was a bit mad at times. We would very much appreciate your comments on this as this last part rather spoilt what up until then had been a good trip.

Day trip was good, elafosonni beach was pretty, the pink sand seemed to be just at the shore line from the shells. Beach was pretty but plentiful of other prettier beaches

We did another tour with Platanos earlier in the week and both times, we have found the tour guide and organisation to be great. However, it feels like the timings were off for this tour. It started too late, so the beach was extremely busy when we got there - no sunbeds, not even a single spot free with some shade. I understand it’s not in the tour agency’s hands, but leaving earlier could help combat this. We were given 4 hours in Elafonisi, but because we could find no shade or sunbed, we found that we were uncomfortable almost immediately, and spent 3.5 hours sat by the road with towels over our heads so we did not burn. The beach is beautiful of course, but I think in summer, more could be done to make this trip comfortable. Unfortunately we couldn’t wait to get back to our hotel.

The cave , great driver and guide. Beautiful beach and the lunch stop on the way home! I would also recommend the shop across from lunch to buy excellent organic olive oil skin care !! The owner was awesome !

The pink beach is gorgeous and unreal. It’s beautiful everywhere you turn… not easy to properly describe the experience unless you have seen it for yourself. The bus ride was comfortable. The guide told stories along the way which made the ride easier. I commend the driver for good maneuvering on that crazy road. After the beach, we went to a nice restaurant on top of a mountain …. amazing views and tasty food. Yes I would recommend this tour!

Great service, good planning, interesting sights and good food at the last stop. Simona and the driver were really fun. Elafonisi itself is as a good as a crowded tourist attract can ever be. Beautiful, windy and fool of people :)

Avoid booing a tour with GetYourGuide or Platanos. They never sent us the pick up location. We spent hours chatting to Get Your Guide agent and trying to reach Platanos. Eventually, we woke up at 5:00 am, prepared everything and waited for a call about the pick up service, but nobody ever contacted us. And, no, the email did not go to the spam folder! Anyway, it seems that even the refund process will be difficult, if we ever get the money back.

They were able to accommodate us the night before. The bus was comfortable, on time. The guide was great and the tour is well organized, timings and stops are all good. Now the beach is simply amazing. never seen a more beautiful beach! totally a must if you are in the Chania Area

The pick-up bus was on time at our stop which was nice. The first stop (cave and cafeteria) was crowded..the bus reached Elafonissi around at 11 am. The weather at the beach was terrible, there was a sandstorm and not enough shade from sun and sand for all guests. The tour should start earlier so the bus could reach the place before it is too crowded. Bus driver and guide were lovely and trip was enjoyable even though the weather was terrible.

Beautiful tour, with indescribable landscapes, in addition to the stop at The cave of wisdom of God. I congratulate the driver, I'm sorry I don't remember the name, a VERY VERY skilled man behind the wheel which made me feel very safe as well as very friendly. I also congratulate the guide and teacher Nikos for all the explanations during the tour and attention during the trip. I will be back.

It was a great experience. Toor operator is very nice person and the atmosphere is very welcoming. Thank you

Booked my ticket with tour with Get your Guide and received a confirmation for my booking the day after with date and time of pick up, after 30 minutes past the pick up time the bus finally came and allowed two people from our hotel on and told us that we must be on a different bus after showing my tour confirmation from Get your Guide and the travel agency confirming our reservation. 30 minutes after that bus left I called the bus driver and asked if he was coming to our hotel to pick us up and he said that we were not on his list and I needed to contact Get your Guide for a refund. Horrible experience, I would not book with them again.

Was so stressful ,we stayed more hours in the bus(7 h total ) than on the beach ,and why wait the other group from the other escurcion? CRazy.....never more .. next time I'll take the public bus really more fast sorry...the guide and the driver was amazing

We took the KTEL bus from Chania. It was a very picturesque location. I would have liked it so much more if it wasn’t so crowded. I didn’t see much pink sand. It was not the pink beach as promoted. I know people who have gone there before and after the busses. They liked it so much more than I did. We walked up the road from the beach to have a sit down lunch at a restaurant. We watched cars decend to the beach one after another in clouds of road dust. All the plants on the road side were grey covered with dust so not a pleasant walk.

I am not sure which was worse, the bus trip or the place. Our driver was an elderly man (70+), who didn't speak any English and was constantly driving with one hand as he was on his phone all the time, so unsafe on the narrow cliff roads. The bus was even older than him, dirty and the air-conditioning was barely working. The organisation is terrible, it was a 3,5 hrs drive and we stopped for toilet after 3hrs, ridiculous. We eventually had a tour guide, but as it was too busy and they had two buses,she kept changing between the two buses,not ok at all. Although the beach is really beautiful,it was not possible to enjoy a single moment of it as it's crowded,no available sun beds or umbrellas,not enough facilities and the water is cold and the wind is crazy strong. Never wanted to return to my hotel so much before, absolutely bad travel agent, avoid them.

as title says me and my family had a very beautiful trip to Elafonisi beach. It was very interesting to see around, very professional and very well speaking English guide, bus driver is awesome, super proffesional, even now i can't understand how he was able to drive this huge bus on that narrow road BRAVO BRAVO BRAVO. what can i say about Elafonisi beach :)))), it is a fantastic place, very clean water, highly recommend and Special thanks to getyourguide.com and Platanos Tours, good job

The trip was awesome, the beach incredible. The bus ride was scenic and very mountainous. The driver was excellent and so was the guide.

Elafonissi is beautiful - but also some what of a tourist trap. You should defenitively go if that is ypur wish but expect busloads of tourist not a serene nature experience.

The review is not so much about the beach itself but more about the poor service of the tour group, Platanostours. We were a family of 4 who did the day trip from Chania to Elafonisi via a Platanas Tours coach tour on 30 June 2019. The drive is great with some pretty hectic cliffs on a narrow but beautiful scenic road. The beach itself is beautiful and probably very pleasant in good weather. The water is beautifully clear just like the pictures. The amenities are average for such a world renowned beach. Unfortunately when we arrived the wind was howling. Not a breeze as the guide told us, but a full- on gale force wind kicking up a sandstorm of note with terrible gusts. It was completely unbearable with only about 10 people venturing into the water (including our 2 brave kids) but even they had to come out after 15 minutes as the wind and sand were affecting their eyes. Most people were looking for shelter somewhere (we were advised by the guy it the kiosk not to take a lounger under the thatch umbrella for safety) People were leaving as quickly as they arrived. Unfortunately we could not leave because our guide told us that the bus would be parked elsewhere and would be locked for the 4 hour duration. We spent half an hour on the beach and then spent the remaining 3 hours huddled in the shelter of the self-service café which quickly filled up with windblown, disgruntled people. Now we fully understand that no-one can be blamed for weather conditions that make a beach completely unbearable and dangerous. However, it seemed logical to me that on arrival the guide should have suggested that given that the beach was blown out completely and no one could swim or relax on a sunbed, that we shorten the visit to maybe 2 hours. I don't think anyone in the bus would have objected. Also, surely the guide should have enough experience to know the difference between a strong breeze and a gale, and then manage the situation accordingly. There were some elderly people who couldn't even return to the coach for 4 hours. So a big thumbs down to Platanastours for not managing a situation accordingly and simply going through a routine which was terribly unpleasant.

The tour guide was great, we really enjoyed her facts and stories about Crete and the culture on the bus ride to the beach. The bus itself was pretty miserable due to the seats being so close to the row in front of you that you could not get your knees in (even for someone who is only 5'6"). The beach was very beautiful but it was so relentlessly windy that my chair was blowing up and whipping me in the back, and any food you tried to eat blew out of your hands. Apparently this is not even the windy season, so beware.

Too many people crammed together in one place. A shame for this actually great experience. The guide was fantastic.

Everything was perfect except for the honey tasting that we did not get We visited the Cave of God's Wisdom, went to Elafonissi, and then to a very nice little restaurant up on a hill

Fantastisk guide, Simona, som berättade om allt från historia till grekiska bröllop. Stranden var som väntat proppfull så ta med ett parasoll (fanns även att köpa där). Allt fungerade perfekt och tider respekterades. Så vackert område!

Elafonissi var magiskt men vyerna som man fick se under bussresan och under de stoppen vi gjorde var minst lika magiska! Guiden berättade mycket om Kreta och de byar vi åkte förbi och var supertrevlig! Kan starkt rekommendera!

Mona is a friendly guide (who speaks a little too fast English when you are a foreigner). But yet, because it is her mother, a lady allows herself to kick people out of their seat (I had been settled for 15 minutes) just because she did not want to look for another place. This kind of behaviour is poor, she claims to have a problem and to have to sit in the same seat as in the aisle when I was not in the seat she was in. Behaviours to review. I did not try to understand, because already disappointed with the excursion which was a tourist catch. Inadmissible

Excellent in their work, excellent professionals and friendly environment!!

La plage est incontestablement a voir. Sable blanc rosé et eau transparante. Le chauffeur et notre guide tres professionnels. Je recommande de prendre a votre arrivée matelas et parasol 10 euros pour 2 pers car il n y a pas un brin. Sur la plage 2 petits snacks vendent des sandwiches et boissons. 4h sur place suffisent emplement car c est assez venteux. Attention il est précisé dans le package visite de deux villages en chemin. Cette année 2020 dû aux inondations pas de 2eme endroit et le 1er village n est qu un restaurant, par contre la nouriture y est délicieuse. Si vous n avez pas de voiture de location, je recommande vivement ce tour.

The truth is that the beach is worth it because it is beautiful, but you spend more time on the bus than on the beach itself! That's 12 hours of which you only spend 4 on the beach. Much better to rent a car and do it on your own. We stopped at two restaurants (one on the way and one on the way back) that honestly had nothing interesting to offer, most likely the guide and the driver had some kind of agreement with the owners of the premises to stop there. I recommend the beach without hesitation, but not with a tour or at least not with this Enterprise!