It smells like Crete.

Always respecting the time and days of your stay on the island, we try in all our excursions to combine the most important elements of our place. Our goal is for our visitors, even with a private excursion, to get a complete taste of Crete with doses of history, culture and gastronomy. In this excursion, however, we focus entirely on the visitor's contact with nature. We will take you to an area of 200 acres, either for a scenic hike or for an interesting wander along nature's paths, the Botanical Park is the ideal alternative for a daily escape away from the noise of the city and the cosmopolitan beaches. Here, the spectacular scenery is made up of rare specimens of local flora and fauna, as well as other tropical and subtropical varieties from around the world, specimens that are increasing daily.

We continue and travel 50 minutes west to the community of the municipality of Platanias. The area here is famous for the high quality of wine and olive oil production. One of the most qualitative and organized olive mills on the island is a landmark and opens its gates to welcome you. Oil tasting, wandering in an ancient olive grove and even Cretan cuisine lessons are the main themes here. A wonderful journey based on olive oil. As we descend, we come across the village of Ano Vouves, where visitors can admire the monumental olive tree, believed to be the oldest olive tree on the planet. In recent years, after a series of events, it has become customary to cut a branch from the Vouves olive tree and crown our country’s first Olympic champion with it.

At this point, and since you have now acquired a complete taste for Cretan olive oil, wine takes over. Don’t forget that we are in an area that is equally well-known and has a long tradition in viticulture and winemaking. The wineries of Crete are mostly family businesses, which are now being taken over by the new generation, transforming them into high-quality wine tasting centers that can be visited throughout their entire area. Welcome to the Pneumatikaki family winery.