Tour Details

This excursion takes you to the biggest open market in Crete, which is organized once a week; where you will have the opportunity for shopping on a very low cost price. If you want to get small presents and souvenirs for home, this is the best choice for you. By visiting the open market in Heraklion you will get the feeling of market life in Crete. The buzz on the market will bring you back in time and you will see how the locals try to present and sell their products. Apart from souvenirs and clothes you can also find food and bio-Cretan products.

On entering the market, the first stalls you see are the fruit and vegetable section. Scattered among them are stalls selling cheese, fish, herbs and flowers. A bit further on are the stalls selling clothes, shoes, textiles and embroidery, household items, perfume, gifts and seasonal goods (Christmas/Easter items or beachtowels, caps and swimwear). Usually just outside the main market are parked the Gypsy trucks with their coloured carpets on show, the owners patiently smoking cigarettes while waiting for customers.
In the street market you’ll also find village eggs, live chickens and rabbits reared by the villagers who sell them direct.

The street market crowds are like a human river flowing back and forth. People squeeze into the alleys between the stalls and trip over shopping trolleys being pulled or left there by absent-minded housewives.

On the market you will have the opportunity to taste the traditional “suvlaki” on foot as well, on the many small posts selling food and drinks. Later, enjoy some free time to explore the bustling town, its pedestrian zones with shops like Marks & Spencer, Zara, Benetton etc., or, do as the Greeks do, and enjoy your café frappé (iced coffee) in one of the many stylish sidewalk cafés.

Our last stop will be the Cretaquarium for 1.30 min the largest aquarium in Greece. (entrance 12 eur adult, 6 eur for child is not included)