Things to Do in Rethymno
Although Rethymno is the smallest prefecture of the island, and Rethymno city only ranks third among the cities of the island, the prefecture offers an enormous variety of more than worthwhile things to do. For now, we stick to this wonderful place because this is what we know, where we live, walk and explore. This is what we know best, and want to share. Other areas will follow, after we get to know them a lot better than we do now.
Explore Rethymno at Your Own Pace
Some of the “Things to do in Rethymno”, like a visit to the Monastery of Arkadi, make it into the standard tourist brochure, but most don’t. This is because the tourist industry is built on a basis of numbers to generate profit which turns tourism into the conveyor belt industry phenomenon we witness at every tourist hotspot.
In 1958, in his work “A Theory of Tourism”, Hans Magnus Enzensberger coined the phrase “The tourist destroys what he seeks by finding it”.
However, putting all the blame on the tourist is not fair. Most tourists would happily go and explore under their own steam, if somebody gave them a little helping hand instead of taking over with fleets of huge buses, overcrowded ferries, bureaucracy, and often extortionate fees to keep this whole infrastructure going.
Magical Crete breaks that destructive pattern. Rather than bowing to the god of relentless profit at any cost, Magical Crete operates on one simple rule: we provide you with enough information to enjoy a good day out as an individual, a family or a group of friends. Rather than taking over your holiday time and forcing it into a corporate schedule, we give you ideas and possibilities with enough information to know that you’ll have an adventure you’ll never forget, without the constraints of somebody else’s schedules, and at a very affordable price. Our Modus Operandi is simple, we provide the map and the inspiration to ensure you have a great time, while leaving it entirely up to you how you go out and live it. We are neither a tourist agency nor a tour operator. We create memories for you to cherish for ever.
Audio Tours
How Explore Crete Works
Explore Crete turns your phone into a personal tour guide. Using GPS technology, it automatically plays the right commentary as you reach each location, allowing you to concentrate on what is around you rather than constantly looking at a map, a guidebook, or your screen.
When you purchase an audio tour from Magical Crete, you are not downloading the tour itself. The tour gets added to your library, from where you can access it. However, for your safety, we insist you always click the “Save for Offline” button. This saves the tour to your phone so it’s always available to you, even when there is no signal. You can always remove the tour from your phone again. That action will not remove the tour from your library, it remains available to you should you want to do it again.
Getting started is simple:
Download the free Explore Crete app
Create your free account and get immediate access to your library which contains 5 free walks or tours, courtesy of Magical Crete
Check out the Magical Crete catalogue of existing walks.
If you would like to own a walk/tour, simple complete the buying process. Once we get payment confirmation, the walk/tour is automatically added to your library.
Refresh or login to Explore Crete and select the walk/tour you want to do from your library.
Start exploring Crete at your own pace.
Once downloaded, the tour will appear in your library from where you can open it. Here you also have the ability of “Save offline”, which means that even when you have no connection, the app will still show you the route you need to follow. This makes it ideal for exploring even the most remote parts of Crete, where mobile phone coverage can be unreliable.
Unlike a traditional guided excursion, there is no timetable to follow. Stop for coffee, spend an extra hour exploring a monastery, take photographs, or wander down an interesting side road. The tour simply waits for you and continues when you are ready.
Your purchased tour remains available in your Explore Crete library and can be replayed whenever you wish.
Should you change your phone for whatever reason, simply download the app again from our website, login and your library is there, ready and available.
