Knossos
The ruins of Europe's oldest city sit on a low hill south of Heraklion, their labyrinthine corridors and painted columns hinting at a civilization that flourished here four thousand years ago.
Knossos is the largest Bronze Age site in Greece, sprawling across a low hill roughly five kilometres south of Heraklion. Here, the Minoan civilization — Europe's earliest advanced urban culture — built, destroyed and rebuilt a palace over several centuries before its final destruction around 1350 BCE. The site's complex, multi-level layout gave rise to the myth of the Labyrinth, and the palace remains the closest thing archaeology has offered to that legend: hundreds of rooms connected by corridors, staircases and light-wells, arranged across at least four levels.
What you walk through
The Palace of Knossos is organized around a central rectangular court, flanked by distinct wings. To the west lie the storage magazines — deep rooms where large clay pithos jars held olive oil and grain. To the east are the ceremonial spaces: the Throne Room, with its gypsum throne and painted dolphin fresco in the adjacent antechamber, and the Hall of the Double Axes, named for the religious symbol carved into its floors. Theatrical and ceremonial spaces occupied the southern court, where processions once moved.
The West Court, entered from the modern approach, gives the clearest sense of scale. The ground plan stretches before you — walls, doorways, storage chambers and courts laid out in stone — and you can begin to trace the logic of a palace that once housed workshops, shrines, archives and living quarters in a single complex.
The architecture and what survives
Minoan columns taper downward rather than up, widening at the base. Light-wells and interior courtyards brought daylight deep into multi-storey buildings. A drainage system of stone channels and clay pipes ran beneath the floors — remarkably sophisticated for its time. Several doorways still show their stone thresholds, worn smooth by centuries of use.
Fragments of painted plaster survive in places: reds, blues and yellows on wall surfaces, abstract patterns of spirals and waves. Near the southern entrance, a fresco reconstruction shows the famous blue monkeys that once moved across a riverbank — a glimpse of the natural world the Minoans brought into their built environment.
The restoration and what it means
The visible ruins represent multiple building phases spanning a thousand years. The most extensive restorations were carried out by Sir Arthur Evans in the early twentieth century. He reinforced and in places rebuilt portions of the palace using reinforced concrete — the red columns visible today are largely his reconstructions. This work made the site legible and also sparked decades of debate about how much of what you see is interpretation rather than original fabric. Understanding this distinction is part of what Knossos asks of its visitors.
Find it on the map
- Knossos Ancient site
Tours that visit Knossos
No tours visit this place just yet — tell us where you want to go and we'll build one. See all tours
Before you book you should know
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Is this trip right for you?
Our groups are capped at eight travellers, which is about a third of what the industry calls a small group. Eight people share one vehicle, one table at dinner and one guide's attention, and the day can change on the road without anybody being left behind. If you are looking for a coach, a fixed script and a microphone, this is not that.
Most days involve real walking, often on ground that was laid two thousand years before walking shoes: marble worn smooth, cobbles, uneven steps and long site paths with little shade. Bring shoes you can spend a morning in.
Some days move between regions and are largely a drive, with stops along the way. Summers are hot — well over 35°C inland — and winters are colder than most people expect, so layers, a hat and sunscreen earn their place in the bag whatever the month.
How demanding a particular trip is, is written on the trip itself: the physical rating in the header, and the day-by-day itinerary above.
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Rooms, and travelling on your own
Trip prices are per person, sharing a twin room. Each traveller picks their own room while booking, so a party can mix the three:
- Twin share — two single beds, shared with someone you are travelling with or with a traveller of the same gender.
- Travelling as a couple — one double room.
- Individual room — a room of your own, for a single supplement on top of the trip price. Availability is limited, and the supplement for a given date is shown next to the option when you book.
Solo travellers are welcome on every departure, and most of our groups have one or two aboard.
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Accommodation
The hotels named in an itinerary are a guideline rather than a guarantee. Where one is full, or has dropped below the standard we booked it for, we substitute a property of a similar standard in the same area — we would rather change the hotel than the trip.
Check-in is usually mid-afternoon. If you arrive early we will ask for the room, but no hotel can promise one before its own check-in time; luggage can normally be left at reception in the meantime. If you want the room from the night before, ask us and we will add the extra night to your booking.
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Passports, visas and insurance
Entry requirements depend on your nationality and change without much notice, so the only reliable source is the official one: the government of the country you are travelling to, and your own foreign ministry's travel advice. Check both before you book a flight.
Many countries ask for a passport valid for at least six months beyond your travel dates, and for blank pages. It is worth looking at yours now rather than at the airport.
We ask every traveller to carry travel insurance covering medical treatment and repatriation, and we would strongly encourage cover for cancellation and for your luggage as well.
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Your departure is guaranteed — the day can change
Once a departure is on the calendar it runs. We do not cancel a trip for want of a minimum number of bookings, so a booked date is one you can plan flights and leave around.
What can move is the shape of a day. Museums and archaeological sites change their hours, roads close, weather turns, a local holiday lands in the middle of the week. Where that happens your guide reorders the day, or swaps a stop for one of the same weight, and tells you why. Changes to a booked itinerary are covered by our Booking Terms & Conditions.
