Quad or jeep
Jeep safari Crete is a common way to describe an off-road day on this island, and it is worth being plain about what it buys. Not one of the twelve safaris compared here is sold as a jeep trip: they run on quads and ATVs, with a buggy named on a single listing, from $45 for three hours. This page sets out which come closest.
Quick answer
The short answer. A jeep safari Crete search and a quad safari search end on the same kind of day: dirt tracks, mountain villages, a cave, a beach at the far end. The difference is the machine. Across the twelve listings here the word jeep appears in no name and no description, while quad appears in all twelve names. Fares run from $45 to $219, and the most reviewed is $48 on 2,439 reviews at 4.9.
What the words mean here
The route behind the search exists on Crete. The vehicle in these listings is a quad, an ATV or a buggy.
Jeep safari Crete is a phrase visitors arrive with rather than one the island sells back to them. The picture behind it is clear: open vehicles leaving the resort strip, a dirt road into the hills, a village square, a monastery, a beach at the far end. That day is real. What changes at the point of booking is the machine you sit on.
Across the twelve safaris here the word jeep appears in no name and no description. Quad appears in all twelve names and in nine descriptions; ATV in two names and two descriptions. The safari from the Chania side at $76 names a buggy as the alternative to a quad. Two names use the term 4x4, and one description does: the long day in the south, which calls itself a 4x4 off-road quad safari.
So the reply to a jeep safari Crete search is a split one. The itinerary is here, several times over. The vehicle is a quad or an ATV, with a buggy on one listing, and you are at the handlebars rather than behind a driver.
That matters more for the feel of the day than for the route. Six of the twelve descriptions use the phrase off-road outright; the others describe the same ground as coastal tracks, mountain tracks, shallow water crossings, canyons, forests and olive groves. None of them reads like a sealed-road sightseeing run, which is what people are really checking when they weigh a jeep safari Crete listing against a quad one.
Every trip, current fare
The off-road adventures this island actually sells: what each one covers, how long it runs, and what that works out at per hour.
| Safari | Length | Price | What is included | Cost per hour | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agia Pelagia Crete Quad Bike authentic backland TourThe most reviewed safari here: 2,439 | 3.5 h | $48 | Backland trails, villages and off-road | $13.71 | 4.9 · 2,439 |
| Crete: Sunset or Morning Quad with Local Products TastingThe lowest fare on this page | 3 h | $45 | Coast and mountains, with a local tasting | $15.00 | 4.9 · 2,059 |
| From Rethymno: Half-Day Quad Bike SafariFour hours above Rethymno | 4 h | $79 | Half a day in the mountains above Rethymno | $19.75 | 4.8 · 1,618 |
| Georgioupolis Quad ATV SafariRiders take turns at the wheel, as listed | 4 h | $67 | Mountains and traditional villages by ATV | $16.75 | 4.9 · 796 |
| Crete Quad 4x4 Safari: Cave, Off-Road, Lunch & Hotel TransferLunch and hotel transfer named in the listing | 5 - 5.5 h | $70 | A cave, off-road, lunch and hotel transfer | — | 4.8 · 733 |
| Agia Pelagia: Sunset or Morning Quad Tour & Ghost Town VisitSunset or morning, 220 minutes | 3.7 h | $49 | Sunset or morning, with a ghost-town stop | $13.36 | 4.9 · 511 |
| From Chania/Platanias: Quad/Buggy safari with hotel transferQuad or buggy, transfer from Chania named | 3 - 3.5 h | $76 | Quad or buggy, with transfer from Chania | — | 4.8 · 379 |
| Crete: Off-Road Quad Safari to Cave, Abbey & Village TastingA cave, an abbey and a tasting in three hours | 3 h | $67 | A cave, an abbey and a village tasting | $22.33 | 4.9 · 278 |
| Rethymno Bali : Quad Safari & visit Cave with TransferTransfer named, four hours | 4 h | $73 | Bali and the cave, with transfer | $18.25 | 4.8 · 332 |
| Crete: Quad Safari with Monastery, Malia Palace and LunchFive hours with a monastery and lunch | 5 h | $89 | A monastery, Malia Palace and lunch | $17.80 | 4.8 · 326 |
| Crete: Full-Day Quad Safari with Cave, Abbey, Lunch & BeachSix hours, the longest day here | 6 h | $100 | A full day: cave, abbey, lunch and beach | $16.67 | 4.8 · 191 |
| Ierapetra: Quad ATV 4x4 Exceptional Day in South CreteThe highest fare on this page | 5.5 h | $219 | A long day in the south of the island | $39.82 | 4.9 · 74 |
Reading the listings
Numbers below come from the twelve listing names and descriptions, counted one by one.
It is easy to assume that somewhere in the twelve there is a jeep day hiding under a quad title. There is not, and the counts come straight from the names and descriptions.
Two of them catch people out. A transfer is named on the Malia day, on the safari from the Chania side and on the Bali listing from the Rethymno coast; the other nine say nothing about one either way, so treat the start point in the table as the place to be. Lunch is named on the Malia day, the monastery and palace day and the six-hour full day. The rest name smaller things: raki and a sweet on the ghost town trip, pie and coffee on the three-hour abbey route, a tasting of local products on the sunset listing.
The south-coast listing at $219 is the only one that puts 4x4 and off-road in the same sentence of its description. The Malia listing at $70 carries 4x4 in its name and builds the day around Milatos Cave, an olive oil factory and coastal villages. Where a listing does not say something, this page does not say it either.
Closest to the jeep idea
If the appeal of a jeep safari Crete day is rough ground and distance from the resort strip, these five come nearest.
The only description that says 4x4 off-road outright, and the one that goes furthest from the north coast: olive groves, pines and tiny mountain villages that make up the real island. The highest fare of the twelve, rated 4.9 on 74 reviews.
The second listing to carry 4x4 in its name, with off-road trails, Milatos Cave, an olive oil factory, coastal villages, lunch and a hotel transfer all named in it. Rated 4.8 on 733 reviews, and the one a jeep safari Crete Malia search is looking for.
The most reviewed safari here: 2,439 reviews at 4.9, where the next listing has 2,059. Scenic landscapes, untouched nature, historic villages, off-road routes and coastal tracks, at one of the lower fares of the twelve.
The one listing of the twelve that names a buggy. Mountain tracks, Cretan villages, forests and olive groves at the western end of the island, transfer named. Rated 4.8 on 379 reviews.
Mountains and traditional villages, and the one description that spells out that riders take turns at the wheel. Rated 4.9 on 796 reviews.
Want the whole set in one table, including the ones not listed above?
Every safari compared→Where they start
Nine named starting points across the island, from Kolymvari in the west to Makry Gialos in the south-east.
Crete is long, so the starting point is usually the first filter, not the fare. The twelve listings name nine separate places to begin.
In the east and centre: Malia, Hersonissos, Heraklion and Agia Pelagia. A jeep safari Crete Hersonissos search lands on this cluster — the monastery and palace day at $89 leaves from Hersonissos itself, and the three-hour cave, abbey and village route at $67 from Limenas Chersonisou next door.
West of there the Rethymno side takes over. The half-day safari at $79 heads into the mountains through shallow water and canyons, and the Bali listing at $73 starts at Panormos and works inland to the Cave of Melidoni and ten traditional villages. A jeep safari Crete Rethymnon search lands on these two. Further west, Kolymvari is the start for the quad or buggy day.
Makry Gialos, in the south-east, is the only start that is not on the north coast. Two listings give Crete rather than a town, and where no transfer is named, plan to reach the start point yourself.
What it costs
Twelve fares from $45 to $219, and the per-hour figure that sits behind them.
At the lower end, the three-hour sunset listing at $45 and the backland run at $48 are the two cheapest and the two most reviewed: 2,059 and 2,439 reviews, both at 4.9. The ghost town trip at $49 sits just above them for 220 minutes. These are the ones to book when a jeep safari Crete outing has to fit into an afternoon.
In the middle, $67 to $89 buys four to five hours and a named stop or two: a cave, an abbey, a monastery, a tasting, a factory. The full day at $100 runs six hours with a cave, an abbey, lunch and a beach — for a family after one trip that covers the ground, the listing with the most stops named.
At the top, $219 is more than double the next fare, and the reason is in the description rather than the clock: it crosses to the far side of the island. It carries 74 reviews at 4.9, the smallest count of the twelve.
Book direct
The two 4x4-titled days, the one buggy listing, and the most reviewed safari here.
★ 4.9 · 74 reviews
★ 4.8 · 733 reviews
★ 4.8 · 379 reviews
★ 4.9 · 2,439 reviews
Common questions
Not among the twelve safaris compared on this site: none carries the word jeep in its name or description. Eleven are listed as quad or ATV days, and one names a buggy as the alternative. The routes and the ground are what a jeep safari Crete search is after; the vehicle is not.
On a quad or ATV you ride the machine yourself along the track. The listings here describe off-road routes, coastal tracks, canyons, villages and caves, from $45 for three hours.
Two name 4x4 directly: the Malia day at $70, built around Milatos Cave and an olive oil factory, and the south-coast day at $219, whose description calls it a 4x4 off-road quad safari.
The towns across the twelve: Agia Pelagia, Heraklion, Malia, Hersonissos, Kolymvari, Panormos, Rethymno, Georgioupolis and Makry Gialos. Two listings carry Crete rather than a town.
Three of the twelve name one: the Malia day, the quad or buggy day from the Chania side and the Bali listing from Panormos. The other nine say nothing about one, so plan to reach the start point in the table.
The backland run from Agia Pelagia at $48: 2,439 reviews at 4.9, where the next listing has 2,059. Across the twelve there are 9,736 reviews, weighted to 4.9.
On three of the twelve: the Malia day at $70, the monastery and palace day at $89 and the six-hour full day at $100. Others name smaller stops — a tasting, pie and coffee, or raki.
The three-hour sunset listing at $45: coast and mountains, the history of olive oil production, a tasting of local products and the sunset. It holds 2,059 reviews at 4.9.
Go deeper
Agia Pelagia Crete Quad Bike authentic backland Tour
★ 4.9 · 2,439 reviews · Free cancellation 24 h