Every safari compared
Twelve quad, ATV and buggy trips are bookable on this island, and they are not twelve versions of one day out. The cheapest quad safari Crete lists, $45, is three hours on the coast and in the mountains with a tasting at the end; the highest fare, $219, is five and a half hours in the far south. Ten more sit between them, from nine different starting points, carrying between 74 and 2,439 reviews each. This page puts all twelve side by side: fare, hours, where each one starts, what the listing describes, and what the hour works out to.
Quick answer
The short version. The trip most people have already taken is the $48 backland run from Agia Pelagia — 2,439 reviews at 4.9, the most reviewed quad safari Crete has on this page. The lowest fare is the three-hour coast-and-mountains trip with a local tasting, $45. A cave, a monastery and lunch in one day starts at $67 and runs to $100 for six hours.
Start here
Twelve trips, four kinds of day, nine starting points, and a fare range of more than four to one.
Every quad safari Crete puts on sale looks the same in the search results: a line of quads on a dirt track, three or four hours, somewhere between $45 and $100. They are not interchangeable, and what separates them is not the machine. It is what the operator stops for.
Read the twelve descriptions next to each other and four kinds of day fall out. Four are built around a cave — Milatos on the trip out of Malia, Melidoni on the one from Panormos, and two more that name a cave without naming which. Three are built around a monastery, with a tavern meal or a village tasting attached. Two are written around sunset, one adding a ghost town and a shot of raki. The rest are about the driving: off-road routes, coastal tracks, shallow water, canyons, olive groves and villages.
Two columns decide it for you. The first is the starting point, because these trips do not leave from one town: the named starts run from Agia Pelagia and Heraklion at one end of the island down to Makry Gialos in the south. The second is the hour. Worked out from the fares and the listed durations, the cheapest hour on any quad safari Crete sells is $13.36 and the highest is almost three times that — which reorders the whole list.
Every trip, current fare
All twelve with the cost per hour worked out from the fare and the listed duration. Two listings give a duration as a range, so their hourly column is left blank rather than guessed.
| 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 |
The four kinds of day
Grouped by what the listing is built around. Every claim comes from the listing description.
The most reviewed trip on the page sits here: the backland run from Agia Pelagia at $48 — scenic landscapes, untouched nature, historic villages, off-road routes and coastal tracks. The Georgioupolis ATV safari, $67, is the one listing that says riders take turns at the wheel; the half-day trip above Rethymno, $79, the one that drives through shallow water and canyons.
Four listings go underground. The Panormos trip, $73, names the Cave of Melidoni and ten traditional villages; the Malia trip, $70, names Milatos Cave, an olive oil factory and coastal villages. The other two pair a cave with a monastery.
Three listings stop at one. The $89 trip from Hersonissos is the fullest: a Byzantine monastery, a meal in a traditional tavern, a look at how olive oil is made, then the beach. The $67 trip does a cave, a village and a mountain monastery in three hours with local pie and coffee.
Two listings are written around the end of the day, and both can be taken in the morning instead. The $45 trip is the lowest fare here: coast and mountains, the history of olive oil production, a tasting of local products, the sunset. The $49 trip adds a ghost town, the eerie sights as the listing puts it, then a shot of raki and a sweet.
One listing of the twelve names either machine in its title, and it is the one from the Chania side: mountain tracks, Cretan villages, forests and olive groves. A buggy and a quad are different vehicles, and this is the only place on the page where the choice exists.
Six hours from Heraklion names a coastal ride, a monastery, an olive tour, a Cretan lunch, a cave and a swim — more stops than anything else here. The $219 run out of Makry Gialos is the outlier: the unknown parts of Crete on a 4x4 route through olive groves, pines and tiny mountain villages, 74 reviews at 4.9.
Side by side
Most evidence behind it. The backland run from Agia Pelagia, $48. It carries 2,439 reviews at 4.9; the next listing has 2,059. Three and a half hours, off-road routes and coastal tracks, historic villages.
Lowest fare. The $45 coast-and-mountains trip with the tasting, 2,059 reviews at 4.9. It is the cheapest of the twelve and the second most reviewed — an unusual combination, since the cheapest listing on a page is normally the thinnest on evidence.
Most hours for the money. The $49 trip from Agia Pelagia. At 220 minutes it works out to $13.36 an hour, the lowest here, and it is the only listing with a ghost town on the route.
The verdict. For anyone arriving on the north coast, the $48 backland trip is the straightforward answer: the shortest commitment at three and a half hours, the biggest review count of any quad safari Crete has listed, and a fare near the bottom of the range. Pay the $100 only if you want the cave, the monastery and the swim in one go, and take the $219 trip only if you are already staying in the south.
Came here looking for a jeep safari? What is bookable on this page is quads and buggies — the difference, straight.
Quad or jeep→Book direct
The two biggest review counts, the cheapest hour on the page, and the three that put a cave, a monastery or lunch on the route.
★ 4.9 · 2,439 reviews
★ 4.9 · 2,059 reviews
★ 4.9 · 511 reviews
★ 4.9 · 278 reviews
★ 4.8 · 326 reviews
★ 4.8 · 191 reviews
On the map
Nine starting points from one end of the island to the other. Read this before the fare.
This is the column people skip, and the one that costs them the morning. Nine starting points are named across the twelve listings, and they run from one end of the island to the other.
Around Heraklion. Agia Pelagia carries three trips: the backland run at $48, the ghost-town run at $49, and the tasting trip at $45, whose description puts its own start at Agia Pelagia. Heraklion itself is the start of the six-hour day at $100.
East of Heraklion. Hersonissos and Limenas Chersonisou carry the $89 monastery trip and the $67 cave-and-village trip. Malia, further on, is where the $70 run to Milatos Cave begins.
West. Panormos, on the Rethymno side, starts the $73 trip to the Cave of Melidoni. Kolymvari, out towards Chania, starts the $76 quad-or-buggy trip, whose title names a transfer from the Chania and Platanias side. The $79 and $67 trips are listed against Crete without a town. The south coast has one listing, $219 from Makry Gialos, at the far end from everything above.
Transfers. Three of the twelve name a hotel transfer: the Malia trip in its description, the Panormos and Kolymvari trips in their titles. The other nine say nothing about one.
Before you book
All five are things the twelve listings differ on, which is why they are worth two minutes.
The starts are spread across the island. The fare gap between two trips is often smaller than the taxi to the one that starts further away.
Three listings name a hotel transfer. The other nine say nothing about one, so plan to get yourself to the start.
Six listings name something to eat or drink: a tavern meal, a Cretan lunch, lunch on the Malia trip, local pie and coffee, a tasting of local products, and a shot of raki with a sweet. The other six do not mention food at all.
Nine give a figure in hours, one is written as 220 minutes, and two give a range rather than a figure. If you have a plan for the afternoon, take the top of the range.
Eleven name a quad or an ATV only. The twelfth names a quad or a buggy in its listing title. They are different vehicles, so if that matters, there is one listing to look at.
Common questions
The twelve bookable trips run from $45 for three hours to $219 for five and a half hours in the south. Most sit between $48 and $89. Per hour the spread is wider than the fares suggest: from $13.36 to $39.82.
The backland trip from Agia Pelagia, $48, with 2,439 reviews at 4.9. The next listing has 2,059 reviews, also at 4.9. No other trip on the page is above 1,700.
Three hours at the short end, six at the long end. Two listings are three hours, one is three and a half, one is 220 minutes, three are four hours, one is five, one is five and a half, one is six, and two give a range rather than a figure.
It depends on the listing. Four name a cave, two of them by name — Milatos and Melidoni. Three stop at a monastery. Six name something to eat or drink. Two are written around sunset, one of those adding a ghost town. The rest are about the route itself.
The towns named across the twelve: Agia Pelagia, Heraklion, Malia, Hersonissos, Kolymvari, Panormos, Rethymno, Georgioupolis and Makry Gialos. Two listings are given against Crete without a town. They run from one end of the island to the other.
One of the twelve names both in its listing title: the $76 trip from Kolymvari, which runs three to three and a half hours through mountain tracks, villages, forests and olive groves.
Yes, on two of them. The $67 trip from Limenas Chersonisou does it in three hours with a village and local pie and coffee as well; the $100 day from Heraklion does it in six, with an olive tour, a Cretan lunch and a swim.
Six of the twelve are rated 4.9 and six 4.8, and across all 9,736 reviews the weighted figure is 4.9. Ratings this close do not separate them — the review counts do. The 4.9 with the most reviews behind it is the $48 trip, at 2,439.
Go deeper
Agia Pelagia Crete Quad Bike authentic backland Tour
★ 4.9 · 2,439 reviews · Free cancellation 24 h