The Rethymno side
Twelve quad and buggy safaris are bookable on this island, and the honest answer is that only two of them name Rethymno in their own listing. One climbs into the mountains for four hours from $79. The other starts at Panormos, up the coast, and runs to the Cave of Melidoni and ten villages for $73. A third, at $67, is listed under Georgioupolis rather than Rethymno. Everything else in the niche starts hours away on the other side of the island, and this page keeps those off the table. Below: what each of the three is, what the operators actually promise, the fares side by side, and which one to take.
Quick answer
The short answer. A quad safari Rethymno listing means one of two trips: the half-day run up into the mountains at $79, rated 4.8 across 1,618 reviews, or the Panormos start at $73 that takes in the Cave of Melidoni and ten villages. Both run four hours. Take the first for mountains and water crossings, the second for the cave and the villages.
Start here
Two listings name Rethymno. One more names the village next door. Nine start somewhere else.
Searches for a quad safari Rethymno turn up pages that quietly show the whole island: twelve safaris, most of them leaving from towns on the far side of it. That is not useful if you are staying in or near Rethymno, because the start point is the one thing you cannot change about a booking. So this page begins by cutting the list down.
Of the twelve bookable safaris in this niche, two carry Rethymno in their own listing. The first is a half-day safari that heads up into the mountains. The operator describes getting back to nature, driving through shallow waters and through canyons with archaeological structures in them. It runs four hours at $79 and carries 1,618 reviews at 4.8, which is the second largest body of reviews in the whole niche.
The second starts at Panormos, on the coast of the same region. Its listing is about off-road driving in the heart of the island, the wild country, the Cave of Melidoni, and ten traditional villages where you meet the people who live in them. It is four hours at $73, rated 4.8 across 332 reviews, and a transfer is named in the listing title.
A third safari is worth knowing about and worth being honest about: it is listed under Georgioupolis, which is its own village with its own start, and its data never mentions Rethymno. It is an ATV trip through the mountains and the traditional villages, four hours at $67, and at 4.9 across 796 reviews it is the highest rated of the three. Whether it suits you is a question about where you are sleeping, not about the ride.
All three run four hours, which is worth saying plainly because it sets the shape of the day. A quad safari Rethymno booking takes a morning or an afternoon and gives the rest of the day back to you; it is not a trip that swallows the whole day, and no operator on this side offers a longer one. Because the length is identical across all three, the choice comes down to what those four hours contain rather than to how much of the day they take.
The other nine safaris in the niche start at Agia Pelagia, Heraklion, Malia, Hersonissos, Limenas Chersonisou, Kolymvari and Makry Gialos. They are good trips and they are on this site, but they are not a quad safari Rethymno in any sense that helps you, so they are not compared here.
Every trip, current fare
The two listings that name Rethymno, plus the Georgioupolis start, with cost per hour worked out. All three run four hours, so the fare is the whole difference.
| Safari | Length | Price | What is included | Cost per hour | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
In detail
What each operator says about its own trip, and nothing beyond that.
The only listing in the niche whose title begins with the name of this town. The operator describes heading up into the mountains and getting back to nature, driving through shallow waters, and going through canyons with archaeological structures. This is the half day Rethymno quad safari that most people mean when they start searching, and the review count behind it is bettered by one listing on the entire island.
Panormos sits up the coast in the same region, and the listing is written around what it reaches: off-road driving in the heart of the island, the wild beauty of the country, the Cave of Melidoni, and ten traditional villages with the people who live in them. The listing title names a transfer. Four hours, and the lower fare of the two.
Listed under its own village rather than under this town, so treat it as a separate decision. The operator describes driving an ATV around the mountains and the traditional villages, taking turns at the wheel, and the panoramas around you. It is the highest rated of the three and the lowest priced.
The Chania side, Agia Pelagia, Heraklion, Malia, Hersonissos and the south coast. Those safaris start hours from here, and a booking cannot be moved to a different town, so none of them belongs under the heading of a quad safari Rethymno. They are all on this site, and the whole-island comparison sits on the main page.
Book direct
The three listings above, with live fares and ratings. Booking goes straight to the operator page.
★ 4.8 · 1,618 reviews
★ 4.8 · 332 reviews
★ 4.9 · 796 reviews
The decision
Mountains and water, or a cave and villages. The fares are close; the days are not the same.
Take the mountain half-day at $79 if the driving is the point. Shallow water crossings and canyons are what its listing is built around, it starts from the town itself, and 1,618 reviews at 4.8 is the deepest body of evidence anywhere on this side of the island.
Take the Panormos trip at $73 if you want to see things as well as drive. The Cave of Melidoni and ten villages are named in the listing itself, a transfer is in its title, and it costs less than the mountain run for the same four hours. Its 332 reviews sit at 4.8.
Take the Georgioupolis ATV run at $67 if that village is where you already are. It is the cheapest and the best rated of the three, but it is a different start point, and the listing says so itself by carrying that village in its name rather than this one.
Across the three, 2,746 reviews have been left, and the spread between the lowest and the highest fare is $79 against $67 for the same four hours. There is no long version from this side: a quad tour Rethymno runs half a day and finishes where it started.
Want the whole island instead, with all twelve safaris in one table?
Every safari compared→Before you book
Short, and all of them come off the listings themselves.
This is the one thing you cannot change later. Two of these three listings name this town or its region; the third names Georgioupolis. Everything else in the niche starts on the far side of the island.
All three options here run the same length, so the fare difference is about what the trip contains, not about how long you are out. Nothing on this side runs longer than half a day.
A transfer is named in the title of the Panormos listing. Where an operator has not written something down, treat it as not included and ask before you pay.
Of the three, only the Panormos listing names the Cave of Melidoni, so there is no second listing to fall back on from this side if it is taken. The same holds for the shallow water crossings and the canyons: one listing describes them, and it is the mountain half-day.
Ratings across the niche sit between 4.8 and 4.9, so a tenth of a point tells you very little. What separates a quad safari Rethymno listing from its neighbour is the route and the fare, and both are set out in the table above.
Common questions
Two listings name this town. The mountain half-day is $79 and the Panormos start with the Cave of Melidoni is $73, both for four hours. The Georgioupolis ATV run next door is $67. The cheapest listing anywhere on this site is $45, but it starts on the other side of the island.
Two of the twelve bookable in this niche carry Rethymno in their own listing, and one more is listed under Georgioupolis. The remaining nine start at Agia Pelagia, Heraklion, Malia, Hersonissos, Limenas Chersonisou, Kolymvari and Makry Gialos.
Half days only. All three options on this page run four hours, and nothing longer is listed from this side. The six-hour safari in this niche starts at Heraklion.
Not as a whole day. Four hours is the longest any of these three runs, so it fills a morning or an afternoon and leaves the rest of the day open. If you want a full day on a quad, the listings that offer one start elsewhere on the island.
Not in this niche. Every listing that names this town or the villages beside it runs four hours. The longest safari bookable anywhere here is six hours and it starts at Heraklion, which is a different town and a different booking.
No listing here carries you between the two towns. The Chania-side safari starts at Chania or Platanias and stays on that side; the two listings on this page start on this side and come back to where they started. A quad safari is a loop, not a transfer.
They are different days. The mountain half-day at $79 is built around driving through shallow waters and canyons, and holds 1,618 reviews at 4.8. The Panormos trip at $73 is built around the Cave of Melidoni and ten villages, with 332 reviews at 4.8.
Only what the operator has written. The mountain half-day names mountains, shallow water crossings and canyons with archaeological structures. The Panormos listing names the Cave of Melidoni, ten villages and a transfer in its title. Nothing beyond that is promised here.
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