Rethymno and Fortezza tour reviews
Six tours are sold to visitors who want the Fortezza, and only one of them takes the inside of the fortress as its subject. The other five walk past it, ride up to it, photograph it from the ring road, or stop in town for an hour on the way back from somewhere else. Below is what each one actually gives you access to. Before you read any of them, know that you can pay at the gate and walk in on your own — the ticket page has that number.
The six tours, one line each
Fortezza: Explore the Fortress of Rethymno with a Certified Guide
The only tour whose subject is the inside of the fortress, and the only one that covers the gate ticket. New, with a single review so far.
from €55Read the full review ›
Rethymno: Old Town Segway Tour
The best-reviewed tour in Rethymno by a wide margin. Three hours, town and waterfront, and the Fortezza as a photo stop. Weight and age limits apply.
from €65Read the full review ›
Rethymno: Guided Walking Tour in the Old Town Area
Two slow hours through the Venetian and Ottoman streets with a guide who grew up here. Fortezza admission is not part of it.
from €50Read the full review ›
Rethymno: e-Bike Tour on the Old City
The cheapest guided option, and the one that adds the coastal road. The motor does the climb up Paleokastro hill for you.
from €45Read the full review ›
Day Trip to Preveli & Damnoni Beach & Rethymno City Tour
A beach day that still gives Rethymno a guided walk and an hour and a half of free time afterwards. Boat tickets to Preveli are included.
from €50Read the full review ›
Crete: Chania, Lake Kournas and Rethymno Tour
The most booked and the lowest rated. Good value for a long day covering three places, but Rethymno gets 75 minutes and the Fortezza needs more.
from €40Read the full review ›How I judge these
I live in Rethymno old town and I have been walking people up to the Fortezza since 2009, so my test is narrow: does the tour get you inside the walls, and does it tell you anything the signboards do not. Admission is about €5 at the gate and there is no online booking for the site itself, which means a guided tour is the only thing you can reserve in advance. That single fact decides most of these reviews. If a tour costs €50 and leaves you outside the gate, it is a town tour, and I say so.
Ratings and review counts on this page are the numbers GetYourGuide showed in August 2026. I have not adjusted any of them. Where a tour has a thin sample, such as the guided Fortezza tour, I say the sample is thin rather than treating a perfect score as proof of anything. Where a tour has hundreds of reviews and a mediocre average, I go into the reviews and explain what the complaints have in common.
What none of these tours can do
None of them lets you into the Fortezza outside opening hours, and none of them changes what the ground is like. It is rocky, unpaved and uphill, there is almost no shade, and the operators of both day trips state plainly that their tours are not suitable for wheelchair users. Read what to wear before you book anything, and check the hours if you are travelling between November and February.
If you are staying in Rethymno itself, ignore the two coach day trips. They exist to bring people here from the Heraklion resorts, and starting one from the town they are driving to wastes your morning.
Still deciding between them
The short version: the guided fortress tour if you want the inside explained, the Segway or the e-bike if you want ground covered quickly, the walking tour if you want to stop and look at doorways. All six compared sits on one page, and what a day here costs puts the tour prices next to the gate ticket and the bus fares.
Can’t make these dates?
Browse more available Fortezza Rethymno tour and find one that fits your schedule — all with instant confirmation and free cancellation.
Frequently asked questions
Which Rethymno tour actually goes inside the Fortezza?
Only the certified-guide fortress tour takes the interior as its subject, and it is the only one that includes the admission ticket. The Segway tour treats the Fortezza as a photo stop and the e-bike route climbs to it. The walking tour ends below it. See the full review of the fortress tour.
Do I need a tour at all to see the Fortezza?
No. You can pay about €5 at the gate and walk in, and plenty of people should do exactly that. A guide is worth paying for if you want the 1,307 metres of wall, the 1646 siege and the cathedral-to-mosque conversion explained. Whether the Fortezza is worth it goes through that in more detail.
Are these reviews independent?
Yes. I am not a tour operator and I do not sell the gate ticket. Bookings go through GetYourGuide and I earn a small commission if you use my links, which is stated on the affiliate disclosure page. It does not change what I write about the 4.4-rated coach day.
Which tour suits someone based in Hersonissos or Malia?
One of the two day trips, because they are the only ones with pickup from the Heraklion-side resorts. The Preveli trip gives Rethymno more than two hours; the Chania and Lake Kournas trip gives it 75 minutes. Both are covered on the all tours page.