A Spinalonga day trip crosses by boat from Plaka, Elounda or Agios Nikolaos to a walled island off the coast of Crete. Browse tours in Greece to compare other ideas.
This page covers what a Spinalonga day trip is, how the day runs, the island and its Venetian fortress, the leper colony years, what to see inside, Plaka and Elounda, Agios Nikolaos and the tour types.
What is a Spinalonga day trip, and how does it work?
A Spinalonga day trip is a boat visit to a small fortress island in the Gulf of Elounda, northeast Crete. You sail from Plaka, Elounda or Agios Nikolaos, walk the island, and add a swim or lunch on longer tours.
The simplest Spinalonga day trip is a boat ticket. You go to the harbour, board a boat and cross. Boats leave every half hour from Plaka and Elounda, and Agios Nikolaos has departures too. The boat ticket and the entrance ticket are separate. You pay the entrance ticket at the small jetty where the boat docks.
On the island you can walk alone or with a tour guide. Information signs explain the island’s past for those on their own, and a guided tour can be booked. Packaged trips add transport and extra stops. A coach picks you up in the morning, and the tour guide leads the walk.
A longer Spinalonga day trip adds more sea time. Day trips from Agios Nikolaos can add lunch and a swim off the beaches along Kolokytha. Other boat trips include an excursion around the Kolokytha Peninsula. Spinalonga is not large, so walking the fortifications and taking in the views does not take long.
How long is a Spinalonga day trip, and where does it start?
A Spinalonga day trip lasts two to four hours as a boat visit. A guided day with lunch runs more than eight hours. Boats start from Plaka, Elounda or Agios Nikolaos. A coach tour from Heraklion picks you up around 8:30 in the morning.
The crossing is short, and boats make frequent trips. From Plaka, directly opposite the island, the boat takes 10 to 15 minutes. Plaka is the closest and quickest departure point. Allow 90 minutes to two hours to walk the island. The first boats leave around nine or ten, and the last leave around five or six in the evening.
Where a Spinalonga day trip starts changes the clock. Elounda is a longer sail than Plaka, and Plaka sits 5 km north of Elounda’s main square. From Agios Nikolaos the journey depends on whether you stop for a swim and lunch. Elounda has scheduled bus services to both Plaka and Agios Nikolaos through the day.
A Spinalonga day trip by coach from Heraklion fills the whole day. The coach reaches Elounda around 10:15. The boat leaves at 10:30 and lands at 10:50. The tour guide walks the island with you for about an hour. A swim, lunch and a stop in Agios Nikolaos follow. The return is around 6:00 pm.
What is Spinalonga island, and why did the Venetians fortify it?
Spinalonga is a small rocky island on the north-eastern side of Crete, guarding the northern entrance to the Elounda gulf. The Venetians fortified it to guard the harbour from invaders and pirates. A Spinalonga day trip lands inside those walls.
It is tiny: just 85,000 square metres, with the highest ground about 50 metres above the water. From the coast, a Spinalonga day trip shows the remains of a sixteenth-century Venetian fortress. The Venetians also gave the island its name, which they shaped from the Greek phrase for “to Elounda”.
The Senate of Venice voted to fortify Spinalonga in the late sixteenth century. Ottoman power was rising, and the pirate Hayreddin Barbarossa had plundered shores in eastern Crete. Gunpowder had also changed how forts were built, so the Venetians used the bastion system.
Much of the stone came from Spinalonga itself, and the walls rose over the ruins of an acropolis. The finished fort held 35 cannons. The Ephorate of Antiquities of Lasithi says pirate raids then dropped sharply. The empty shores of the gulf were farmed and settled.
The Venetians held Spinalonga after Ottoman forces won the rest of Crete. A three-month siege ended their rule in the early eighteenth century. The size of those walls surprises people arriving on a Spinalonga day trip.
What was the Spinalonga leper colony, and how does a Spinalonga day trip tell its story?
The Spinalonga leper colony was a settlement where people with leprosy lived in isolation for more than fifty years. A Spinalonga day trip tells their story through ruined houses, a hospital building, a church and a cemetery.
Early in the twentieth century, the government of Crete sent all people with leprosy there to live on the island. The Ephorate says the empty Ottoman houses were one reason. The first 251 people arrived the following year. Leprosy carried deep stigma, so families avoided speaking of it. Their names left the registers of their own towns.
At first the island offered isolation, not treatment, and conditions were harsh. In the nineteen thirties a law student with leprosy, Epaminondas Remoundakis, helped found the Brotherhood of the Sick. A Spinalonga day trip still shows the school, shops and tavernas that a community of around 400 people built.
The last patients, about thirty, moved to a hospital in Athens in nineteen fifty-seven. On a Spinalonga day trip, signs on the island tell this past. A small museum shows photographs and everyday objects. A tour guide recounts the island’s past, and a plaque at the cemetery remembers those buried there.
What is there to see inside the fortress on a Spinalonga day trip?
A Spinalonga day trip leads through a tunnel into a Venetian fortress. Inside are ruined houses, a hospital, a church and a cemetery. Signs along the path explain the old settlement, and a small museum shows photographs and everyday objects.
The size of the walls comes as a surprise. One travel site says the medieval fortification takes visitors aback on arrival. Dante’s Gate is the tunnel that was the entrance to the old leper colony. Past it, a path of 1.5 km follows the island’s edge, and a Spinalonga day trip walks that path.
The clockwise route brings you to the main settlement, where renovated houses now hold the museum. The community of around 400 people built a school, shops and tavernas, and you can still see them. Further on stand the hospital and St George’s, a small church built by the Venetians. The cemetery has a plaque for those buried there.
The Venetian builders left their marks too. Two inscriptions record the laying of the first stone. One sits on the top beam of the main gate, and the other on the base of the northern rampart. One visitor account also lists a garrison room from the Venetian time and an Ottoman residence.
A tour guide can be booked on the island. One visitor who missed the guided tour found only scattered placards and learned little of the history. A Spinalonga day trip with a tour guide fills that gap.
What do Plaka and Elounda add to a Spinalonga day trip?
Plaka is the fishing village directly across from the island, with tavernas and pebbled beaches. Elounda is the nearby town with seafood tavernas by the bay and the sunken ruins of ancient Olous. Both add a meal and a swim to a Spinalonga day trip.
Plaka is only 5 km from the central square of Elounda, heading north. It overlooks the island and the Kolokytha peninsula, and a traditional taverna there has a view of Spinalonga. Boats for a Spinalonga day trip leave from this village.
A resort travel blog suggests swimsuits for the pebbled beach in Plaka or for Driros Beach. The road into Elounda from Agios Nikolaos is about 12 km long and climbs along the shore. On a clear day it shows all of Mirabello Bay.
Boats leave from Elounda as well as Plaka on a Spinalonga day trip. One coach tour from Heraklion drives to Elounda to board the boat. Public buses also run between Elounda, Plaka and Agios Nikolaos through the day.
The sea near Elounda holds ancient history. Olous was an ancient city here, and the sea took the bigger part of it. In calm, clear weather its ruins are still visible just beneath the surface, the resort blog says. The island and the Kolokytha peninsula formed a natural barrier that protected Olous.
What does Agios Nikolaos add to a Spinalonga day trip?
Agios Nikolaos adds a town stop to a Spinalonga day trip. The coach tour from Heraklion spends about one hour there, after the island and the swim. Guests can browse the local market or sit in a lakeside cafe.
Lake Voulismeni fills a round basin in the heart of Agios Nikolaos. A local story calls the lake bottomless, but a university survey measured 48.8 metres at its deepest point. French soldiers dug the channel that joins the lake to the harbour. Legend has it that Athena, the goddess, once bathed here.
A Spinalonga day trip that ends in town swaps ruins for cafe tables. Cafes stand near the port and look over the gulf toward the Elounda Lagoon. Narrow alleys mix Venetian and Ottoman buildings, and a shopping zone holds tavernas, bars and small shops.
The town looks over Mirabello Bay. No bay on the Greek islands is bigger, and it ranks fifth in the Mediterranean. A shore road of about 12 km links Agios Nikolaos with Elounda. Day trips also leave from Agios Nikolaos itself. A trip that includes lunch adds a swim off the beaches along Kolokytha.
Which tour types run a Spinalonga day trip, from the boat only to a coach tour from Heraklion?
A Spinalonga day trip is a boat-only trip, a boat day with lunch, or a coach tour from Heraklion. The coach tour adds a bus ride, a tour guide, a barbecue and a stop in Agios Nikolaos.
The boat-only version is the shortest kind. Boats leave Elounda about every 30 minutes, and Plaka also has regular crossings. A ticket tour for the island is listed at two to four hours. Fishing trips and private cruises run alongside.
A Spinalonga day trip by coach starts with a pick-up around 8:30 in the morning. The coach follows the coast east, through the St George gorge, to the fishing village of Elounda. It arrives around 10:15, and the boat leaves at 10:30.
A tour guide leads a walk on the island of around one hour. The boat then goes to Kolokytha bay for two hours. Guests swim and eat a barbecue of chicken, pork or a vegetarian dish. Agios Nikolaos follows, and the day ends around six in the evening.
Two versions of the Spinalonga day trip run by coach. The first is a full guided tour with lunch. The second has no food and makes the island visit optional. Both include Agios Nikolaos. A different listing puts a guided day with seaside villages and lunch at more than eight hours.
What else do travellers ask about a Spinalonga day trip?
Which season suits a Spinalonga day trip, and how hot and windy is it?
One travel page recommends going from April through June, or in September and October, for a Spinalonga day trip. It says the island gets busy in peak summer. For July and August, it advises going in the morning or late afternoon.
The island has very little shade, and the coasts of Crete get very windy. A travel writer called it extremely exposed to sun and wind. One visitor in late October wore trousers and a light cardigan. The official site adds that a visit depends on weather conditions and the boat timetable.
What clothes and gear does a Spinalonga day trip need, and who is the walk suited to?
Wear comfortable shoes or trainers, because the path can be slippery. Pack a hat, sun cream, sunglasses and a water bottle. The official site lists a shop with maps, cards and souvenirs. One page says to bring your own water and snacks.
Surfaces can be uneven. Visitors with disabilities can follow the main perimeter road but not explore the interior. The official site says a tour along that road is possible. One page calls the visit suitable for children, though more interesting for older children because of the historical theme.
When is the island open for a Spinalonga day trip, and is the ticket separate from the boat?
For a Spinalonga day trip, the site opens every day between April and October, from 8:30 to 18:00. The Ephorate of Antiquities of Lasithi lists these hours on its official site. From November to March the site is closed, but groups can visit on request.
It is also closed on days such as New Year’s Day, 25 March, Easter Sunday and Christmas Day. On Good Friday it opens at noon. The entrance ticket is separate from the boat fare. A reduced ticket exists for European Union citizens over 65 who present an ID card or a passport.
Can you swim on a Spinalonga day trip, and where is the beach near Plaka?
One page says swimming is done from the nearby beaches in Plaka or Elounda, not on the island itself. Plaka lies directly across from the island and has pebbly beaches. A resort blog suggests sunbathing on the pebbled beach there or at Driros Beach.
Pack swimwear and a towel if you fancy a swim. Day trips from Agios Nikolaos can add lunch and a swim off the beaches along Kolokytha. A coach tour from Heraklion stops at Kolokytha bay for two hours of swimming and a barbecue lunch.
Which languages and audio options can you use on a Spinalonga day trip?
The language of a Spinalonga day trip depends on the tour. A coach tour page lists English, French, German and Polish. A ticket listing offers German, English and French plus two more. One page calls a tour guide not necessary but helpful for the stories behind the buildings.
The same official site links a digital tour app for portable devices. The app is on Google Play and the Apple App Store. Its makers list Greek, English, French, German and Russian, plus a quiz and a treasure hunt for young visitors.