A Crete Greek night is an evening of buffet dinner, wine, live folk music and dancing, booked as a trip with hotel pick-up. Find more trip ideas on Greece Tours.
Below we compare the trips from Heraklion, Chania and Rethymno. We also cover the dances, the food, the languages, the age rules, the pick-up and the booking cut-offs.
What is a Crete Greek night, and how is it different from a Cretan night?
A Crete Greek night is an evening trip with a buffet dinner, wine, live folk music and a dance show. It is sold with hotel pick-up. A Cretan night is the village version, built around the lyra and the island dances.
Operators sell the two under different names. One Heraklion listing is titled Live Traditional Folklore Show, Buffet Dinner & Wine, while its web address reads heraklion-greek-night-with-buffet-dinner-wine-dance-show. The same evening carries both labels.
A Rick Steves forum reply says Greek nights run in resort areas. Guests there come to see plate smashing and Zorba music. The lyra, the costumes and the five island dances sit on the Cretan night page.
This page covers the booking side of a Crete Greek night. It compares the trips by start town, length, language, age rules and booking cut-off.
Which Crete Greek night trips leave from Heraklion and the north coast?
Six GetYourGuide trips run from the Heraklion side, and each one includes pick-up. They differ in length, from 3 to 8 hours. They also differ in the village that hosts the dinner.
The Live Traditional Folklore Show with Buffet Dinner & Wine runs 3 to 5.5 hours. It is wheelchair accessible and must be booked at least 3 hours ahead. Its listing promises unlimited local wine and dancers who invite guests to learn the steps. This Crete Greek night is the shortest on the Heraklion side.
The Traditional Dance Show and Buffet Dinner with Wine runs 3 to 8 hours and lists English, German and French. Four more Heraklion trips run as follows:
- From Heraklion: Cretan Night with Dinner & Live Show, 7 hours, in the village of Karouzana, wheelchair accessible.
- From Heraklion: Cretan Village Dinner with Music & Dancers, 6.5 to 8 hours.
- Karouzana folklore night with Heraklion pick-up and drop-off, 6.5 hours, children 4 and younger free.
- Traditional Dinner, Live Music & Dance Show From Heraklion, 6 hours, in Pano Karouzano.
The listings spell the village Karouzana, Karouzanos and Pano Karouzano. They name the same village.
Which Crete Greek night trips leave from Chania and Rethymno?
Chania guests join the Argyroupoli folklore night buffet, a 6-hour trip with pick-up and drop-off in Chania. Rethymno guests choose a 6-hour night of music, food and dancing, or the Viator night with a local guide.
The Argyroupoli trip lists English, Czech, Hungarian, Romanian and Russian. Children 4 and younger join free but must still be added to the booking. The listing promises music, dancing and dinner with wine.
The Rethymno Crete Greek night is titled From Rethymno: Cretan Night Music, Food & Dancing. It lists English, includes pick-up and shows a folklore performance over dinner. Viator sells a Rethymno night with dinner and live music under a title that names a local guide.
A Chania evening without a show also exists. The Evening Feasts walk runs 4 hours for a small group in English and Greek. It ends with a taverna feast and baklava, and it is not a dance night.
Which Viator dinner shows and village venues add to the Crete Greek night list?
Viator lists two Heraklion dinner shows, the Troy Dinner-Show and the Spectacular Dinner-Show. It also lists a Rethymno night with a local guide. Village venues in Anopolis, Axos and Koutouloufari run Greek nights too.
The Viator cards below carry free cancellation on each listing. The two Heraklion cards are titled dinner shows, so they sit apart from the folk-dance evenings above.
Volanna Travel names four venues. Anopolis stages dances from every corner of Greece in costume. The show runs in a village theatre after a buffet with wine and raki. Axos is a mountain village where guests eat under olive trees and hear the lyra.
Chania has a Zorbas night, held in a seaside taverna or a mountain village square. Koutouloufari, in the Heraklion area, hosts a Greek village night. Volanna calls it welcoming to families, couples and anyone who wants folk dancing and live music.
How long does a Crete Greek night last, door to door?
A Crete Greek night lasts from 3 hours to 8 hours. The shortest is a folklore show, and the longest is a dance show with transfers. Village trips from Heraklion run 6 to 8 hours.
Length depends on the bus ride and on the extra stop. These are the listed durations:
- Olive Oil Factory Tour, Dinner & Traditional Dancing: 4 hours.
- Chania and Rethymno Argyroupoli folklore buffet: 6 hours.
- From Rethymno: Cretan Night Music, Food & Dancing: 6 hours.
- Olive Oil Festival, Farm Dinner, Live Show & Pickup: 6 hours.
- From Heraklion village dinner trips: 6.5 to 8 hours.
The Live Traditional Folklore Show has the shortest listed range, from 3 hours. The longest range, up to 8 hours, belongs to the Heraklion dance show with buffet.
Do Crete Greek night shows still smash plates?
Plate smashing is rarer in Greece today, and plaster plates replace china at weddings, according to Wikipedia. A Chania listing still sells a Plate smashing Greek Night with Dancing Buffet Dinner.
Wikipedia says the custom peaked in the nineteen sixties and seventies. It describes plate smashing as the stereotype that foreigners hold of Greece.
Volanna Travel promises broken plates, real ones, at the Anopolis night, together with dancing on tables. Read each Crete Greek night listing before you book. If plate smashing matters to you, pick a trip whose description names it.
Which dances does a Crete Greek night add to the Cretan ones?
A Crete Greek night adds the sirtaki and the hasapiko to the island dances. The sirtaki was choreographed for the film Zorba the Greek in nineteen sixty-four. The hasapiko is the older butcher’s dance.
Wikipedia calls the sirtaki a mix of the syrtos and the slow and fast rhythms of the hasapiko. Mikis Theodorakis composed the music. The dance is also called Zorba’s dance.
The film follows Zorba, a boisterous Cretan peasant played by Anthony Quinn. Michael Cacoyannis directed it from a novel by Nikos Kazantzakis. At a Chania Zorbas night, Volanna says, the sirtaki begins slowly and then speeds up.
The hasapiko began in the Middle Ages as a battle mime with swords, performed by the Greek butchers’ guild. The pentozali and the other island dances sit on the Cretan music page.
What is on the table at a Crete Greek night?
A Crete Greek night serves a buffet dinner with local wine. Two Heraklion listings promise unlimited wine, and the Crete.life menu adds baked meats, vegetables, cheese, rusks and tzatziki.
Crete.life calls the food simple and homely. The tables hold baked meats, fresh and stewed vegetables, Cretan cheese, rusks, tzatziki and olive oil. Homemade wine and raki come with the meal while the lyra plays.
The Olive Oil Factory Tour serves a hearty buffet after its tasting of oil, honey and wine. The Olive Oil Festival serves a farm dinner. The Chania Evening Feasts walk samples cheeses and loukoumades before its taverna feast.
Read the dinner line of each Crete Greek night before you book. The listings name a buffet, a village dinner or a farm dinner.
Can you learn the steps before a Crete Greek night show?
Yes. The Arolithos dance lesson teaches Cretan and Greek dances in 2 hours. The Heraklion folklore show also invites guests to learn the steps of its dances during the evening.
The lesson is titled Heraklion Crete: Cretan and Greek Dance Lesson at Arolithos. It takes place in the Traditional Cretan Village of Arolithos. It adds a visit to the Rural History and Folk Craft Museum.
The listing offers English and Greek, with a private group or a small group. You must book online at least 10 hours ahead. Children 2 and younger join free but need a place in the booking.
The Cretan Village Dinner trip from Heraklion is a Crete Greek night with a dance circle. It invites guests to dance with Cretans. Volanna describes dancers who call guests into the circle at the Axos night.
Which Crete Greek night adds an olive oil mill or a winery?
Two trips add an olive oil stop. One is the Olive Oil Festival with a farm dinner and live show. The other is the Olive Oil Factory Tour with dinner and traditional dancing. A third listing names a winery tour.
The Olive Oil Festival runs 6 hours from Heraklion. Guests visit an olive oil mill, try local dishes and wines, and watch traditional dancing. The listing offers English, French and German, and children 3 and younger join free.
The Olive Oil Factory Tour is an evening with a local family. Guests learn about olive oil, honey and wine, then eat a hearty buffet with live music and dancing. It lasts 4 hours, lists English and is wheelchair accessible.
The Rethymno trip carries from-rethymno-winery-tour-cretan-folk-show-with-dinner in its address. Its title speaks of music, food and dancing, so check the listing for the winery stop.
Which languages does a Crete Greek night use?
Songs and music run in Greek, and staff speak English, according to Crete.life. Tour listings add German, French, Czech, Hungarian, Romanian or Russian, depending on the trip.
Crete.life says every song on its Karouzana night is in Greek, while the staff help guests in English.
- English, German and French: the Heraklion dance show with buffet, the Cretan Village Dinner, the Karouzana folklore night and the Olive Oil Festival.
- English, Czech, Hungarian, Romanian and Russian: the Argyroupoli folklore buffet from Chania.
- English only: the Rethymno night, the Pano Karouzano show and the Olive Oil Factory Tour.
- English and Greek: the Arolithos dance lesson.
Can children and wheelchair users join a Crete Greek night?
Yes, on selected trips. Five listings let young children join free. Three trips are wheelchair accessible. They are the Live Traditional Folklore Show, the Karouzana night from Heraklion and the Olive Oil Factory Tour.
The free-child age differs by trip. Children 4 and younger join free on the Karouzana folklore night and the Argyroupoli buffet. Children 3 and younger join free on the Olive Oil Festival. Children 2 and younger join free on the Olive Oil Factory Tour and the dance lesson.
Crete.life advises against taking very young children, aged 0 to 5, to its Crete Greek night at Karouzana. The reason it gives is that the music and dancing tire them. Its infants up to 4 travel free on a parent’s lap.
More ideas for a family week sit on the Crete with kids page.
How do you book a Crete Greek night, and when must you reserve?
Book online on the listing page. Every GetYourGuide trip here shows free cancellation. The booking cut-off runs from 3 hours to 24 hours before the start, depending on the trip.
The cut-off differs by listing. These are the times shown:
- 3 hours ahead: the Live Traditional Folklore Show.
- 5 hours ahead: the Cretan Village Dinner with Music & Dancers.
- 10 hours ahead: the Karouzana nights, the Traditional Dance Show, the Rethymno night, the Argyroupoli buffet, the Olive Oil Festival and the dance lesson.
- 24 hours ahead: the Olive Oil Factory Tour.
Crete.life sends tickets by e-mail or WhatsApp. It asks guests who book less than 24 hours before the trip to contact the manager first. Pick the evening that fits your week on Crete.
Where is the pick-up for a Crete Greek night, and when do you get back?
Pick-up for a Crete Greek night sits near large hotels, major roads, squares and bus stops in the tourist areas. On the Crete.life Karouzana night, guests reach the hotel after 23:00.
Crete.life lists the towns that join its Karouzana night, including Fodele, Milatos, Gournes and Kokkini Hani. Guests whose hotel, villa or apartment lies outside the tourist areas contact the operator by WhatsApp or e-mail. Together they agree a meeting point.
Exact pick-up details come with the travel documents. At certain stops the bus halts at the hotel door. At others, guests walk to the nearest central street, square or car park.
Crete.life asks guests to bring a camera and warm clothes in case it gets cold late in the evening. For bars after the show, see the Crete nightlife page.
What do travellers ask about a Crete Greek night?
Is a Crete Greek night a guided tour?
Not on every trip. Crete.life describes its Karouzana night as a leisure trip with no dedicated tour guide. The Viator Rethymno night names a local guide in its title.
Which Crete Greek night suits a short evening?
The Olive Oil Factory Tour runs 4 hours, and the Live Traditional Folklore Show starts at 3 hours. The Karouzana trips from Heraklion take 6 to 7 hours with the bus ride.
What is the Troy Dinner Show in Hersonissos?
The Alar dinner-show channel on YouTube names the TROY Dinner Show at the ALAR Theatre in Hersonissos. It also names a show called Spectacular. Viator lists a Troy Dinner-Show and a Spectacular Dinner-Show from Heraklion.
Can an infant join a Crete Greek night?
Yes, on listings with an infant category. The Cretan Village Dinner and the Live Traditional Folklore Show list one in the booking. The Pano Karouzano show lists adults and children only.
Can you watch a Greek night without dinner?
The listings sell the show with dinner. Each trip above names a dinner in its title or summary.