An Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip links a lakeside town on the Gulf of Mirabello with a walled island off the coast of eastern Crete. If the holiday has more days to fill, look through the other tours in Greece.
This page covers what the day includes, how long it lasts and where guests are picked up, the town and Lake Voulismeni, the boat route across Mirabello Bay, the Venetian fortress, the leprosy colony, the walk on the island, the novel The Island, the weather, what to bring and the questions travellers ask.
What does an Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip include?
One operator’s Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip includes hotel pickup and drop-off and a modern bus. It adds a boat to Spinalonga, a tour guide, a swim stop with lunch and free time in town.
The same operator adds an olive oil factory stop. Guests taste the oil and see how it is produced. On the island, the tour guide leads the group through the stone walls and old buildings. The tour guide explains how the place served as a Venetian stronghold and later as a leper colony. The buses have air-conditioning.
Lunch is a barbecue at Kolokitha Bay. The menu offers chicken, a pork chop or a vegetarian burger. Each plate comes with Greek salad, plus wine or a soft drink. The boat stops there so everyone can swim before the island visit.
Another operator runs an Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip from Malia. A bus takes guests to the port of Agios Nikolaos, and a small ship crosses Mirabello Bay. The boat lunch brings a main dish, salad, fruit and a choice of wine or soft drinks. The operator also lists a tour guide and liability insurance.
The island entry ticket is not part of an Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip like these. Guests pay it on the spot. One operator says the entry is optional. A guest who skips the fortress can sit outside the walls with a coffee and look at the sea.
Entry is free for EU citizens up to 25 years old and for non-EU citizens up to 18. Guests show an ID or passport as proof of age.
A boat-only cruise from Agios Nikolaos harbour has a tour guide who speaks Dutch, English, French, Greek, German and Russian. That cruise does not include transport to the meeting point.
How long is the day, and where are guests picked up?
On one timetable, an Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip begins with morning pickup, from 8 to 9:20. It brings guests back between 6:30 and 7:10 in the evening.
That operator sets out the day like this. The boat leaves Elounda at 10:30 in the morning. Guests spend 1.5 hours swimming and eating at Kolokitha Bay. They reach Spinalonga for a visit of about 1.5 hours.
The boat is back in Elounda at 3 in the afternoon. After the olive oil tasting, the bus reaches Agios Nikolaos at 4:45 for one hour of free time. It leaves for the hotels at 5:45. The operator adds that the island can come before the swim stop, depending on how busy the island is.
The same operator lists pickups from Hersonissos, Malia, Stalida, Analipsi, Gouves, Gournes, Koutouloufari, Piskopiano, Anissaras, Kokkini Hani and Karteros. It also picks up in Heraklion and Ammoudara. Agia Pelagia and Lygaria have pickups on Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday.
The Malia operator says its Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip takes almost a whole day. Its bus collects guests at hotels along the main streets of Malia and near the main church. Departures are on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The road to the town is short. A travel site gives the distance from Heraklion airport to Agios Nikolaos as about 64 kilometres. Driving or taking a taxi there lasts between 45 and 60 minutes. One hotel blog says the town is 40 minutes away by car from its resort.
The boat-only cruise from Agios Nikolaos harbour is much shorter. It lasts 4.5 hours, and the operator tells guests to plan about 5 hours in all. The crew expects guests at the port at least 10 minutes before the boat leaves. Guests who book this Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip as a cruise travel to the harbour themselves.
What is there to see in Agios Nikolaos town?
An Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip takes you to a town built around Lake Voulismeni. The lake is round, 137 metres across, and a channel joins it to the harbour.
Locals call the lake simply “The Lake”. A story says it has no bottom, yet a university survey measured a depth of 48.8 metres. One myth has the goddess Athena taking a bath there. A little park higher up lets you look over the lake and the town at once.
Around the lake you find a park with a trail, an amphitheatre, ducks, pigeons, traditional fishing boats and cafes. On an Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip, the lake is the main attraction of the town centre. Around midnight, as Orthodox Easter Day begins, townspeople crowd the lakeside with fireworks.
Its channel is a sight on any Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip. The lake did not always touch the sea. A governor of Lasithi dug the first channel. French army soldiers built the wider canal in the early 20th century. Earlier crossings were a wooden footbridge and a lifting footbridge. A concrete road bridge opened later.
The Lasithi regional unit has Agios Nikolaos as its capital. A tour operator links its name to a small Byzantine church of Saint Nicholas. The church stands about two kilometres north of the centre and dates from the 9th century. The town has an archaeological museum and small beaches. Walking from the centre to Almyros beach takes about 20 minutes.
Walk the narrow streets for shops, tavernas and small harbours. A travel wiki lists a market on Wednesday morning and thyme honey as a local product. Film directors discovered the town in the 20th century, and The Moon-Spinners was filmed in nearby Elounda. The town gives the Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip its name.
Which way does the boat sail across Mirabello Bay to the island?
On an Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip, the boat crosses Mirabello Bay to Spinalonga. The island sits where the Gulf of Elounda meets the open sea on its north side. Boats leave from Agios Nikolaos, Elounda and Plaka.
No other bay among the Greek islands is bigger than Mirabello Bay. In the Mediterranean Sea only four are larger. Agios Nikolaos looks out over it.
One operator runs a cruise of 4.5 hours from the Agios Nikolaos port around the bay. It passes Barbarossa’s Cave and an island of Cretan Kri Kri goats, with a swim stop at Kolokytha Bay. The operator says weather decides the route, so every Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip by boat can differ.
Travellers on the Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip can also take the road. Driving from Agios Nikolaos to Elounda covers about 12 kilometres. The route hugs the coast while it climbs a small mountain. On a clear day, you see the whole bay. Plaka is 5 kilometres from Elounda’s central square, and it faces the island.
The shortest crossing starts at Plaka. Tourist boats leave from there every day, and the trip one way takes about ten minutes. Around 750 metres of water separate Plaka from Spinalonga. A resort blog says boats leave Plaka every half hour. The crossing from Agios Nikolaos itself is longer.
One operator sails from Elounda to Kolokitha Bay first, for a swim and lunch, and then on to Spinalonga. It says the order can switch, depending on how busy the island is. To the south, only a thin band of sea divides Spinalonga from Kolokitha island.
A travel blog says the boat circles the island clockwise before it docks at a small jetty. That sea crossing turns the Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip into a voyage, not only a drive.
What is Spinalonga, and why did Venice build a fortress there?
Spinalonga is a small rocky island in the Gulf of Elounda, in north-eastern Crete. Venice fortified it in the late sixteenth century. Today it is the main point of interest on an Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip.
The island measures 85,000 square metres in total, and its top stands about 50 metres above the sea. Plaka, on the mainland, lies across roughly 750 metres of water. The name began as a Greek phrase meaning “to Elounda”. To Venetian ears it sounded like “spina longa”, which means “long thorn”.
Venice had held Crete since the early thirteenth century. In the mid fifteenth century it built salt pans in the shallow gulf, and the area gained value. Pirates raided the coast again and again. After Constantinople fell, the Turks also became a danger. So Venice decided to fortify the island.
Genese Bressani, an engineer, drew up the plans. The foundation stone went down on the ruins of an ancient acropolis. Later the Venetians added fortifications on the hilltop. With 35 cannons, the fort became a leading sea fort in the Mediterranean. Travellers on an Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip can still explore these fortifications.
During the Cretan War the Ottomans took the remainder of Crete, yet Spinalonga, Gramvousa and Souda stayed Venetian. Christians fled to these forts to escape persecution. In the early eighteenth century Venice gave up Spinalonga by agreement. The deal promised the people inside safe passage to Corfu. The Ottomans broke it and killed or enslaved the locals.
Anyone on an Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip stands on the last Venetian fortress of Crete. Ottoman families settled there, and 80 Muslim families lived on the island at one point. The Turks called it “Spirlonga”. Later the island became a base for traffickers, and the last of them stayed until the early twentieth century.
How did Spinalonga become an island for people with leprosy?
In the early twentieth century the Cretan state ordered that people with leprosy be isolated on Spinalonga. The first 251 patients arrived a year later. Every Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip now visits the place where they lived.
The state followed Edvard Ehlers, a Danish dermatologist who argued for keeping patients apart. The remaining Muslim families had to leave. Families of the patients avoided mentioning the connection. Officials erased the patients from the civil lists of their birthplaces. Locals called the island “the island of the living dead”.
Patients landed at the southern dock. Later they swept the streets and whitewashed every building. They built homes from the stones of the old Muslim houses and kept a graveyard. A yellow flag flying over the summit warned travellers about leprosy. Fishing was banned within 200 metres of the shore.
The island that an Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip visits was built for isolation, not for healing. Conditions were squalid. Patients lived alone in their own homes. They relied on rainwater and on shipments from the mainland. At first there was no hospital. Later Dr Grammatikakis arrived and offered medical care.
Then a young law student named Epaminodas Remoundakis arrived, ill with leprosy himself. He formed a patients’ society, named the Brotherhood of the Sick, to organise daily life. Remoundakis also lobbied the government, which let patients marry and open businesses. On an Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip, visitors can explore the houses of that community.
The Second World War brought hunger. After the war, new treatments weakened the isolation rules. The patients moved to a station at Agia Varvara in Attica. The colony closed after more than 50 years. A priest stayed five years longer, and nobody has lived there since. Today an Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip visits an empty island.
What do you see when you walk around Spinalonga?
On an Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip, you land at a small jetty. A short dark tunnel then leads into the fortress. Inside you see old churches, an Ottoman residence, a cemetery and a Venetian garrison room.
Inside the walls, the first part of the visit is the old buildings. One travel blog names Saint Panteleimonas, the Ottoman residence, the leper colony cemetery and a garrison room from Venetian times. It also names the Church of Agios Georgios. Information boards are scarce, so a tour guide makes the stones easier to read.
One tour operator says its official tour guide leads the group through the stone walls and historic buildings. On another operator’s boat trip, paying the island fee also lets you visit the Interpretive Centre. There you learn about the settlements of the people who lived with the illness and survived it.
Time on the island differs by operator. On an Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip, one operator plans about 1 and a half hours on Spinalonga. Another plans a walk of about 1 hour. Either way, the island is small. It covers only 85,000 square metres, and its highest point is about 50 metres above the sea.
A path runs round the island. During the leper colony years, the brotherhood of the sick won permission from the Greek government. The residents then demolished a section of the medieval fortifications and built this path around the perimeter. Today an Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip lets you follow that route along the coast.
On an Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip, one operator suggests the upper level for the widest views. Along the way you pass fig trees, cypress, olive and pine.
Later, the remains of the dead were moved to a bone store beside the graveyard. Money from the European Union paid to repair 16 structures, and to improve access.
How is the novel The Island linked to Spinalonga?
Victoria Hislop’s novel The Island is set on Spinalonga and in the nearby village of Plaka. Plaka faces the island across the bay. An Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip shows you the places of the story.
The Island is a historical novel by Victoria Hislop, first published in the United Kingdom. At the British Book Awards, it took the prize for Newcomer of the Year. Readers bought millions of copies, and publishers released it in 25 languages.
The story follows Alexis Fielding, who is 25. On her first visit to Crete, she goes to Plaka, the village where her mother, Sofia, grew up. There she learns that the deserted island opposite was Greece’s leper colony for much of the 20th century.
An old friend of her mother, Fotini, tells her the whole tragic story of Eleni. It is also the story of a family torn apart by tragedy, war and passion. The novel makes a visit to this island feel personal for a reader. That is why people book an Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip after reading it.
Mega Channel Greece made a 26-episode television series from the book, called To Nisi, which means The Island. It was filmed on location in Crete. The first episode aired on 11 October. The series gave the story a second audience beyond the readers of the book.
Tourism grew after the book. An encyclopedia entry credits the rise to the novel, but calls its version of the island’s story romanticised and erroneous. A study by UNESCO showed that 22% of visitors arrived because of the media adaptations of the story.
Spinalonga now ranks second in Crete for visitors, after the Palace of Knossos, and sixth in Greece. For anyone planning an Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip, the novel and the real history are two different tellings.
When is the sea calm, and what do you bring for the day?
The weather sets the sea on an Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip. One boat operator says its cruise length and route depend on the weather. Pack for sun, wind and a walk.
One tour operator says an Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip changes very rarely, and only because of weather. It names heavy rain in spring, at the start of the season, and in September and October, at the end. Nobody can promise a calm day in advance, so check the forecast before you go.
Plan for sun and wind on an Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip. A travel blog says the island is open to both and has little shade. Wikipedia lists only sparse foliage there: fig, cypress, olive and pine trees. Wear a hat, bring sun cream and keep a bottle of water in your bag.
A small shop and cafe stand near the dock, and there are toilets. The blog still advises carrying your own water and snacks, because the island has little else to offer.
One operator’s packing list names walking shoes, a swimsuit, a towel, a hat, sun protection and a camera. A second operator adds sunglasses, a bottle of water, medicine and snacks or lunch. A hotel blog suggests a swimsuit for the pebble beach at Plaka or Driros Beach after the island visit.
A travel wiki has one more tip for a windy day near Agios Nikolaos. It says to choose a pebble beach over a sand beach.
What else do travellers ask about an Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip?
What is the sunken ancient city of Olous?
Olous, an ancient Greek city, was the first recorded settlement where Elounda stands today. Late in ancient Greek times, the sea swallowed the bulk of it. Part of it is still visible when diving in the bay of Elounda. A hotel blog says that on a calm, clear day the ruins show just beneath the surface.
Where is Plaka village?
Plaka is a small Cretan fishing village on the coast. Heading north from Elounda’s central square, it lies just 5 km away. It overlooks the island of Spinalonga and the Kolokitha peninsula. Around 750 metres of water separate the island from Plaka. Travellers on an Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip see the village from the water.
What is the hill village of Kritsa?
Kritsa is 10 km from Agios Nikolaos, 375 metres up. It stands on the rock hill Kastellos, in olive groves. Weaving art thrives here, and the village ranks among its important centres. Panagia Kera, a Byzantine church before the village, holds frescos from the 13th and 14th centuries. On the way to Tapes or Lato lies the Kritsa Gorge.
Is the Spinalonga peninsula the same as the island?
No. The island and the Spinalonga peninsula (“large Spinalonga”) share one name, which causes confusion. The island covers about 85,000 square metres. It sits in the area of Kalydon, with the peninsula and Kolokythas island. Both places belong to the municipality of Agios Nikolaos, which an Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip links.
Does the island walk suit children or people who find steps hard?
One operator rates its tour unsuitable for anyone with walking problems. The island is rocky, with steep cliffs on the north side. Its top is about 50 metres above the sea. One boat operator asks that every minor travel with an adult. Ask about the walk before you book an Agios Nikolaos and Spinalonga day trip.