Cretan Destination Retreats - Villa Koukouvayia

My wife and I came to Crete to visit in 2019 and because we wanted to see those parts of the island that are off the tourist-radar, we connected with Richard & Heidi and asked them to guide and organize our visit and suggest some daily itineraries. And that was a great choice. Within a few weeks Richard & Heidi had taken us up the trails, to the tavernas, and showed us so many of the hidden beauties of the ‘real’ Crete, that my wife and I decided not just to come back, but to build a home here for our post retirement years! As Richard often says, “Crete is more than just the photo on a post-card; it is the well-written letter on the back.” Since that time, we’ve returned frequently, exploring the island more, looking for land, and making all the connections necessary to move that complicated project forward. And each time we come, we’ve used Richard & Heidi to help us see the letter on the back of that post-card, and explore the island further—and we’ve used their advice as we chose our property. In each case, their recommendations have been shaped around our needs, and have been spot-on. They not only know where to go—the best trails, the best beaches, the best tavernas—they know when to go, how to get there, and who to see. They’ve truly become residents here as they’ve created their own home—learning the language, making friends, and so obviously falling in love with the island and its people. It’s quite contagious! The number of times we’ve been out on some mountain or in some little village with them and a farmer or the baker or an old person at the café calls out and greets them as friends is amazing. They’ve been instrumental, too, in how we’ve progressed in our land purchase and house project—going beyond to suggest contractors and subcontractors to use (and warning us of local knowledge regarding those to avoid) and advising us on some of the critical cultural difference in building in Crete vs. Canada, where we’re from. We can’t recommend them enough to anyone who wants to deepen the value of their time here in this beautiful part of the Mediterranean.

Richard and Heidi are super easy to work with and removed almost all the stress of planning my first international yoga retreat. Right from the beginning, they were upfront and open about how many they could accommodate in their space, what the cost would be, and what the minimum number of participants would be needed for the event to happen. Once we were able to get the numbers set, we started to talk about what activities to include outside of the yoga class times. Heidi and Richard's expert knowledge about the island and what we could do or fit in between yoga sessions was helpful for me as I had very lofty ambitions of what people could do between sessions and Richard and Heidi helped me realize that less is more. They crafted a wonderful schedule that accommodated the yoga/meditation, daily excursions, and meals, fit my group and the needs of the retreat—and still have activities left over that were fun and took advantage of the beautiful setting of Crete itself. Heidi and Richard were also very helpful when it came to researching and booking flights to the island of Crete. Planning an international retreat takes time and effort especially with searching for just the right flights, but their expert knowledge really helped me find good options for my participants to purchase depending on their budget. Being able to communicate with Heidi and Richard on a weekly or bi-weekly basis to check in on payments, activities, and other logistics was the best part of working with them. The calls were very friendly, and they accommodated the time difference for me. I would recommend them to anyone with a passion to share. They know the logistics of planning and know how to make weaving your passion into Crete’s unique landscape fun.

My partner and I traveled to Crete and used Cretan Destination Retreats for two weeks and had amazing adventures. Western Crete is the perfect place to immerse yourself in the natural beauty of Crete and its people. Our hosts, Richard and Heidi were the best! With their guidance, we were able to experience places that regular tourists wouldn’t know existed - Mountaintop villages, local eateries, hiking trails, and beautiful isolated beaches, and roads. They shared their time with us, gave us great insight on places we were going and accompanied us on several excursions to make sure we had a full experience. Many local people knew Richard and Heidi by name, which enriched the time we had in Crete. They are wonderfully genuine people, and I know that our adventures on Crete would not have been anywhere near as amazing without them.