We’re there for a week late October. The weather may be OK, but may not be.
If it’s not, I need some ideas as to what to do with the time there that doesn’t reply on sunshine. We’re based about half an hour from Heraklion and can hire a car if needed.
Open to any kind of suggestions really.

Loads of historical stuff obvs – go see this bad boy

And the palace at Knossos etc

It’s massive ~ 200 miles east to west so don’t underestimate distances for any suggestions you get. I’ve only stayed near Chania so can’t help soz. I went in October though and it was pleasant and sea was warm (hotel pools cold).

Years ago we stayed in Crete in October. It was cold and a bit rainy.

There is a gorge you get a bus to the top of and walk down to a village that you can only get out of by ferry. I remember that being quite fun.

You being a runner, read Natural Born Heroes, should give you some ideas of places to visit.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Natural-Born-Heroes/dp/B00V9O6I2K/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=natural+born+heroes&qid=1634563189&qsid=259-5805787-1657538&sr=8-1&sres=1846684579%2CB01N6PUZQ0%2C1570902364%2C9123787929%2CB017S29X7S%2C912351325X%2C1477113444%2C1783351330%2C1861978774%2C1788162277%2C0008440107%2C000829528X%2CB08NV2GF5R%2CB087H8TFY1%2C184488418X%2CB06VXR25KZ&srpt=ABIS_BOOK

The gorge walk is good and Knossos is good as well.

When we did the gorge walk we walked out along the coastal path ( overnight bivvy on the beach)

However we also tried to climb one of the big mountains – a mistake! It was so hot that the 7l of water we set off with was manily gone by the time we were halfway up so had to abandon

Other walks we tried were not great either – everything is really spiky and rough so you get ripped to pieces from the vegetation and paths tend to be theoretical rather than real

there is a town with huge springs (Argiroupolis) thats quite nice and I also enjoyed half a day in a pedalo on the only lake

There are several gorges besides the Samaria , which make good scrambles (Aridnae I think is one. No crowds and only one awkward bit where there’s a chain. Oct should be good for hill scrambles. The Volakis ridge above the Samaria is good. Saw chamoix and eagles.

I stayed up near Chania so may be useless, but there’s a bike cafe called Ride Cafe where I hired a bike and guide for a day in the White Mountains. Baking hot, but a massive memory for me.

https://kofthep.com/2017/05/29/a-greek-odyssey-%CE%BC%CE%B9%CE%B1-%CE%B5%CE%BB%CE%BB%CE%B7%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AE-%CE%BF%CE%B4%CF%8D%CF%83%CF%83%CE%B5%CE%B9%CE%B1/

I had a pedal up to the Lasithi Plateau when I was staying at Hersonnisos – that was a lovely change of scene from the coast.

We stayed in Piskopiano in ridiculously cheap apartments about 8yrs ago. It is 3 villages of almost continuous restaurants. Touristy but mostly good food and mostly v cheap.

Heraklion itself is worth a mooch around has a fantastic range of eating places.

Kritsa is an amazing town and has a great wee gorge. Other nearby gorges at Roza and Aposelemis

Lasithi Plateau is intriguing for a wander

Matala has a new road most of the way from Heraklion (we went back to the Chania side in 2019) and has rock caves a gorge and a pretty town ( as well as a beach) Gortyna is on the way if want more ruins.

Agios Nicholaos, Sisi and Spinalonga all worth considering

Driving is interesting and there are a few local customs you need to know. Food is amazing.

As said above the island is huge and some roads are v poor so dont plan on going too far.

We never bothered with Samaria either time – its a hell of a long day from Heraklion – depends whether you like being part of a crowd or not.

We were there beginning of October and weather was amazing but all gorges may be hazardous after rain so take local advice.

I rate Lato over Knossos for an archeology site to stumble around.

The museum in Haraklion is great.

If driving, never assume you have priority.

As above it’s bigger than you think. We stayed about an hour from Chania.

We walked one of the gorges (there are several i think and we did one of the less common ones), it was great. Strongly recommend it – if you are close enough.

There is a big WW2 history on the island if that’s your thing.

Agree with all of the above. Ag Nik is still a lovely place to wander around but it was much better 30+ years ago (I went in 1985 and again in 2019). Inevitably it is so much more commercialised now.

If you don’t know Greek food, you must eat gigantes (with lots of crusty bread), baked feta and kleftiko.

Mmmmmm

We never bothered with Samaria either time – its a hell of a long day from Heraklion

We were based in Rthymnon ( sp) and we did not join a tour group to do samaria gorge – we got local public transport to the top, walked down it had dinner at the bottom and then walked out along the coastal path bivvying on the beach getting a bus back. As a result we were behind all the tour groups and it was not crowded at all and the walk along the coast was nice – IIRC we did get a water taxi the last few miles from another village

When we went for a week in Aug 2019 it was properly hot! managed a gorge walk starting v. V. Early. Also really enjoyed looking around chania one evening. Touristy, but also interesting.
Would love to go back in a cooler month to do more walking in the mountains and gorges.
Great place, enjoy yourself!

Wasn’t Crete just hit by a massive earthquake??

That may dictate what you can/cannot do!

Yup:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/12/greek-island-of-crete-rocked-by-second-earthquake-in-two-weeks

nobody mentioned spinalonga yet?

we love crete, go twice a year now, its so big we’ll never see it all. if youre going to visit spinalonga read ‘the island’ first, it brings it all to life. we also bought the dvd set of the book when we got back, the proceeds go to a local orphange.
top tip if youve got a car. drive to plaka early in the morning and have a coffee by the pier and wait for the staff to start getting ready to go over in their boat. we’d been given this tip by a local i think, and asked at the ticket stall but he kept saying no, first boats at 9.30. so, i just walked over to the staff getting on the boat and asked if we could go over with them. they were happy for us to do this so bought the tickets from the disgruntled chappy and went over with the staff. had the whole island to ourselves for about an hour til the first boats started arriving, then it was chocker. magical morning.

already planning our two trips for next year, flights booked already. did i mention we love crete? 🙂

EDIT: yes, crete’s had a few earthquakes just lately, there was one just before we flew home, but it hasnt affected tourism. few rumbles from time to time and a church was destroyed.