Set against the magnificent backdrop of the White Mountains, Vamos is a traditional Cretan village with magnificent views and makes an ideal base for our ‘Flowers & Fauna’ holiday. Not only does it give a glimpse of unchanging country life, but it also has some lovely flowers close at hand.

Not far away is the Akrotiri peninsula, famous for dragon arums, bee-orchids, giant fennel and other flowers, and to the south lie the foothills of the White Mountains, where you will walk between villages among turban buttercups and wild aubretia. Other excursions include the spectacular Imbros Gorge, full of flowers and with echoes of the Battle of Crete in May 1941, the high Omalos plateau at the head of the Samaria Gorge, and the orchid-rich hills above Spili, south of Rethymnon. While some may know their flowers, the tour also aims to help the novice botanist or those who want to see garden plants in an unfamiliar setting.