Where the mountain
still breathes raki
An authentic Cretan experience center where copper stills, stone walls and centuries of hospitality meet — for travellers who want to taste the island, not just see it.
Five moments,
one mountain day
Before you reach the long table, the estate unfolds in layers — animals in the garden, a copper still breathing smoke, a stone mitato where hands still shape cheese, a museum of quiet tools, and a feast that tastes of the soil it came from.
across the estate
This is not a tour. It is a morning that becomes an afternoon, and an afternoon that becomes a memory.
The Experiential Farm
Explore our 50-acre estate, meet and feed our friendly animals, and enjoy a traditional donkey ride through lush organic gardens.
The Art of Raki
Discover the secrets of authentic Cretan distillation. Follow the journey of our iconic spirit from the copper still straight to your glass.
Traditional Cheese Making
Visit our stone mitato, try your hand at milking, and actively participate in crafting fresh, traditional tyrozouli cheese.
A Journey Through History
Step back in time at our folklore museum. Witness authentic 19th and 20th-century treasures, old farming tools, and historical artifacts.
Cretan Hospitality & Flavors
Enjoy a genuine farm-to-table feast. Savor fresh, handmade delicacies straight from our land, including traditional kalitsounia and savory apaki.
The kazani has
never gone cold
Each autumn, grapes from our own terraces and neighbouring growers are pressed and left to ferment in stone vats. What remains — the stalks, skins and seeds — becomes the soul of tsikoudia, slow-distilled over wood fire in a hand-beaten copper kazani older than most of our visitors.
We distil in small batches, tasting as we go, the way it was taught to us: by ear, by smell, never by clock.
A morning at Rakidio
Stone courtyards, copper light, and the textures of Sellia — a quiet preview of what's waiting in the mountains.
The Kazani at Dawn
Olive Terraces
Stone Courtyard
Farm Animals
The Long Table
Local Products
A family courtyard,
opened to guests
Rakidio began as the Papadakis family courtyard in Sellia — a single still, a handful of olive trees, and a table that never seemed to empty. Three generations later, we've restored the old stone buildings and opened our rituals to travellers who want something more than a postcard view of Crete.
Nothing here is staged for photographs. The raki is the same raki we drink ourselves; the cheese is the cheese our family eats; the welcome is the welcome we'd give a cousin arriving from Athens.
Come up the mountain
Rakidio sits 20 minutes above Plakias, in the village of Sellia. Visits are small, hosted, and best booked a few days ahead — especially during harvest season.