I've driven in Crete. The major roads between cities along the north of the island were wide, well designed, and easy to navigate. The roads I drove to get from the north to anywhere in the south were generally well paved, but almost all included long stretches that were very twisty / turny with lots of blind switchbacks and drop offs, but at least -- often, and depending on where, exactly, one was -- reasonably sized lanes ... for someone driving a small car. And some areas (e.g., the Amari Valley) were difficult to maneuver even with a really small car. Driving in the Chania, Rethymno, and Heraklion -- or, I should say, driving in the parts of those cities where cars are permitted -- was a serious challenge even with a very small car, as the roads are exceedingly narrow and those roads along which cars were permitted were often lined with parked vehicles.

Good luck!

Sorry for diverting your thread from foodstuff to rental cars, but since you mentioned that you will have minivans:
Be sure to know the exact height of the vehicles. Max headroom can be as low as 1.80m/1.90m in parking garages (not only in Greece) which can be not sufficient for larger/taller minivans. I'd try to get some exact information of the access roads and parking options. Most of the larger street network on Crete can be "test driven" with Google maps/ Streetview.
To navigate, you can download the app "here" for free and also offline navigation (after you downloaded the respective free map) with your smartphones.

Coming back to food. I usually prefer to go out and explore the beauties of local cafes and restaurants.
Needless to say sometime it does not go as well as it sounds, however the spirit of adventure is usually worth it for me)

"I usually prefer to go out and explore the beauties of local cafes and restaurants."

So do most people, I expect. But with a group of 26 that will turn into a horror show.

@Cowboy1968
I can't recall having seen park garages in Crete, so i wouldn't worry about it......

@ Manisha
Not long ago a Greek Breakfast was introduced in Greek Hotels that varies according to the region.
It took endless debates and a great effort to agree on how the Greek Breakfast should look like/ what it should include
Personally i find the Greek breakfast you were offered less attractive...
Too many types of bread - fresh fruits - Kagianas is the only hot dish ( scrabbled eggs with feta cheese and tomatoes)
Luxnarakia is wrongly spelled, it should be Lichnarakia which is a traditional homemade pastry sweet of Crete with fresh mizithra cheese, cinnamon and sugar.
It was brought to Crete by the Venetians :)

I think the international breakfast has something for everyone, and especially for kids..

You can buy those pastries at the large traditonal market in Chania.
We ate yogurt and honey, bread/rusks for breakfast in Greece. Maybe a cheese or meat pie if we were in a hotel.
We took our family including grand children to Italy, not Greece, but all they wanted was cereal and Nutella. There are large modern supermarkets in Chania. I would dislike having someone coming ro prepare breakfast, too regimented for my taste..
maybe a traditonal Greek dinner prepared in your place wuold be a good idea at least for one night.

One thing some posters keep forgetting that this is not just a family of four which would easily open up a number of possibilities, but a group of 26. It is difficult enough to find restaurants that will accommodate 8 without booking in advance, and I can’t imagine booking breakfasts for however many days. And, explain why a Greek dinner would be more appealing than a Greek breakfast. I would think the breakfast menu shown here would appeal to all and if the little ones object, they don’t have to eat it. You are traveling to experience a different culture and that means trying different foods. My children and grandchildren learned to adapt to the new and different foods, and I believe most kids will.

Thanks everybody for your opinions and suggestions. Quite helpful to hear all POVs and the reasons for those POVs.

@historytravler and @StCirq - quite right you are that this would be a very different vacation were it not 26 of us! Before I became a mom, I was used to going from 8 am to 11 pm on a trip and doing/seeing 8-10 attractions a day. After I became a mom, it was seeing 3 attractions a day (if we were lucky). On this trip - I think it will be one attraction a day- lol! Travelling with kids have taught me (actually forced me) to stop and smell roses along the way, so that has been nice too. :tulip: :tulip: :tulip:

Thanks for all the advice on the driving and the food and everything else. I need it!

@clausar - I will talk to the chef about the Greek Breakfast and see if they can offer a few more hot dishes... good idea!

Manisha, I wouldn’t worry about adding more hot dishes unless you really want them. Again, I think some posters forget that you will be in a Mediterranean climate during the month of June. Having a variety of hot dishes is probably not ideal. I suspect the locals won’t be eating hot foods for breakfast. Now if you were in Scotland, a different matter ;) BTW when in Mallorca my grandkids ate fresh fruit off the trees surrounding the villa, had toast or bread and an occasional egg. They loved it, no complaints.

I would keep breakfast as simple as possible. Your real goal is to get everyone up, fed and out the door. The larger and more elaborate the breakfast, the longer it will take to eat. I would also look into the costs of having a few dinners provided by this chef, or another one, especially since you are traveling with children. It will be very hard I think to find places large enough to accommodate the size of your group, especially when people are melting down at the end of a long day of touring.

Is it possible that your group could split up for dinners, or is it mandatory that everyone eat at same time, in same place?? It would simplify things a lot if you could split into at least 4 groups for dinners... and it might suit the differing tastes of different age groups and diferent family personalities, to have "an evening off" from this mass-feeding operation.

@travelerjan - "mass-feeding" operation.... :toj: :toj: :toj:

Yes, we are looking into splitting up for dinner and/or having the chef come over to do dinners.