Heraklion Airport → Chania Town, by Road

How it works

The official rank sits just outside the arrivals terminal and licensed cars queue there around the clock. For a short hop into Heraklion this is the easy choice and the fare is a well-known fixed figure. For Chania it is a different proposition: this is a two-hour intercity drive, there is no published rank fare for it, and you should agree the total in euro with the driver before you load the bags rather than after.

Good to know

• •Because there is no published rank fare to Chania, the pre-booked fixed lists are your best reference point for what is reasonable. Quote the figure you have seen and you are unlikely to be far out.
• •Carry cash. Many Crete taxi drivers do not take cards, and a two-hour fare is not the moment to find that out.
• •Have the address written down, in Greek if you can. Chania addresses in the old town are not always obvious to a driver from the other end of the island.

How it works

There is no direct bus from Heraklion Airport to Chania, and this is the detail most guides leave out. You take a blue urban KTEL bus from the stop outside the terminal into Heraklion, which costs €1.30 to €1.80 bought in advance and takes roughly 20 minutes. You get off at Station A, the central bus station on the port avenue, and buy a separate ticket for a KTEL Chanion-Rethymnou coach to Chania. That second leg costs €17.60 on the operator's own ticket system. The stopping service takes 3 hours and runs roughly hourly through the day; four express departures a day cover the same ground in 2 hours 7 minutes for exactly the same fare.

Good to know

• •Budget more time than the two journey times added together. You are changing stations and buying a ticket in between, and the coaches do not wait for the airport bus.
• •The airport stop is not directly in front of the doors. Coming out of the main terminal doors, turn right and follow the road round to the left.
• •Two people taking the bus pay about €34 between them. Four people in one pre-booked car pay about €41 each. The bus wins clearly for one or two travelling light, and the maths tightens fast as the group grows.
• •Station A is on the port avenue, next to the ferry harbour, so this is also the bus you want if you are arriving in Heraklion by boat rather than by plane.

How it works

You collect at the airport and drive west on the national road along the north coast, which is the main artery of Crete and carries all the through traffic between the cities. It is a good road for most of its length, though sections are older, narrower and busier than the word motorway would suggest. Reckon on about two hours without stops, and considerably more if you stop at Rethymno, which is roughly halfway and worth an hour of anyone's time.

Good to know

• •We are not quoting a daily rate here, because an honest one does not exist: it swings with season, category and how far ahead you book. Price it for your own dates rather than trusting any published headline figure, including ours.
• •One-way drop fees between Heraklion and Chania are common but not universal, and several Crete-based companies quote them at the low end or waive them. Aggregator listings we checked showed them ranging from a few euro to around sixty.
• •Parking inside the old town of Chania is restricted and largely pedestrianised. Check what your accommodation can actually offer before assuming you can park at the door.