Source
r/GreeceTravel•
rocitop

Day Trip By Bus? Chania > Knossos

Question

I'll be in Chania in late September and would like to visit the Knossos Palace. I prefer not to drive when traveling and I am interested in how easy the bus system is to navigate on Crete. I've been on e-Ktel.com and have been struggling to get a straight answer. Is it possible to book the trip with one company or will I have to get the Heraklion > Knossos ticket from a 2nd company?

If anyone has had a good or bad experience booking travel on KTEA let me know, I may have to rethink my stance on driving abroad...

Posted May 11, 2023, 7:35 PM UTC

16
velaurciraptorr•

We’re visiting Chania & Heraklion for the first time in a couple weeks, so I’m not speaking from experience yet here, but it looks like it would work to take the KTEL to Heraklion and then the local bus to Knossos. That seems like a really long journey for a day trip though - almost 4 hours each way on the bus. What about spending 1 night in Heraklion?

3
rocitopOP•

We are trying not to move hotels much during this trip. We had a bad experience doing a city a day a few years back and are trying to stay for at least 4 nights in each city.

2
Trudestiny•

Maybe keep the chania hotel , but book a single night in heraklion or Rethymnon to break the journey back

2
rocitopOP•

That might be a good idea, it would give us a chance to see another city too.

3
Paulstan67•

You can get one bus (ktel) from Chania station to heraklion station.

It takes about 3 hours and will cost 13.8 euros, then you will need a local bus from heraklion to Knossos that takes 15 minutes and costs 1 euro the local busses run at least every half hour, but more often in the height of the season.

There are no return tickets ,you buy a ticket each way.

Edit. You can buy the intercity tickets at the station in either cash or on card, if you pay on the bus you will need to pay the conductor in cash. (I can't remember if the local bus takes cards or not , but it is only about 1 euro)

There are organised tours that will be a little quicker as the bus won't stop en route , however they are usually quite a lot more than doing it yourself but will take you directly there.

2
Adriadne1•

It’s best to visit Knossos as soon as it opens before the tours arrive. I think it’s a special place that cannot be missed, as you can tell by my name, but not worth the effort when you have to navigate the bus loads of tour groups.

2