double_H

We will arrive in Athens at 4:55 p.m on April 24th. We are planning to catch the 9:00 p.m flight to Chania and stay in the area for 5 days. Then ferry to Santorini for 2 days and fly to Athens for 2 days. Should we make Chania our base or hop around? we will have a rental car. Is there a ferry from Chania to Santorini? We like outdoors: beach, hiking, etc. Any recommendations are appreciated.

jeffergray

I think you'd be fine with using Chania as a base, provided that you don't mind concentraing on the western half of the island. We used Chania as a base a few years back and did the following day trips from it: (1) east to Rethymnon and then down to the Preveli Gorge and beach on the south coast; (2) to the beach at Phalasarna on the western coast of Crete, with ruins of a Roman-era pirate city nearby; to the beach at Elafonisi on the southwestern corner of Crete; and we took the hike through the Samaria Gorge. The Gorge opens up in the spring, but it sounds like you'll be there late enough that it will probably be open. There are also some hikes you could take to visit monasteries on what I think is called the Akrotiri peninsula east of Chania (the one that forms the north side to Souda Bay), and you can get boats to the Venetian castle-island of Gramvousa further west of Chania. We also enjoyed driving through the mountains and visiting Aptera as we were leaving.

Heraklion is a 2-3 hour drive away, if I recall rightly. You could do Heraklion with its museum and Knossos in a very long day's journey, but it would be tiring and you would be rushed.

brotherleelove2004

There is no ferry from Chania to Santorini, only from Heraklion, but if the last couple of years are any indication, it won't be operating in April. This means that unless you can find a ferry servicing this route you'll have to fly back to Athens to either take a ferry or fly to Santorini. www.gtp.gr and www.openseas.gr will let you know what's available. Schedules for April, 2007 won't be available until next year, probably in March, so if you need to have every aspect of your trip worked out this far in advance your only option is to fly. Aegean Airlines has very cheap flights from Athens to the islands, as low as 19 Euro plus tax for each "hop". Hopefully this will make the need to return to Athens easier to accept.

http://www.aegean-air.gr/aegeanen/home/

double_H

I thank you for the help. Your suggestions have been most helpful.

yestravel

I think Chania makes a great base for exploring Western Crete if you prefer to stay in one place. However I would suggest that you move to Herkalion for your last day and night if you want to go to Knossos. The drive between Chania and Herkalion is a good 2 hours on a highway and not a very enoyable drive. We spent a couple nights in Heraklion at the end of 10 days in Crete and found plenty to do. We also stayed in the mountains at Milia, http://www.milia.gr/english.html, for a couple days which made for a very different experience than staying in Chania. Its a lovely 2 hour drive from Chania. Enjoy Crete.

double_H

Yestravel, thanks for the suggestion. We may have to drive to Heraklion anyway to catch the ferry, if they operate that time of the year.

progol

Looks like you got some good suggestions, but you might get even more if you wrote "Need help with Crete itinerary". Ceret is a small town in France.

Lina

Chania is definitely the place to stay on Crete (click on my name and read my "Girlfriend Getaway" report, if you'd like). We made several day trips on the western side of Crete. The roads are not heavily traveled during the off-season. Our itinerary was the same as yours (Crete 4 days, Santorini 2 days, Athens 2 days). We could easily have spent more time on Crete.

sheila

All the direct links- boat and air- to Santorini from Crete are summer only.

There is a fast Cat. in the summer from Rethymnon (Sea Jets) and there is a direct flight from Heraklion in the summer (Sky Express).

Whilst there's alot of really interesting stuff on the east side of the island, the west is really to, and I can't think why you'd want to move other than for transport links and Knossos

dgg

Sorry to hijack, but I have the same situation as double_H and will probably need to spend the last night in/near Heraklion in order to get the early boat to Santorini. Also, can you do Knossos, Phaistos, Matala and Spili up to Rethymnon (or reverse) in a day? Is Rethymnon a good alternative to Heraklion or is it too far for the ferry route?

dgg

I meant is Rethymnon too far from Heraklion to make the early ferry to Santorini in July?

sheila

You could not possibly do all the palaces in a day. Unless you had a plane and didn't stop. personally I think Knossos and the museum is a full day without any of the others.

You COULD do Rethymnon to Iraklion for the early boat

brotherleelove2004

The Highspeed Cat doesn't leave Heraklion until 9:45 AM.

http://www.ferries.gr/hfd/

There is a bus that will take you from Rethymnon into Heraklion in time to catch that ferry:

http://www.bus-service-crete-ktel.com/timetables2.html

dgg

Thank you for the information. Given the stops in my post above, where would you recommend spending the night on that circuit?