I've been waffling on this for a bit, and hopefully I can get some opinions on my itinerary.

I'm planning to spend a week in Greece for the first leg of a 3 week trip next June. I'm flying from Honolulu through London to Crete. The main purpose of going to Crete is to see Knossos and the museum in Iraklion.

Based on what I'd read about the merits of Iraklion vs. Chania, my original plan was to stay in Chania and do a day trip to Knossos and the museum. I had been planning on arriving mid-afternoon in Chania on Sunday and leaving for Athens via the overnight ferry on Tuesday.

After more research on the flights, it looks like I can't arrive in Chania until Sunday night (around 9:00 p.m). This effectively leaves only Tuesday and part of Wednesday in Crete before I depart for Athens.

Given such a short stay (and it's purpose), is it too much of a hassle to stay in Chania - should I just stay in Iraklion? Other than the day trip to Knossos, I didn't plan on doing anything else in Chania except walking around the town.

I read kfroddy's trip report re his stay in Iraklion at the Lato Hotel - it's just next to the museum and near a pedestrian only area - it didn't sound too bad. However, what everyone's said about Chania really appealed to me.

The other option is to leave for Athens on the overnight ferry on Wednesday and cut short my stay in Athens by a day. I'm not sure if this would leave me enough time to see everything I wanted to in Athens, though, as I want to do a day trip to Delphi and am flying out of Athens on Sunday morning.

Thanks for reading this all the way through - I'm not known for very concise questions. Any insight given to this is appreciated.

Probably more convenient to stay in Iraklion. I stayed at the Hotel Olympic and it was just fine.

Under most circumstances, I would consider it a no-brainer to stay in Chania rather than Iraklion. But if all you want to do is visit the museum and Knossos, you should definitely stay in Iraklion. If you have time and are so inclined, you can also visit Kazantzakis' grave.

Thanks for your input.

I'm beginning to agree that perhaps staying in Chania isn't the best for this trip. Perhaps if I had at least one more day to spend in Crete, but I really don't want to shorten my time in Athens.

I had been hoping to experience some contrast between where we stayed in Crete and Athens - something along the lines of Rome vs. Venice - but I guess not this time.

On the flip side, I found an online tourist map of Iraklion, and it appears there are quite a number of pedestrian only areas. I'm hoping these areas will offer some interesting window shopping/strolling around opportunities.

The map I found indicated the Petra Hotel right in the middle of the pedestrian area, close to the court house. I haven't been able to find any info on it on Trip Advisor or elsewhere. Anyone familiar with it?

DejaVu - the Olympic hotel looks promising. It appears to be located quite close to the pedestrian areas on the map - is this the case in reality?

On our 3 week trip to Greece last summer, my husband and I had the opportunity to spend 2 nights in Iraklion and 2 in Chania. Interestingly, our travel agent did her utmost to convince us not to bother with Iraklion ("it's a hot, busy city--why do you want to go there?&quot. We felt that if we were going all this way, we wanted to also see the capital city and experience a variety of what Greece had to show us.

We were not disappointed and indeed quite liked Iraklion. We also stayed at the Lato. It is a very nice, modern hotel. Depends on what you want. We had just spent 10 days ferrying around the Cyclades so had plenty of nights in very cute, "little Greek house" types of accomodation, so for us, 2 nights in a modern hotel was a nice break. My husband thought that the breakfast at the Lato was the best of our trip.

Getting to Knossos from the Lato was very easy and we enjoyed ourselves there. On the same day we then drove back to the hotel and walked to the Archaeological museum, which we also enjoyed.

At night, it was very easy to walk into the pedestrian only sections. There were very good restaurants (it was my 30th birthday when we were there so we treated ourselves to a pricy dinner at Loukoupolous (sp?) restaurant that was fabulous. There is an enormous variety of outdoor cafes chock full of people. During the day there was also a neat market to wander through. We did enjoy the shopping and bought a few things to take home (including our favorite HELLAS t-shirts--we were in Greece right in the middle of the Euro Cup 2004 hoopla. We watched the semi-final with thousands of excited Greeks at one of the outdoor cafes, wearing our tshirts so we could fit in!)

I think as long as you go with an open mind that Iraklion is a city and is not a quaint village on a small island, it is a wonderful place to visit and we were very glad that we had not done as our travel agent wanted us to do. Greece is a wonderful country with an amazing variety of things to do and we enjoyed all of them!

Happy to give more details if that was not enough

Greetings,

We just returned from a 2 1/2 week trip to Greece and stayed in Marin Dream hotel, updated in 2005, was lovely and comfy, our room had a harbor view and the absolute most beautiful breakfast of our trip. About 8 kinds of different breads, many dried fruits, cereals, and cooked foods as well as fresh fruit and yogurt. We walked to the museum, the open air market, all kinds of fish and fresh produce as well as native products, and had a fabulous dinner at an ouzeri on the water(protected by plastic walls). It is an earthy city, but fun--we really enjoyed it. We visited Knossos traveling on the public bus, which was very simple.

Would suggest also a beautiful church and the City Hall next to it as very interesting stops along the way. We waited until 5 to see the museum as it is incredibly crowded earlier in the day--it was open until 7 and we had plenty of time to really enjoy it without the mobs.

BTW, we took Minoan lines overnight ferry from Athens--we got on around 8:30, had drinks in the bar and visited around--got settled in our little first class stateroom which was just adorable and had a great little bathroom and shower--spotless and very comfortable sleeping. We stayed on deck to see the lights of Piraeus recede at 10 when the boat left the dock and were asleep by 11 or so. The boat docks at 6:30, we got off around 7 and the folks at Marin Dream Hotel let us check in early and have breakfast. Would highly recommend--our ship was the Knossos Palace and brand new. We did the same thing on the return--it was a different ship but every bit as nice. We reserved in advance.

Hope all this helps. Have a great time--Greece is wonderful.

Take care,
Robyn France

Yes, the Hotel Olympic is right around the corner from the pedestrian areas. Had no trouble finding nearby places to eat and shop.

Oh yeah, and I second Robyn on the overnight Minoan Lines ferry. We also sailed on the Knossos Palace and found it very comfortable and convenient. I was part of a seminar group, so we were split into quad rooms, which served us just fine.
The Iraklion museum is going to blow your mind.

Thank you again for all the input - your replies have convinced me that I need not be too disappointed that I won't be staying in Chania.

The pedestrian areas sound like something right up my alley - I love to wander around and window shop - I'm not necessarily very discriminating as to whether they are cheesy souvenir shops or expensive boutiques, either.

I checked out the Minoan lines website - the overnight ferries look like cruise ships! I'm thinking that since it's just for the night, we'll get a quad (my parents, my daughter and myself). Do these cabins also come with a shower or just a toilet and washbasin?

One last question - did you guys book your hotels and overnight ferries through a travel agent or on your own over the Internet? I'm reading that generally people recommend using a travel agent (Fantasy Travel or Dolphin Hellas seem to be popular) but when I go to their websites, it looks like they specialize in packages.

The bath is small but efficient in the 1st class room--shower is great. Booked the travel through an agent. I think u will be pleased--the ferry is really fun. If you like to pick up souvenirs, the open air market has a great selection of olive oil products--the soap is lovely--I brought a bunch back for gifts--very nicely presented (they also have bulk packaging for next to nothing) for a little more than a euro. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Take care,
Robyn France
Take care,

I checked the thread a little late -- but have you thought about flying to Athens from Heraklion?

(I also didn't read what the others have to say.)

When I was in Chania for a wedding last year, I flew to Heraklion from Athens, took the bus between Heraklion and Chania, and then left Chania for Brussels (via Athens).

It seems like you can reverse what I did. Since I flew to Heraklion I left my bag at a luggage service near (outside of) the airport.

I didn't stay in Heraklion all that long, so I can't compare the two, but Chania was surprisingly pleasant.

As far as Knossos is concerned, my friend (the one who got married) went many times, and she said that she's a little disapppointed about the site. And, to some extent, she's right. There's obviously a lot of reconstruction by Evans. The museum is interesting, if I recall, but it doesn't take very long to see either.

So if you can rearrange your schedule and go to Chania, spend some time there, and then take the bus to Heraklion on the day you leave and spend a few hours there, you'll have the best of the two places.

chepar, if you are going to Crete for the express purpose of seeing Knossos (which is what I gathered from your posts) then you will want to allow yourself a few hours at the museum in Iraklion. It contains all the best artifacts, wall frescoes, etc that were removed from Knossos for better preservation and safety in the museum, including quite a few pieces of world reknown.

Well, if I recall, one of the treasures is actually from Phaistos, namely the Phaistos disc.

http://www.ancientx.com/nm/anmviewer.asp?a=48&z=1

It relates to the Minoan Linear A and B scripts (one of which hasn't been deciphered). I forget which.

So, it's not from Knossos.

But, well, who's arguing?

My point remains that I don't think that you need "a few hours" in the museum. At Knossos itself, perhaps, but much of it is reconstructed anyway (as far as I understand and recall).

But enjoy your trip.

I am a museum junkie - I can spend hours and hours in one, certainly well past the time that my traveling companions have been "museumed out". I fully anticipate my parents telling me that they'll meet me later because I'm taking too long for them.

The site of Knossos will be busy in June. You will want to give yourself time to maneuver around all the tour groups. And the museum in Iraklion isn't small; if you really want to look at things and make it into a learning experience, you can easily spend a few hrs in the museum and then time at Knossos too. You don't want to travel all that way and then run through it. IMHO it's better to overestimate your time than underestimate it. But then, I'm an archaeology junkie and have a high tolerance for museums.

Knossos was heavily restored by Evans and his team, but arguably that's part of its charm. It's certainly why it gets so many tourists compared to the palaces of Phaistos, Mallia, and Kato Zakros, all of which only have their stone foundations left to see.

The script on the Phaistos disk is actually neither Linear A (the script of the "Minoans," as yet undeciphered) nor Linear B (the script of the "Mycenaeans," an early form of Greek, and deciphered). It's a strange collection of pictographic symbols. Scholars aren't sure what it says or means because it's unique (as of now).

We went to Knossos, Phaistos and the archaeological museum in Iraklion. All were interesting, although some of the concrete redos at Knossos were quite shocking. We had a guide who was quite the iconoclast, so we had plenty of time to appreciate what was original and what was Evans figment. The museum is phenomenal in Iraklion--it is just a splendid display of artifacts. Greece is so wonderful that way--we spent a good part of our 2 1/2 weeks exploring so many sites and museums. I hope you enjoy every moment.

I, too, enjoyed my two nights, one day, in Iraklion and had some of the best food of the trip. Particularly at the (H)Ippocampus. Hate to admit that I've forgotten the street name month and am too lazy to look it up, but at the end of the main one (29th of Aug. - or Oct.?), the Ippocampus will be the first cafe to the left at the harbor. Nice food, cheapest of the trip. And you can entertain yourself by betting which waiters will make it across the busy street from the kitchen with the laden trays. (I was really hungry and hoped our waiter wouldn't get hit before bringing our food. Luckily, they all seem to be pretty good at dodging.)

Regarding agents, I used Dolphin Hellas on my May trip - first time I've used an agent since a pre-Internet '93 trip to Australia. I did all the planning, did my hotel research, and I guess you'd say I "got bids" from them for the things I wanted. They got the Lato in Iraklion about 20 Euros a night cheaper, the Attalos in Athens about 40 a night cheaper. Their prices for flights and ferries were the same, so I let them handle that and avoided the hassle. Specified the airline, flight times, ferry date. Two caveats. First, if you don't book a certain amount with them, I think about 300 Euros, they charge about a 50 Euro fee. Second, there is a delivery fee to take the papers to your hotel (about 10 or 15 Euros) or 35 to express mail it to the US. Since our hotel savings were about 160 Euros for 5 nights, I didn't mind paying the delivery fee to my Athens hotel. When you contact them, you can ask for the lists and rates for the hotels in the cities where you will be staying and Uli (I think she usually works with the Americans) will e-mail you a Word doc with all the info. Then you can check their prices against what you can get on your own.

polly-

thank you very much for the travel agent information - exactly the sort of information I was looking for.

Since I only need assistance booking the ferry trip from Iraklion to Piraeus and the hotels in each city, I was wondering if they would be willing to assist, since it's not really a package.

I've done a rough calculation, and I should have no problem reaching the 300 Euro minimum.

Thanks again!