My husband and I are planning a trip to Greece in September. We have 5 or 6 days to spend on Crete and based on my research, we want to spend most of our time on the west side, Chania. The absolute on my list is hiking the Samaria Gorge. I am trying to decide how to best optimize our time. We will be arriving from the USA to Athens and flying straight to Crete. From Crete, we will be taking a ferry to Santorini.

We will need a little down time to recuperate from the flights. I am thinking that a good base will be the town of Chania for at least 3 nights. We love the beach, hiking, food, wine and low key atmosphere. We arrive in Athens at 10:00AM. We can either choose a flight to Heraklion or Chania. Based on my research, I am thinking that Chania is our best option. I would like to stay a few nights in town and a few nights on the beach. Off the beaten path is always good. We are Ok with renting a car for a few days.

I know that Knossos is a required place to see, as well. I am checking the ferry schedules from Crete to Santorini. Should we stay a night in Heraklion and leave by ferry there? We were trying to avoid the bigger cities.

I spent one night in Heraklion and 2 nights in Chania last July.

Admittedly it wasn't enough time in either place but I liked Chania way more than Heraklion, probably because I had a great place that overlooked the Venetian harbor, with a private balcony.

I didn't go to Samaria Gorge. I did rent a car and drove to the one famous beach on the SW tip of the island, about a 2-hour drive through some narrow mountain roads.

Also went to that big peninsula NE of Chania (actually where the airport is), driving to Agias Triadas and Seitan Limania beach, a really hairy drive at the end.

Just spectacular.

I didn't make it to Agios Nikolaos, way east of Heraklion, but that also looks spectacular, especially the harbor at night.

Whether you want to spend the night in Heraklion before the ferry to Santorini would depend on the schedules I would think.

I took the ferry in the other direction and it didn't depart Santorini until the early evening.

Agree with all said above except that, IME, you did not miss anything by not getting to Agios Nikolaos, which we found to be very touristy with loud American music coming out of most bars and shops. We much preferred western Crete, which seemed more "authentic".

I adored Chania and thought Heraklion seriously underrated. I don't think you will go wrong with your plan, or with any reasonable variant of it.

Have you explored options to book your arrival flight straight on to Chania?

When in Chania region, you should definitely not miss these 2 beaches:

1) Elafonisi Beach: votes multiple times as the best in the World.
2) Balos Beach: another spectacular beach.

and 2 other beaches worth visiting are: Falasarna Beach, and Seitan Limania Beach.

If you are into wine tasting, Manousakis Winery is a great option.
And as a person of Cretan heritage, I have to tell you that if you want to taste the best of Cretan cuisine, the best tavernas are in small villages and the countryside.

Thank you for your responses. I have explored the flights to fly direct to Chania when we arrive from USA. Our flight gets in at 10AM. Nearest flight out is around 1:00 PM on Ryan Air. Has anyone hd experience with this airline? I would prefer to use Olympic Air, but their flight out is not until 5PM. We do not want to hang around airport that long.

I would say Ryan AIr is an OK risk mid-day ... bad things I've heard mostly seem to occur late at night. DO check on charges for baggage - Olympic/ Aegean semi-flex fare allows 1 checked bag (20-21", 40+ lbs) w.o. charge, plus 1 smallish carry-on (laptop size or so) ... Ryan may hit you w a checked-bag charge; just be prepared, with that fee, it may not be such a bargain, but I agree no fun to hang out @airport.

Petros' recommendation is example of how you should not get ALL your advice from internet ... random recommends don't mention the downsides, which should figure in your choices.

BEACHES --Elafonisi is famous for lovely pink sands etc but internet photos only show it nearly deserted -- real-life photos show more than 20 tour busses, and large crowds, scattering litter. Balos is lovely and easiest way to access & enjoy is day-cruise to Gramvousa & Balos - http://www.cretandailycruises.com/gl...?id=11&lang=en - not as much of a mob scene because 1-2 boats access vs. dozens of busses.

if u have 5-6 days, u can devote at least a full day just to exploring Chania, then if u want, the day-boat to above beaches. If Samaria is a must, an excursion is easiest logistically. Only THEN, day after, rent car, drift s. thru Spili to Matala area. I recommend Dimitri Villa BACK from the beach about 700 yards - "beach row" hotels are jammed together/tacky -- DImitri is shady, vine-covered patio etc. Don't miss climb to cliffside caves!

From there, drive N.W. -- a stop at Phaistos??? -- wine country around Dafnes?? -- use road that bypasses Heraklion & end up final afternoon at Knossos around 2pm, after cruise-ship crowds leave. Your santorini ferry is 9: 45 am. If u want to see treasures of Heraklion museum, a strategy is to drive straight to your hotel (Get GOOD directions from agency & a marked map-- Heraklion 1-way streets are crazy). U can arrange to leave car @ hotel w. keys at desk. Hotel Leto is upscale choice, Hotel Kronos also right on water, ask for balcony room w view. At sunset, walk out on causeway to gigantic Castle/fort, then enjoy a last "mezedes" feast ... good restaurant right on the traffic circle At foot of castle causeway. In AM, ferry pier is within eyeshot, but €5 taxi is easiest.

Ooops -- no edit function! Meant to say, after check-in to Heraklion hotel, the Museum should be open until 7:30 or so... walkable from hotels.

Another idea might be to travel to Santorini first, if there are earlier flights from Athens to Santorini.

But beware that the ferry from Santorini to Heraklion depart between 5 and 6 PM, so you'd have to check out of the hotel much earlier and then hang out somewhere before heading to the ferry port.

Yeah Elafonisi is the beach I drove to. Maybe Google Maps doesn't give good directions because a lot of the little villages in the mountains that I drove through have narrow passes which wouldn't work well for those buses.

But there was certainly a fair amount of people there.

With just 5-6 days to spend on Crete I would recommend staying in one place (Chania) and enjoy the Old & New Town plus do day trips.

Every time you move, regardless of short a distance takes time . . . time to pack/unpack, time to get to your next destination, either car or bus, unpack, etc. Time is money on holiday and with 5-6 days I would stay put in one area.

Chania and the west of Crete is in my opinion much more interesting with lots more to do. While Knossos is far more to the west of Chania you can do a day trip there if you must and see the archeological site and museum in Heraklion, but it will take up most of a 1 day.

There are nearby archeological sits in and near to Chania to explore. You can do a day trip to Rythemno, a smaller version of Chania, do a Jeep Safari to the White Mountains and see parts of Crete most tourists never get to.

Save time, money and less stress by staying in one area. Crete is a lovely and large island and would take several weeks to really experience but Chania and nearby areas will give you a good taste for Crete.

PS: I wish there was a "edit feature" with Fodors to make changes to any typos or errors rather than doing a whole other post.

Back to Chania: It's a lovely and beautiful town with a pretty waterfront and the Old Town is just spectacular. You can spend a lot of time exploring the Old Town and don't forget about the "other side" of Chania in the Splantzia District which is less touristy, has an outstanding archeological site, lots of shops, markets and tavernas that are overlooked by tourists and if you want you can take a nice and leisurely walk to the New Town with lots of small speciality shops, a lovely park, and an outstanding Agora with lots of markets, shops and eateries just on the edge of Old Town.

Stay in Chania for your entire time and experience one of Greece's nicest areas.

Your call on Jans suggestions or Crazyh's. I suspect I would stay in Chania and us it as a base for day trips. No need to rent a car until you want to do day trips. The Balos Gramovossa excursion boat trip is a great day. It5 is done from Kissamos harbour 45 minute drive from Chania but there is a bus that goes specifically to the harbour in time for the cruise. You can also book an excursion from any travel agent which will include bus pick up the boat trip and return.
Chania has a nice beach about a 15 minute walk from the western seafront wall at Talos square. There is also a day bus that goes to Elafonissi and return in the late afternoon. So you can do everything by KTEL bus and not even bother renting a car.

By teh way logistically you ned to move to Heraklion on your second last day. That way you can see Knossos and the museum and enjoy the old town and harbour area. Ferries depart between 8:30 and 9 in the morning so being in Heraklion the evening before is a good thing.Just a tip the Seajet Championjet 2 I believeis on that run this year. It has an open deck on the back so you can be out on deck for the arrival at Santorini Caldera. Highspeed ferry doesn't have that deck.

Here is what you can expect.
Western Crete http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr5...7632115757899/
Aptera images 38-62 Balos Gramovossa images 79-106
Chania http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr5...7632117917828/
Heraklion https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr...57655935354556

Thanks for the good advice. I had thought there would be ferries from Chania to Santorini, but realized that I need to depart from Heraklion. I appreciate the suggestion of staying the last night there. Knowing that we need to catch the ferry from there and also wanting to see Knossos, your advice of what and when to do this is very helpful. Much better than taking a day trip to and from Chania.

Due to our other hotel arrangements, we need to see Crete first and then on to Santorini. I guess we will chance it with Ryan Air. We have been to Santorini before, and loved it so much, we wanted to go back!

Thanks, again.