My wife and I are looking at a hotel in Chania town, maybe Casa Delfino or something close. What is parking like in Chania? We have heard we must rent a car on Crete, but where do we park the car if we can't drive on many streets in the city center? Thanks.

We parked near the fortress which was a close walk from the CD. Had no problems parking in the fall.

We stayed at the BW Porto Veneziano and liked the location a lot. Nice views and at the far end of the harbor, so it was very quiet but only a 10 min. walk to restaurants like Ela, which we recommend (as do most others on this forum). Large parking lot practically beside the hotel. But beware of weekends since that lot is the site of the Chania Market Sat. and Sun. We found a place to park the car on the street right beside the hotel on Fri. afternoon, so had no problem.

(BTW, the hotel itself is not bad in addition to the nice location. Clean, fairly recently redecorated, breakfast pretty good. Rooms typically European-sized - a bit small by American standards - but not as small as some. Nice balcony with a view of the harbor. While we are generally not big fans of Best Westerns in the US, we often seek them out in Europe since they're easy to work with and are local places, often charming. Seems that more independent European hotels are becoming part of the BW chain, I suspect for the reservations system. And we find it easy to take advantage of the free room nights after the points accumulate for awhile.)

We were able to find a parking place near the fortress every day for two weeks. It is near Casa Delfino. Our Greek travel agent recommended that we park there.

Sea side of the Fortress

Thank you for the replies! We will not hesitate to rent a car and book a hotel in the city center.

Can anyone recommend a good car rental company out of Chania airport?And how long is the drive to Elefonissi?

We booked everything in Crete through www.diktynna-travel.gr, a local agency in Chania. They will answer all questions too. Can't remember time to drive to georgeous Elafonissi as we went to Falassarna first then took themagnificent coastal road down to Elefonissi. Both beaches are beautiful and veru different from each other.

It takes about 2 1/2 hours to drive to Elafonissos. At the end, the road is new- the last time we were there, incomplete, but it MUST be finished by now