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If you’ve made up your mind to visit East Crete (Lasithi Region), Heraklion, or Rethymnon, it’s more convenient to fly to Heraklion. Bear in mind that this is one of the busiest airports in Greece and the one receiving most flights landing on Crete.
There are two main airports in Crete, one in the capital of the island, Heraklion International Airport Nikos Kazantzakis, and the other in the western region of Crete, Chania International Airport Ioannis Daskalogiannis. A third airport in the region of Lasithi, eastern Crete, mostly receives domestic flights from some Greek islands, but here flights are less frequent.
A ferry trip from Athens either to the port of Heraklion or the port of Chania takes from 8 to 9 hours. This night route is operated by two different ferry lines and in the summer season, ferries can also depart during the daytime. Anek Lines runs 7 times a week while Minoan Lines offers 11 trips a week.
Heraklion Airport is the second most important airport in Greece. Heraklion receives non-stop passenger flights from 111 destinations in 27 countries as well as several domestic flights.
At present, there are 7 domestic flights from Heraklion (Crete).
Chania Airport receives non-stop passenger flights from 54 destinations in 20 countries as well as domestic flights to Athens and Thessaloniki.
The only intercontinental flights operating from Heraklion are between Heraklion and the Middle-East (seasonal route to Tel Aviv and Kutaisi) and between Heraklion and Central Asia (seasonal route to Yekaterinburg).
Currently, there are no direct flights between Heraklion or Chania (Crete) and the United States, Canada, Southern America, Central America, the Caribbean, Africa, Southern Asia, Eastern Asia, China, Japan, or Oceania. Passengers coming from those areas need to fly to Athens first.
Some of the most popular airlines flying to Crete are Aegean Airlines & Olympic, British Airways, Lufthansa, Iberia, Finnair, Norwegian Air, SWISS, Brussels Airlines flights, and SAS.
Low-cost and charter companies flying to Crete are EasyJet, Ellinair, Ryanair, Volotea, Jet2, Corendon Airlines, TUI Fly, and Eurowings.