Chania to Heraklion By Bus – Everything You Need to Know

Chania and Heraklion are Crete’s two largest cities, and each has its own airport. They are only separated by 87 miles (140km), and so it is very common for visitors to include both in their Crete itinerary. And rightfully so – each is worth visiting! Consequently, the question of how to best get from Chania to Heraklion (and vice versa) is a common one.

Crete doesn’t have any sort of rail network. But Crete does have an excellent public bus system. So if you mostly depend on public transportation like we do in our travels, then bus will be your optimal method for getting between Chania and Heraklion. Our own Crete itinerary started with a flight into Chania, and ended with a flight out of Heraklion. And we used the bus to get us from one city to the other. Here’s a look at everything I learned as we undertook this journey from Chania to Heraklion by bus.

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The Schedule

The bus from Chania to Heraklion generally leaves hourly throughout the day. It starts as early as 5:15am and continues until around 10pm. It’s operated by a company named KTEL which also operates buses throughout all of Greece.

The route from Chania to Heraklion is not direct – it does make multiple stops along the way. This includes a stop at Rethynmo. Rethynmo is Crete’s third largest city and is located roughly equidistant between Chania and Heraklion. So if you are traveling from Chania to Rethynmo, everything in this post is also applicable. Here’s a link for finding the most updated schedule for this route. The bus journey from Chania to Heraklion typically takes 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Ticketing

The most convenient way to book your bus ticket from Chania to Heraklion is online. And fortunately, the KTEL website is easy to use. As soon as you log onto the website you will see this important announcement.

It strongly suggests that you book your tickets in advance, since they do not oversell the bus. No one stands in the aisle on this route (which was not the case during our bus journey from Sarajevo to Mostar in Bosnia). Our bus from Chania to Heraklion was completely full. I also watched several other buses load as I was doing research for this post. They all seemed to fill as well. And we didn’t even visit Crete during peak travel season. So I would definitely heed the warning and buy your tickets in advance.

If you prefer, you can visit the ticket window at the Chania Bus Station and purchase your tickets in person. Though I would certainly recommend doing this early during your stay in town.

But I personally think it’s easiest to stick with the website and buy your tickets online. The process itself is very straightforward, and I didn’t have any issues using my US-based debit card (which has been a challenge on some foreign transportation websites). When finished, you will receive an e-ticket which you then show the bus attendant upon boarding. During your purchase, you also have the option of choosing your seats from a seating chart if you wish. Our tickets cost 16 Euros each.

You may notice that in the fine print above are the highlighted words “printed copy”. It states that you must present a printed copy of your ticket upon boarding. However, this is not actually the case. I confirmed this with the ticket office agent a few days prior to our departure. And when we boarded, the bus attendant simply looked at our phones and allowed us entry.

The Chania Bus Station

The Chania Bus Station is nice and well-organized (very different from our bus station experience in Kotor Montenegro). It’s very centrally located in Chania – only a few blocks from old town. We were able to walk to the station with our luggage from our Airbnb without problem (five blocks away).

When you arrive at the station, you will see multiple bays and plenty of outdoor space for waiting. Each bay is well marked, with signage indicating departure times and destinations. It was not hard to find our bus from Chania to Heraklion.

Inside the station is an even larger waiting area, an electronic departures board, restrooms, a cafeteria with hot food, and a shop selling packaged snacks.

The Boarding Process

Boarding our bus from Chania to Heraklion started about 10 minutes prior to schedule departure. I noticed that this was typical for most buses leaving the station. Riders lined up and we entered through the mid-bus door, showing our tickets to a bus attendant. She ultimately rode the bus with us and managed the entry of new riders and luggage retrieval of exiting riders along the entire route.

Remember when I mentioned that I was able to select my seats during the ticketing process? Well, in the end that didn’t matter. Entry onto the bus was a free-for-all, and everyone just took whatever seats they wanted. We ended up on the very back row of our bus. (After the bus stopped in Rethynmo, it emptied out briefly and we moved to better seats.)

Luggage Considerations

Riders on the bus from Chania to Heraklion are allowed to bring 2 pieces of luggage without additional charge. But this did not seem to be monitored in any way. As boarding began, the storage doors opened, and it was our responsibility to load our own luggage underneath.

The luggage situation was a bit trickier with backpacks. Mrs. TT and I both travel with fully-packed backpacks. These tend to be a little larger than the average traveler, since we are traveling for many weeks at a time.

I had noticed during one of my bus station reconnaissance visits that even medium-sized backpacks were not being allowed onto the bus from Chania to Heraklion. Riders were asked to put them underneath in luggage storage.

This concerned us because we both carry essential and costly electronics in our backpacks – especially Mrs TT who works remotely at her regular job when we travel. We didn’t want our electronics underneath the bus. We were concerned about both shifting luggage causing physical damage and theft (though we know that luggage theft on public transportation is extremely rare throughout Europe.)

So we expanded our bigger pieces and packed our backpacks very lightly.

And still, as I was standing in line to board, the bus driver came along and told me to place my backpack underneath. I was prepared to transfer my laptop and iPad into a smaller bag, but I did tell him that I preferred to take the backpack on board because of my computer. And he begrudgingly agreed.

Once onboard, I was able to fit my thinned-out backpack into the overhead storage….barely.

But we ended up keeping our backpacks at our seats with us. Mrs TT’s on her lap and mine on the floor under my legs.

The Journey From Chania to Heraklion

The KTEL bus from Chania to Heraklion is very nice on the inside. The seats are leather and cushy. The windows are big. The air-conditioning was adequate. It’s one of the nicest buses we’ve ridden so far in our travels. We departed Chania exactly at our scheduled time.

As I mentioned earlier, we did make multiple stops along the way. Some of these stops were at seemingly random roadside locations, like this bus stop…

And others were at more obvious places like the Chania Port and at the main Rethynmo Bus Station.

Crete is a gorgeous island and the scenery along this route from Chania to Heraklion helped the time pass. Much of the drive is along the coast, with views of Aegean Sea out to the left and views of Crete’s hills and mountains to the right.

Arrival in Heraklion

We arrived at Heraklion’s Central Bus Station on time. The ride from Chania to Heraklion took the scheduled 2 hours and 45 minutes. The storage doors opened and we retrieved our own luggage. We didn’t linger at the bus station, but it seemed nice.

The bus station is located on the eastern edge of Heraklion’s Old Town. It’s a walkable distance to the center, but it is an uphill walk initially. So keep that in mind if you have a lot of luggage. Plenty of taxis were waiting outside the station if you do.

Alternatives To The Bus

If you do not want to get from Chania to Heraklion by bus, then you have a couple of other alternatives.

You could arrange for private transportation by car or hire a taxi. Those are quite expensive options however. As you can see on the sign below at a taxi rank in Heraklion, the taxi price between Chania and Heraklion is currently set at 181 Euros.

Another alternative is car rental. And I think that this is a very reasonable option to consider. Not only is car rental on Crete fairly inexpensive, Crete is a destination that begs to be explored by car – for at least part of your time on the island anyway.

Because we spent a little over three weeks on the island, it didn’t make sense for us to rent a car for the entirety of our trip. But we did rent a car for a few days in Chania, and again for the final 9 days of our Crete itinerary – as we left Heraklion for eastern Crete.

If you are planning a shorter itinerary that includes both Chania and Heraklion, then it may make sense to rent a car for your entire trip. Then you could simply drive yourself between the two cities. The highway from Chania to Heraklion is nice, and the drive time is 2 hours.

(If you are currently planning your itinerary and trying to decide if you should visit both Chania and Heraklion, then be sure to check out my post Heraklion or Chania – Which City in Crete is Better?)

I was extremely happy with both car rental companies I used, and can strongly recommend either – Niki Cars in Heraklion and Go Car Rental in Chania. I will eventually be writing a blog post about my experience driving in Crete.

Final Thoughts

If you do ultimately decide to travel from Chania to Heraklion by bus, our overall experience was quite good. Ticketing was easy and prices were reasonable. The bus stations are nice. The bus is comfortable. And the luggage situation worked out. All in all, I can definitely recommend it.

But regardless of how you choose to get around Crete, I’m confident that you will love this beautiful Greek island as much as we did. It’s a great place to visit!

If you would like to learn about ferry hopping in the Greek Islands, then be sure to check out this post:

Riding The Blue Star Ferry To A Greek Island

And if you like to read about riding Greek trains on the mainland, then be sure to check out this post:

A Two Day Trip From Meteora to Athens

And if you would like to read more about our time in Crete, then check out this post:

Dining at Ntounias: A One-of-A-Kind Food Experience in Crete