What this Heraklion Airport guide does
We answer the questions people actually type before and after a flight to Heraklion: how to get to the hotel, what the taxi costs, how early to arrive, where to rent a car without being caught out. Every price on the site is dated and comes with a source or a range; when we cannot verify something, we say so rather than guess.
How the site is funded
Through affiliate partnerships, mainly transfers booked through the widget on our pages, and later hotel and car rental links. If you book through them we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never decides what we write; read the affiliate disclosure.
Corrections
Fares, bus lines and airport rules change. If you spot something out of date, tell us through the contact page and we will check and fix it.
Photo credits
All photos on this site come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences (Creative Commons, CC0 or public domain). Each one is credited under the image; here is the full list.
| Photo | Author | Licence |
|---|---|---|
| Main terminal building of Heraklion Airport “Nikos Kazantzakis”, Crete | Jcornelius | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Arrivals entrance of Heraklion Airport, with the ARRIVALS sign above the doors | Jonashtand | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Aircraft on the apron at Heraklion Airport before departure | Jonashtand | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Aegean Airlines Airbus A320 at Heraklion Airport | Florian Waßmann | CC BY 3.0 |
| Luggage trolleys inside Heraklion Airport terminal | Jonashtand | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Sitia Airport runway in eastern Crete, one of the three Crete airports with Heraklion Airport | Schuppi | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
| Side of the Heraklion Airport terminal building, with the sea behind | Jonashtand | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Forecourt of Heraklion Airport where transfer drivers and rental desks wait | Jonashtand | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Cars on the forecourt outside Heraklion Airport, near the taxi rank | Jonashtand | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| KTEL intercity bus in Crete, illustration of the bus from Heraklion Airport | Μητσίκας | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Car rental shuttle bus on the apron at Heraklion Airport | Jonashtand | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Parking area signs at Heraklion Airport, first 5 minutes free | Jonashtand | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Heraklion Airport N. Kazantzakis sign seen from the apron, codes HER and LGIR | Benoît Prieur | CC0 |
| Bust of Nikos Kazantzakis inside Heraklion Airport | Carolus requiescat | CC BY 4.0 |
| Check-in counters at Heraklion Airport | Jcornelius | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Chania old harbour lighthouse, the alternative to Heraklion Airport in western Crete | Cayambe | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Construction site of the new Kastelli airport that will replace Heraklion Airport | Manolis159 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Apron seen from the terminal windows, illustration of waiting airside at Heraklion Airport | Clever Life | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
| Kato Gouves beach, one of the resorts a taxi from Heraklion Airport reaches in 20 minutes | G.F.S. at Italian Wikipedia | CC BY 3.0 |
| KTEL bus station in Heraklion, intercity buses towards Heraklion Airport | C messier | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| “Exit to Heraklion” doors inside Heraklion Airport arrivals hall | Jonashtand | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Port of Heraklion, about 4 km from Heraklion Airport | NiTenIchiRyu | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Chania old harbour, about 2 hours by road from Heraklion Airport | Cayambe | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Rethymno old harbour and lighthouse, west of Heraklion Airport | Anton Zelenov | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Elounda bay from the hills, east of Heraklion Airport | Alexey laa | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Lake Voulismeni in Agios Nikolaos, about an hour from Heraklion Airport | Cayambe | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Hersonissos seafront at night, 25 km east of Heraklion Airport | Luu | Public domain |
| Malia beach, about 35 km east of Heraklion Airport | Cayambe | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Sitia harbour at night, at the eastern end of the road from Heraklion Airport | Petro Stelte | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| National road in Crete, illustration of driving a rental car from Heraklion Airport | Marc Ryckaert | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| The EO90 national road along the north coast of Crete, near Heraklion Airport | Marc Ryckaert | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Airliner parked at Heraklion Airport, served by many seasonal airlines | Jonashtand | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Morosini fountain (Lions Square) in central Heraklion, 15 minutes from Heraklion Airport | Moonik | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
| GDM Megaron hotel facade in Heraklion, near Heraklion Airport | Gmanou | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Lato Hotel and the Venetian harbour of Heraklion at sunset, 5 km from Heraklion Airport | bongo vongo | CC BY-SA 2.0 |
| Eleftherias Square in central Heraklion, illustration of city-centre hotels near Heraklion Airport | Dkoukoul | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
| Koules fortress and Heraklion port, illustration of the area around Galaxy Iraklio near Heraklion Airport | JopkeB | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Heraklion Archaeological Museum, steps from Aquila Atlantis (illustration), near Heraklion Airport | Zde | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Venetian arsenals on Heraklion's harbour, illustration of the Atrion Hotel area near Heraklion Airport | Wolfgang Moroder | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
| Agios Titos church in central Heraklion, illustration of the Olive Green Hotel area near Heraklion Airport | Moonik | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
| Lions Square (Morosini fountain), a short walk from Kastro Hotel (illustration), near Heraklion Airport | C messier | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Koules fortress at Heraklion's Venetian harbour, illustration of the Marin Dream area near Heraklion Airport | Moonik | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
| Karteros and Amnissos bay, illustration of the Karteros Hotel area 5 minutes from Heraklion Airport | C messier | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Amnissos beach, illustration of the AKS Minoa Palace area east of Heraklion Airport | sven.h | CC BY 3.0 |
| Kokkini Hani and the coast, illustration of the Knossos Beach area east of Heraklion Airport | Marc Ryckaert (MJJR) | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
| Coast east of Heraklion, illustration of the Arina Beach area near Heraklion Airport | sven.h | CC BY 3.0 |
| Analipsi coast near Hersonissos, illustration of the Lyttos Beach area 20–30 min from Heraklion Airport | dudi shiler | CC BY 3.0 |
| Nea Alikarnassos, the district next to Heraklion Airport where Sofia Hotel stands (illustration) | Jan M | CC BY-SA 3.0 |