Bus services in Crete

There is no other public transportation in Crete, except for buses. Therefore, when planning an individual trip through the island, you should choose a suitable route in advance.

The regular buses are the modern buses of KTE (National Bus Service), as a rule air-conditioned with large comfortable seats. They can be easily distinguished from the tourist ones by their green or white-green color.

The electronic scoreboard always shows the final destination on the windshield. If you see such a bus running, and there is not any bus stop there, you can try to attract the driver’s attention, and it is likely that he stops then. Although it is against the rules: they must stop at specially marked places.

Such travels are inexpensively. 1.5 hour trip Heraklion-Rethymnon costs you now only 7.6 Euro. The most expensive trip Heraklion-Sitia costs 14.7 Euro. For your information: a trip Heraklion-Chania costs 13.8 Euro, Heraklion-Agios Nikolaos – 7.1 Euro.

On the official Web site of KTEL you can see the schedule, choose routes and even tray to use it like a clickable interactive map: any locality you like to click on will show what routes (when and where) are associated with it.

Tickets can be purchased at the central KTEL bus stops or on the bus. When purchasing a return ticket discount is offered. In Crete the bus is a perfect and effective transport possibility if you adjust your life to its schedule.

On the above mentioned site there are schedules of all intercity buses on the island Crete. They are available in the section “timetables” and in form of maps in the section “Road maps”. Each schedule contains information on prices and duration of routes. The Company KTEL Chanion-Rethymnou S.A. has a site (http://www.e-ktel.com) representing bus network in the west of the island.

– is the Web site of the Company KTEL Heraklio-Lasithi S.A., operating bus network in the east of the island. The intercity bus schedule of the eastern network is available in the section “Timetables”.

Heraklion bus stations

Any Cretan airport is usually only a transit point for a further travel. In Heraklion, there are 2 bus stations from where all major towns of the island are reachable by the local bus network of the KTEL (bus operator in Greece). You can get to the stations by the city bus routes № 1 and № 78K. The bus stop is on the main road at 100 m from the exit of the terminal gate. Traveling takes 15-20 minutes, depending on traffic.

From the largest bus station A, located in the East of the city, near the seaport, buses run along the northern coast of the island (to Hersonissos, Agios Nikolaos, Arhanes, Sitia) and to the western as well as south-western part of Crete (to Castelli and Ierapetra). From it also a bus goes to the Knossos Palace, there are routes to Rethymnon and Chania, and also run city buses.

Bus station B is located on the west outskirts of Heraklion, near the old fortress wall, and serves mainly the southern direction (Agia Galina, Matala, Tsaros, Timbaki). From here you can also get to the Phaistos palace.

You should note that buses run every 15-20 minutes from the Heraklion airport. At the bus stations, the departure frequency of intercity buses depends on the importance of the direction; to some towns intercity buses run only 1-3 times a day. You may learn information about the schedule for 2016 through inquiry services of Heraklion airport, bus stations, on the two sites of KTEL carriers or here:

bus station A –  http://www.grekoblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/heraklio-station-a.jpg,

bus station B – http://www.grekoblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/heraklio-station-b.jpg

 

Urban transportation of Heraklion

All information about Heraklion city buses, including the summer schedule, can be viewed on the three-language site (in English, German and Greek):

http://astiko-irakleiou.gr

 

Chania urban buses

All information about Chania urban buses, including the summer schedule, can be viewed on the two-language site (in English and Greek):

http://chaniabus.gr/en/

June, 2016