Welcome

Getting to Eleni

The villa is approximately the same distance from Chania or Heraklion airports by national road. It is about 80km from Heraklion if you cut through the mountains, making this a quicker route taking about an hour and a half.

Full and detailed driving instructions will be sent to you shortly before departure.

Getting to Alexander

It takes about one hour to reach Villa Alexander from Heraklion airport and about 90 minutes from Chania airport. It is about 10km south of Panormo between Heraklion and Rethymno. 

Full and detailed driving instructions will be sent to you shortly before departure.

Flights

Both of the villas offer the option of flying to either Chania or Heraklion. You can book flights direct to Crete (Heraklion or Chania) with most of the major holiday airlines (TUI, Jet2, RyanAir, EasyJet, WizzAir). Aegean Airlines flies via Heathrow and Gatwick direct to Crete in 2024. SkyExpress started flights from the UK in summer 2022 to Crete. British Airways from Heathrow. EasyJet fly from Luton, Bristol, Gatwick and Manchester. RyanAir flies from Prestwick, Stansted, Manchester and East Midlands. Jet2 from East Midlands, Manchester and Leeds Bradford.  WizzAir from Luton and Gatwick. TUI from Gatwick, Manchester, East Midlands and Birmingham.

You can also get ferries from the other islands and from Athens.

Most holiday airlines stop regular flights at the end of October and resume before Easter, usually end of March approximately. From the UK, most flights are on Saturdays, Sundays and Tuesdays, although some are also Fridays. Aegean, RyanAir and EasyJet operate most of the year around to Athens, and out of season you can get connector flights (50 mins) with Aegean, Minoan or SkyExpress.

Ferries are available all the year around from Athens to Chania, Rethymnon and Heraklion. Transfer time by ferry is about 12 hours from Athens.

Car hire

You will need to hire a car and we can recommend car hire companies for you. Contact us for more details. All drivers need to be over 21 for hiring a car.

Please note that cars usually come with empty fuel tanks. With some companies you can pay for a full tank to be delivered with the car. As some roads in Crete are unmade and stony, it is worth taking out full insurance. Most petrol stations take credit cards but with recent problems many of them are insisting on cash. The more rural ones prefer cash anyway. We usually find that a full tank lasts about a week.

Driving is on the right. The speed limit on the national roads is 90kmh unless otherwise marked. Drive slowly through towns as pedestrians have right of way, or think they do! Also beware of flocks of sheep on the roads. To assist someone overtaking you, you are expected to pull right over to the right hand side to give them room to pass. This may mean moving on to the emergency lane occasionally. Road signs are given in both the Greek and the Roman alphabet.

Our chosen car hire company in Crete for 2024 is CreteCars.