Heraklion International Airport (Nikos Kazantzakis) ground transport

Heraklion is Crete's main gateway and one of Greece's busiest airports, handling roughly 8 million passengers a year, most of them summer holidaymakers. It has a single passenger terminal, so all buses, taxis and car-hire desks are within a short walk of arrivals. The blue local city bus (marked ΗΡΑΚΛΕΙΟ / Heraklion) leaves from the road outside the terminal every 10–15 minutes and reaches the city centre and Bus Station A in about 20 minutes for €2 on board, or €1.20 if you buy a ticket first. Taxis wait outside arrivals and work to published fixed fares by zone rather than the meter for airport runs — handy because you know the price before you set off. Crete has no railway at all, so every town is reached by road: KTEL runs frequent intercity coaches, but most depart from Heraklion's Bus Station A near the port rather than the airport, so trips to Rethymno, Chania, Agios Nikolaos or the Elounda area typically mean a short hop into the city first and a change of coach. The eastern resort strip — Hersonissos, Stalida and Malia — is served by the coastal KTEL line, and some eastbound coaches also call on the main road by the airport. Hiring a car is popular here given how spread out the island is, and pre-booked private transfers run door-to-door to any resort. This guide compares the price, time and frequency of each option to Heraklion's most-searched destinations.