Heraklion International Airport (Nikos Kazantzakis) to Rethymno
Around 80 km west of the airport; the KTEL coach is frequent and cheap at €8.30, or a fixed-fare taxi covers it in about 70 minutes.
Rethymno, HeraklionLapplaender / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 deRethymno keeps one of Crete's best-preserved old towns — a huge Venetian Fortezza above the harbour, Ottoman-era minarets and fountains, and a long sandy beach running east from the centre.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Rethymno, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €90). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from €8.3) but slower, with a change in the city.
What it costs for your group
The bus is charged per person, while a taxi or private transfer is one price for the whole car — so the more of you there are, the better door-to-door value looks.
| Group | Bus (per person) | Private transfer | Best value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo · 1 traveller | €8 | €90 | Bus |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €17 | €90 | Bus |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €33 | €90 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority is… | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From €8.3, though slower with a change in the city. |
| Speed & comfort | Private transfer | Door-to-door, fixed price, a driver waiting for you. |
| A group of 3–4 | Transfer or taxi | One flat fare splits cheaper than several bus tickets. |
| A late-night arrival | Transfer or taxi | Both run 24/7 when buses and the tram have stopped. |
By transport mode
Bus / shuttle
€8.30 for the coach itself, plus €2 for the city-bus link — good value, and departures run through the day into the evening. Journey about 1h30 not counting the change.
Where to catch it: City bus to Bus Station A, then the well-served Heraklion–Rethymno coach along the coast road.
Best for solo & budget travellersTaxi
A flat €93 including tolls, roughly 1h10 on the national road. Worth splitting between a group with luggage.
Where to catch it: Grab a taxi from the rank and name Rethymno for the long-distance fixed rate.
Best for small groups in a hurryPrivate transfer
A set price around €90–110 that lands you at the hotel door rather than the bus station on the edge of town. Vans available for larger parties.
Where to catch it: Meet your driver in arrivals; child seats can be added to the booking on request, which suits families.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsCar rental
A strong choice if you want to explore the gorges and mountain villages inland — much cheaper per day than repeated taxis. Old-town streets are pedestrianised, so check hotel parking.
Where to catch it: Collect from the airport lot and follow the E75 west toward Rethymno.
Best for travellers who want to exploreRethymno & Heraklion in photos
Buying tickets in Heraklion
Heraklion is served by KTEL city buses (lines including 6, 11 and 12) from the stop just outside Arrivals to the central bus station, roughly 15-20 minutes. A ticket costs about €1.60 from the kiosk or vending machine at the airport, or around €2.50 if bought from the driver onboard, so buy before boarding to save money. Machines take cash and card; keep small change for onboard purchases. Keep your ticket for inspection during the ride.
Taxi scams & safety in Heraklion
Use the official taxi rank outside the terminal and confirm the fare or that the meter is running before you set off; agree a price in advance for fixed destinations to avoid haggling on arrival. Decline unsolicited offers from drivers approaching inside the hall. Watch for extra luggage charges added at the end. Greece bans private-car ride-hailing, so there is no UberX here; taxi-dispatch apps only summon licensed metered cabs, and metered fares are honest when the meter is used.
Getting from HER to Rethymno
Rethymno sits about 80 kilometres west of Heraklion Airport, and getting there means committing to a direction: you are leaving the busy central coast behind for the Venetian Fortezza, the old harbour, and the narrow lanes of one of Crete's best-kept old towns. The national road runs almost the whole way, so the drive itself is a straightforward hour to seventy-five minutes. What actually varies is how you cover it and how much you pay, and on this route the gap between the cheapest and the most comfortable option is unusually wide. The coach here is genuinely good, which changes the maths, so it is worth weighing each choice on its own terms before you default to whatever is quickest at the rank.
The coach that runs the coast road all day
Rethymno is one of the routes where the KTEL intercity coach earns its reputation. The catch is that it does not leave from the airport — it goes from Heraklion's Bus Station A, so you first take a city bus in from the terminal for about €2, then pick up the well-served Heraklion–Rethymno coach that runs along the coast. The coach fare itself is €8.30, which makes the whole trip a little over €10 door to bus station. Departures are frequent, often hourly or better, and they keep going into the evening, so you are rarely left waiting long. Budget roughly an hour and a half of actual travel once you add the coach ride to the change at Bus Station A. It drops you at Rethymno's own KTEL stop on the edge of the centre, a short walk or quick local taxi from most old-town accommodation. If your bags are light and your hotel is central, this is hard to argue against on price.
The flat €93 taxi and who it suits
A taxi from the airport rank runs a fixed long-distance rate of €93 to Rethymno, tolls included, and covers the ground in about an hour and ten minutes straight to your accommodation. Name Rethymno at the rank so the driver applies the set intercity fare rather than metering it. That price is a lot next to the coach, but the calculation shifts the moment there are three or four of you splitting it — divided across a group with luggage it lands close to what several individual coach-plus-city-bus tickets would cost, and you skip the change entirely. For a couple travelling light it is a splurge; for a family or a group arriving together it is often the sensible middle.
A driver who reaches the hotel door, not the station edge
The strongest argument for a pre-booked private transfer on this particular run is where it leaves you. Rethymno's old-town streets are pedestrianised and the KTEL stop sits out on the edge, so a driver who takes you the whole way to your door saves the last awkward stretch with suitcases over cobbles. Firms such as Welcome Pickups and local Crete operators set a price around €90 to €110 for the trip, meet you in arrivals, and track your flight so a delayed landing is not a problem. Child seats can be added to the booking, which is the practical reason families tend to choose this over the taxi rank, and vans are available for larger parties. It costs much the same as the taxi but trades the uncertainty of the rank for a confirmed pickup and a confirmed drop-off.
Driving the E75 yourself if you plan to roam inland
Renting a car makes the most sense when Rethymno is a base rather than a destination. The airport desks — Hertz, Avis, and local firms — run roughly €30 to €50 a day, and you simply follow the E75 west out of Heraklion. If your plan involves the gorges, the mountain villages, or the quieter beaches south of the old town, a car pays for itself against repeated taxis within a couple of days. The one thing to sort before you arrive is parking: the historic centre is closed to traffic, so confirm your hotel has a space or knows the nearest lot rather than assuming you can pull up outside. For a purely town-based stay the car mostly sits unused and the coach wins; for a touring holiday it is the obvious pick.
Put simply: take the coach if you are heading straight into the old town and watching your budget, book a transfer or share a taxi if you are a group or want the door-to-door certainty, and rent only if the mountains west of Rethymno are on your list. Check the return coach times the day before you leave, since the last useful departures thin out earlier than you might expect.
