Crete buses travel guide: Everything about KTEL intercity routes, city networks, bus stations, ticket prices and schedules - Complete practical overview for island transportation
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Only bus service is developed in Crete. Besides buses, you can only move around here by taxi or rented car.
In this article, I’ll tell you about the main bus routes in Crete and travel costs, as well as where to buy public transport tickets in Crete and, directly, in the island’s capital, Heraklion.
City and intercity buses in Crete
Buses in Crete are divided into city buses running within one city, and intercity buses running between the capital Heraklion and the cities of Agios Nikolaos, Ierapetra, Sitia and Rethymno, with intermediate stops in other places on the island.
Intercity buses run in the northern part of the island daily, from 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM.
Previously we distinguished them by color; intercity buses were most often green, city buses – blue and white. Now this method doesn’t work very well, since city buses can have advertising, and of any color. We’ve seen completely white city buses.
And intercity buses, lately, we see: green, white-green, and simply white.
In general, first of all, intercity buses differ from city buses in that they have only seats. Also, they have a spacious luggage compartment under the cabin, which is convenient when moving between cities, or from the airport/port with suitcases.
Intercity buses in Crete are comfortable and air-conditioned. However, note that on busy routes, for example, Heraklion – Chania or Heraklion – Sitia, you may simply not get a seat and will have to travel standing.
If you plan to get to your destination with a transfer, note that due to frequent bus delays, you can easily miss the next one, and you’ll have to wait long and painfully.
Also, it’s worth considering that buses to Greek villages in Crete run much less frequently than to large cities.
Intercity bus Chania – Paleochora
City buses in Crete, as a rule, have low floors; besides seats there are also standing places, and luggage transport is physically possible only in the cabin.
City bus in Chania
KTEL buses: in eastern and western Crete
Buses in Crete are served by two bus carriers of one company – KTEL:
- Ktelherlas – serves the east of the island;
- Ktel – serves western Crete.
Buses on routes in the northern part of the island depart every hour. Buses to towns in the island’s interior and in its southern part depart less frequently.
Ktelherlas carrier buses run in the eastern part of Crete. You can find the bus schedule from point A to point B, for the dates you need, at this link.
Don’t forget to consider the specifics of Greeks’ mentality; they’re not in a hurry anywhere and buses can easily be 10-20 minutes late, and sometimes even longer. Once, we waited for a bus for an extra 45 minutes!
KTEL (Crete) travel prices
Travel costs on buses in Crete are regulated by the state and, by European standards, are moderate.
Approximate travel costs on popular routes and travel time:
Ktel company bus ticket
By bus you can reach Crete’s main tourist attractions: Knossos Palace, the cities of Phaistos and Gortyna, Arkadi and Preveli monasteries, Omalos Plateau and Hora Sfakion.
If you’re traveling around Crete with a group of 4 people, it will be much more profitable to take a taxi or rent a car than for all four to pay for bus travel.
Bus stations in Crete and their coordinates
There are several large bus stations in Crete, in a sense, starting points from where intercity buses go to different cities and villages of the island. Below we provide coordinates of the most significant ones:
Bus stations in Heraklion
KTEL Bus Station A (also designated as: Station at the port).
Central bus station where most intercity buses of eastern and western bus networks intersect, running on the most significant routes.
Buses departing from here connect Heraklion with such major cities, resorts and attractions of Crete as: Hersonissos, Malia, Agios Nikolaos, Ierapetra, Sitia, Rethymno, Chania, Arkalochori, Archanes, Kastelli, Mochos, Lasithi Plateau, etc.
Coordinates: 35°20’20.4″N, 25°08’27.4″E (35.338999, 25.140942).
Note: This information needs to be clarified, since until 2018 the bus station was located at the following coordinates: 35°20’27.9″N, 25°08’21.2″E (35.341072, 25.139218)
KTEL Bus Station B (also designated as: Station at Chanioporta).
Heraklion’s second bus station, used for bus service to the central and southern part of Heraklion region (or nome) (partially, Rethymno region).
From this bus station, buses depart to: Agia Galini, Matala, Mires, Timbaki, Anogia, etc.
Bus station coordinates: 35°20’13.1″N, 25°07’23.9″E (35.336968, 25.123311).
Bus station in Rethymno.
From this bus station, buses depart to: Kavros, Georgioupolis, Chania city, Chania airport, Bali, Heraklion, Plakias, Agia Galini, Panormo, Margarites, Arkadi, Anogia, Mili (here is located Mili gorge of the same name), Agia Irini (Agia Irini monastery), etc.
Coordinates: 35°21’59.8″N, 24°28’07.5″E (35.366609, 24.468739).
Bus station in Chania.
From this bus station, buses depart to: Chania airport, Georgioupoli, Kavros, Rethymno, Heraklion, Paleochora, Hora Sfakion, Sougia, Almyrida, Kalives, Stavros, Kato Stalos, Agia Marina, Platanias, Gerani, Maleme, Tavronitis, Kolymvari, Kastelli (Kissamos), etc.
Coordinates: 35°30’42.4″N, 24°01’00.1″E (35.511787, 24.016697).
Note: Directly from Chania airport by bus you can get not only to Chania city, but also to Rethymno with a stop at Souda port.
Bus station in Agios Nikolaos.
From this bus station, buses depart to: Elounda, Sitia, Ierapetra, Kritsa, Kroustas, Istron, Malia, Hersonissos, Heraklion, etc.
Coordinates: 35°11’34.9″N, 25°42’42.8″E (35.193038, 25.711882).
Bus station in Agios Nikolaos
Bus station in Sitia.
From here buses depart to: Agios Nikolaos, Heraklion, Ierapetra, Makrigialos, Palekastro, Zakros (here is located one of the Minoan palaces – Zakros palace), etc.
Coordinates: 35°12’16.1″N, 26°06’16.0″E (35.204457, 26.104438).
Bus station in Ierapetra.
From here buses depart to: Heraklion, Agios Nikolaos, Sitia, Myrtos, Makrigialos, etc.
Coordinates: 35°00’44.5″N, 25°44’31.3″E (35.012367, 25.742037).
In large cities of Crete, bus stations have covered premises with waiting room, toilet and shops. In small towns there are no bus station buildings, but there are small ticket sales kiosks located on the road. If there’s no kiosk, or it’s closed, you can buy a ticket right on the bus.
This is what a typical bus station looks like in a Greek city (though in this photo – in Thessaloniki)
Map of bus stations in Crete
City transport in Crete: city bus networks
City buses run in large cities of Crete, and also connect these cities with their nearest surroundings.
Unfortunately, we haven’t yet managed to find websites of all city bus networks. Therefore, we’ll periodically supplement this list:
City buses in Heraklion
On this website you can find bus route numbers and directions in Heraklion and surroundings, and also study intermediate stops.
But information about which terminal stops in Heraklion buses depart in one direction or another can’t be found on this site. Such data can be clarified on the official Heraklion city website in the “By Bus” section.
City buses in Chania
Information about terminal stops, routes, as well as current city bus schedules, on this site, can be found in the Πρόγραμμα δρομολογίων (Timetable) section.
Note: Not on all sites did we manage to find bus schedules regarding some specific intermediate stop (more often schedules indicate departure time from terminal stops). Therefore, staying at a hotel at one or another resort (and this, as a rule, will be at some intermediate stop), we find out the bus schedule at the hotel reception or on the notice board (if it’s there at all, of course).
Where to buy a bus ticket in Crete?
In Crete, bus tickets can be bought in several places, which is very convenient. Here are the ticket purchase methods we managed to use:
- at the bus station at the ticket office;
- on the bus – from the conductor or from the driver;
- in a machine at the terminal stop (this way, we’ve only bought a ticket for a city bus so far; we don’t know if such a possibility exists for intercity buses);
- in large supermarkets;
- at the reception of some hotels.
We certainly won’t assert for sure, but when we bought tickets in different ways, the price was the same everywhere (of course, provided that the cost of identical trips on the same route is compared).
Useful tips: how to use buses in Crete
What's the best way to travel around Crete by bus?
How to get from point A to point B in Crete by bus? Periodically, traveling non-standard routes, we developed an approximate algorithm for ourselves that roughly allows us to understand how to get to the desired resort or attraction and where, possibly, we’ll need to make a transfer:
- We take a map of Crete and first (in the primitive version) in the Heraklion area mentally divide the island into 2 parts (from north to south). After all, it’s in Crete’s capital that the main bus station is located, where western and eastern KTEL buses intersect.
- We assess which part of the island, relative to Heraklion, our hotel is located and where we want to go by bus. If we’re traveling from the eastern part of Crete (for example, from Hersonissos), to the western (say, to Rethymno), then at the bus station in Heraklion we’ll need to transfer from an eastern KTEL bus to a western network bus.
- If a longer trip around Crete by public transport is planned, then we refer to the island map again. In the same way, we mentally divide it in the areas of: Sitia, Agios Nikolaos, Heraklion, Rethymno, Chania. That is, through those cities where there are bus stations.
- If a long trip is ahead, for example, from Hersonissos, Stalida or Malia (located east of Heraklion) to Balos, Falassarna or Elafonisi (which are located west of not only Heraklion but also Chania), then we’ll need to make two transfers: the first in Heraklion, the second in Chania.
By the way, it’s extremely important to understand that such routes, as in the example given, are better planned for several days. Crete is a large island and such a bus trip, there and back, will be very tiring and practically impossible: neither physically, nor from the point of view of logistics (transfers, schedules, etc.).
Bus stops in Crete: how to understand which one to get off at?
Ideally, we always ask the driver or conductor (if the bus is served by a conductor) to inform us about our stop: we either name the resort and hotel we’re going to, or (if we know the exact stop name), name it and ask to warn us about arrival at it.
This method has always helped us, although someone on the forum told the opposite story.
Several times we encountered the bus driver himself announcing stops.
Names and numbering of bus stops in Crete
We noticed that east of Heraklion, stops of buses going toward Agios Nikolaos are numbered. Numbering starts from Heraklion. For example:
- in Kato Gouves there are 5 stops: No. 10-15;
- stop No. 16 is located in the Analipsi area;
- in Hersonissos, Stalida and Malia are stops No. 19-33.
We often look at stop numbers on the map. Staying in those parts, we often use this map; we simply take it and, virtually traveling along the road, look for the nearest stop to our resort and hotel.
This is how stop No. 4 at Kokkini Hani resort is marked on “OpenStreetMap”
West of Chania, bus stops are numbered slightly differently. If there are several stops in one or another settlement, then the numbering includes the settlement name and stop number.
For example: Agia Marina 1, Agia Marina 2, etc. (numbering is done from Chania and further, westward).
Do city and intercity bus stops coincide?
We won’t say exactly regarding the entire island of Crete, but just last year in the Kato Daratso area we accidentally encountered the fact that intercity bus stops and city bus stops are located in different places there.
That is, the intercity bus we were really waiting for drove past the city bus stop where we mistakenly stood.
So, it makes sense to ask locals once more whether you’re standing at the right stop, indicating the bus and direction of your trip.
What to pay attention to in Crete: nuances of bus trips
- It’s better to come to the bus stop in advance, as in personal practice we had two cases when the bus left right before our arrival at the stop, a couple of minutes earlier;
- this doesn’t happen often, but a couple of times we got into such a situation: if the intercity bus is already overcrowded with passengers, it may drive past our stop without stopping, as there may be no free seats;
- don’t count on the last bus; if possible, it’s better to try to leave on the second-to-last one – once we waited in advance for the last bus to Agios Nikolaos, and it didn’t come for some reason (we had to order a taxi);
- considering the previous point, you should definitely have money with you in case you miss the bus (or other force majeure), in case you need to call a taxi, or rent a hotel room for the night.