Crete Island Travel Forum

On a Monday in mid-May, we need to do the following:
1) Starting from Iraklion, we will take a LOCAL bus to visit the Palace of Knossos.
- How long usually would it take to tour the whole site?
- When does it open in the morning?
- Which LOCAL bus we should take to get there from Chronaki Street?
- How can we get to the Iraklion's KTEL bus station after visiting the Knossos?

2) Then, take KTEL bus from Iraklion to Chania via Rethymnon
I saw separate schedules for the two legs: Iraklion -> Rethymnon, then Rethymnon -> Chania.

- According to the schedule, e.g., a bus would arrive at Rethymnon at 17:00, then right at that time, another leaves Rathymnon to Chania. Is this a seemless transfer (i.e., without changing bus) or one has to change bus (means, if the first leg is delayed, one has to wait for about an hour for the next bus to Chania)?

- Is there any direct bus between Iraklion and Chania?

- Is there any luggage locker at the KTEL bus station (so that we can leave our luggage there prioir to visit the Knossos, then go straight to the bus station after)?

- How far is the KTEL station from Chronaki Street (in case we have to leave the luggage in the hotel that morning)?

Thanks in advance for any help!

I can answer parts of your post.

1. The bus to/from Knossos terminates at the West Crete KTEL station.

2. The Heraklion/Rethymnon/Chania bus is normally straight through with no change. They with put an extra Hania only or Rethymnon only bus on if things get busy, but the driver will usually shout out "Hania only" etc! (And everyone who wants Rethymnnon will get off!)

There is a left luggage/parcel store at KTEL Heraklion - I haven't used it for years so hopefully someone can tell you the rates. I normally stay at the Lena Hotel which isn't far from Chronaki - maximum of 15 minutes walk to the bus station (walk straight along Vironos cross into Epimnidou (?) and walk down the steps on the left to the bus station after about 500 yards)