The Heraklion hop on hop off bus is an open-top sightseeing bus in Heraklion, the capital of Crete, with two routes: a red line through the city and out to the palace of Knossos, and a blue line to the beach hotels of Ammoudara. Tours across the rest of the country are listed on Greece Tours.
The sections below cover the routes and stops, the Knossos stop, the loop times, the tickets and what they include, where to board, cruise stopovers, the season, a day plan, other ways to get around, and children and wheelchair users, with links into the Heraklion pages. The tours shown are checked on GetYourGuide and Viator.
What is the Heraklion hop on hop off bus?
The Heraklion hop on hop off service runs open-top sightseeing buses on fixed loops through the capital of Crete, with audio commentary in eight languages. Riders step off at any stop, explore on foot and board a later bus to continue.
Crete’s capital and largest city spreads its sights from the Venetian fortress guarding the harbour to the Minoan palace on its southern edge. A Heraklion hop on hop off pass ties them together, so a visitor can linger in a museum and catch the next bus.
Two local firms, Heraklion Sightseeing and her-openbus.gr, each sell a red and a blue route, and a third, Heraklion Open Tour, runs yellow double-deckers on its own city tour. Every Heraklion hop on hop off company publishes its own map, so stop names and counts differ.
Which routes does the Heraklion hop on hop off bus run?
The Heraklion hop on hop off bus has two routes. The red line links the harbour, the old town and the museums with the Minoan palace at Knossos, while the blue line heads west along the coast to the beach hotels at Ammoudara.
The red line is the city tour of the Heraklion hop on hop off network, passing the port, Koules, the museums, the Gate of Jesus and Kazantzakis’ grave on the way to Knossos. Sights of Athens, the operator on Headout, calls its two routes the Heraklion line and the Ammoudara line.
The blue line serves Ammoudara, a sandy beach 6 km west of Heraklion with swimming, kite surfing and windsurfing. On her-openbus.gr, the blue and red routes are sold together as one Heraklion hop on hop off tour of Ammoudara, Gazi and the city.
Which stops does the Heraklion hop on hop off bus make?
The Heraklion hop on hop off red line stops at the port, the Koules fortress, the Historical and Natural History museums, the Gate of Jesus, Kazantzakis’ grave, Knossos, the market and the Archaeological Museum, while the blue line serves four beach hotels and Technopolis.
- H1 Port
- H2 Neoria and Fitaki Megaron
- H3 Koules fortress
- H4 St Peter’s church and Historical Museum
- H5 Natural History Museum
- H6 Hanioporta
- H7 Kazantzakis’ grave
- H8 New Gate (Gate of Jesus)
- H9 Palace of Knossos
- H10 Market bazaar (Galaxy Hotel)
- H11 Archaeological Museum
These eleven stops, H1 to H11, follow the Heraklion Sightseeing route page, and the her-openbus.gr home page also shows 11 red route stops. Other pages on both sites say 12, so the Heraklion hop on hop off stop count depends on the page.
Blue line stops A1 to A5 are Hotel Apollonia Beach Resort and Spa, Dessole Dolphin Bay Resort, Technopolis, Agapi Beach Hotel and Hotel Candia Maris Resort. Sights of Athens lists the port and Fitaki Megaron on its Ammoudara line too, and counts 18 Heraklion hop on hop off stops in all.
Does the Heraklion hop on hop off bus go to Knossos?
Yes. The Heraklion hop on hop off red line stops at the Palace of Knossos, listed as stop H9 by Heraklion Sightseeing, about 5 km south of the historic centre. The blue line stays with the beach hotels, so Knossos means riding the red line.
Knossos sits on Kephala hill, where the first Palace of Minos rose around 1900 BC as the leading centre of Minoan Crete, and UNESCO now lists it among the Minoan Palatial Centres. The Heraklion hop on hop off pass itself leaves out palace entry, which is covered by Knossos Palace tickets.
On the red line, Knossos comes between the Gate of Jesus and the market bazaar. Arthur Evans rebuilt parts of the palace in reinforced concrete early in the twentieth century, and the bulk of its finds now sit in the Archaeological Museum at stop H11, so one Heraklion hop on hop off ride joins the ruins to their objects.
How long does a full loop of the Heraklion hop on hop off bus take?
A full red line loop on the Heraklion hop on hop off bus takes one hour by the Heraklion Sightseeing figure and 80 minutes by the her-openbus.gr figure. The blue line from the Ammoudara hotels runs a longer round of about 120 minutes.
The Sightseeingo listing for a 12-stop Heraklion hop on hop off city route gives the same one-hour red loop and about 120 minutes for the blue loop. On her-openbus.gr, the combined Ammoudara, Gazi and city route also takes 120 minutes and makes 17 stops.
Stepping off at Knossos adds the palace visit and the wait for a later bus, and Sightseeingo warns that traffic, road closures and weather can delay a Heraklion hop on hop off bus or change its route. Travellers who want a guide rather than audio can book a Knossos and Heraklion tour.
Which Heraklion hop on hop off tickets can you book?
You can book a Heraklion hop on hop off pass for one or two days, or a combo that adds Knossos Palace entry. Two-day passes come as a 48-hour ticket or as a one-day ticket with a second day added free.
A regular Heraklion hop on hop off pass gives you two days of riding. GetYourGuide sells a 48-hour ticket valid on both routes, Heraklion Open Tour adds an extra day to its 24-hour ticket, and Headout sells the Sights of Athens pass as 1 day of unlimited rides plus 1 free day.
The GetYourGuide Knossos bundle is valid for 1 day with skip-the-line entry, and Headout pairs priority palace entry with its two-day Heraklion hop on hop off pass. GetYourGuide closes sales between 30 minutes and 10 hours ahead, depending on the ticket, while Headout refunds its bus pass in full up to a day before your date.
What does a Heraklion hop on hop off ticket include?
A basic Heraklion hop on hop off ticket gives you unlimited travel on the red city line and the blue Ammoudara line, an audio commentary in 8 languages, earphones and a route map. Entrance fees for Knossos and the museums are not part of it.
Heraklion Open Tour and the her-openbus.gr operator both list Greek, English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian and Turkish. The Headout listing has Hebrew in place of Turkish, and the 48-hour GetYourGuide Heraklion hop on hop off ticket adds Portuguese to the Headout set.
The her-openbus.gr ticket covers both routes at no extra charge and adds free Wi-Fi, as does Heraklion Open Tour, which also gives discounts at its business partners. Heraklion Sightseeing says its Heraklion hop on hop off tickets cover the ride alone.
Where do you board the Heraklion hop on hop off bus?
Any stop on the route is a boarding point for the Heraklion hop on hop off bus, where the driver or stop staff hand you a ticket for your voucher. Buses can fill up in high season, so start at a line’s first stop.
The her-openbus.gr red line starts and ends at Heraklion port and its blue line at Ammoudara’s Apollonia Hotel, and seats need no reservation: tickets are sold at the port stop or on boarding. Heraklion Sightseeing also sells Heraklion hop on hop off tickets at its stops for cash or card, and Heraklion Open Tour sells them on board.
Keep the ticket you receive until it expires, as Sightseeingo advises, and bring the named e-ticket plus the credit card used to book if you bought from Heraklion Sightseeing. That firm runs deep blue double-deckers, while the Sightseeingo Heraklion hop on hop off pass covers red, yellow or orange buses with a number 1 on the windscreen.
Can cruise passengers use the Heraklion hop on hop off bus?
Yes, cruise passengers can ride the Heraklion hop on hop off bus straight from the ship. Heraklion port has two cruise terminals, and Heraklion Sightseeing keeps its buses about 2 minutes’ walk from the arrival gate for the loop into the city centre.
Headout sells the Sights of Athens pass as a cruise stopover ticket, with stop 1 of its Heraklion line at the Port Station by the cruise terminal. Heraklion Sightseeing points cruise guests to its blue line for Ammoudara beach, so a single Heraklion hop on hop off pass covers the old town and the sand.
Ships tie up in a harbour completed in 1928, with the Koules fortress, the ramparts and the arsenal standing over the port area. The her-openbus.gr operator takes requests for off-season tours from cruise passengers through its contact form, and travellers who prefer a private car to a Heraklion hop on hop off seat can book Heraklion port transfers.
When does the Heraklion hop on hop off bus run?
The Heraklion hop on hop off season covers every day of summer, with Heraklion Open Tour operating from late spring to October. A red line bus reaches each stop every 20 to 30 minutes, and the blue Ammoudara line runs every 60 minutes.
The her-openbus.gr operator sells departures for every day of the week until 31 October, and Heraklion Sightseeing runs 7 days a week, Sundays and public holidays included. Sightseeingo marks the blue line as a summer-only service, so plan the beach leg of a Heraklion hop on hop off pass for the warm months.
Intervals depend on the seller: the her-openbus.gr red line passes each stop every 20 minutes and its blue line every 60, while Headout’s combo listing gives 30 minutes on the Heraklion line. Times shift with the season and the day, so Heraklion Sightseeing points riders to its printed timetable; its Heraklion hop on hop off buses also run in the rain, with free disposable raincoats.
How do you plan a day with the Heraklion hop on hop off bus?
Build a Heraklion hop on hop off day around three blocks: Knossos in the morning, the air-conditioned Archaeological Museum at midday, then the harbour and the Venetian walls by late afternoon, saving the Ammoudara beach line for a second day.
Heraklion Sightseeing advises first-timers to ride one full Heraklion hop on hop off circuit with the commentary before choosing stops, and the her-openbus.gr crew help with that choice on board. Then take the red line to Knossos, wearing shoes that grip its uneven stones.
On the Heraklion Sightseeing red line, the Archaeological Museum comes two stops after Knossos. Its air-conditioned halls hold the Phaistos Disc and the Snake Goddess figurines, and no Heraklion hop on hop off fare covers museum entry, so book Heraklion archaeological museum tickets ahead.
By late afternoon, ride back to the port for Koules, the Venetian fortress on the inner harbour, or to Kazantzakis’ grave on Martinengo, the southernmost bastion of the 7.5 km wall. A Heraklion hop on hop off pass valid for two days then frees day two for the blue line beaches.
How does the Heraklion hop on hop off bus compare with a walking tour or a taxi?
The Heraklion hop on hop off bus wins on reach: one pass links the old town, Knossos and the Ammoudara beaches with audio commentary. A walking tour gives you a guide but stays in the centre, and a taxi or city bus only moves you.
The Walking Tour with Tasting on GetYourGuide shows the contrast: 2.5 hours on foot past landmarks such as Koules Fortress, with bougatsa and raki, booked at least two days ahead. Our Heraklion walking tour page compares the walks; a Heraklion hop on hop off pass adds Knossos and the coast.
Taxi ranks stand downtown, at the airport and at the ferry port, so a cab is the direct choice for one fixed trip, such as the port to Knossos. A Heraklion hop on hop off pass, by contrast, covers every ride, back and forth, for as long as the ticket runs.
For Knossos alone, the city bus is the cheaper ride: Heraklion Urban Bus lists 24 lines and 573 stops, and line 2 ends at the palace. Tickets cost less at stop machines than on board, and the operator’s app issues e-tickets. None of it comes with Heraklion hop on hop off commentary.
Is the Heraklion hop on hop off bus suitable for children and wheelchair users?
Yes: the booking listings we read mark the Heraklion hop on hop off buses as wheelchair accessible, and families pay nothing for children under 5 on the her-openbus.gr and Heraklion Sightseeing buses, while Heraklion Open Tour’s booking page counts children from 5 to 15.
The her-openbus.gr operator carries children of every age as long as an adult rides with them, and charges a child fare from 5 to 15. Sightseeingo’s Heraklion Open Tour listing lets infants travel without a ticket, and Heraklion Open Tour asks every rider to stay seated while the Heraklion hop on hop off bus moves.
Sights of Athens buses take wheelchairs, prams and strollers and welcome guide dogs, and every Heraklion hop on hop off product we checked on GetYourGuide carries the wheelchair-accessible label. Knossos has a ramp at its main entrance but is only partly accessible; visitors with a disability of 80% or more enter free with one escort.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you cancel a Heraklion hop on hop off ticket?
Yes, through the resellers: Headout and Sightseeingo give a full refund for cancellations 24 hours or more ahead, and Sightseeingo also rebooks or refunds when weather suspends a tour. The Headout combo with Knossos entry cannot be cancelled or changed, and Heraklion Open Tour’s own terms refund only when it fails to run the service.
Can you use a Heraklion hop on hop off ticket on separate days?
Not on Sightseeingo’s Heraklion Open Tour listing, where multiday tickets run on consecutive days only, though the first day can move to any date within 12 months of the booked one. Heraklion Open Tour’s own terms give no extensions, so an expired ticket means leaving at the next chance or buying another.
What can you take aboard the Heraklion hop on hop off bus?
Bags are allowed on the Sights of Athens buses, and Sightseeingo’s Heraklion Open Tour listing lets you plug in wired earphones of your own. That listing bars pets, while Heraklion Open Tour’s terms ban alcohol on board at all times and exclude dangerous items from the tour.
How do you cope with heat and rain on a Heraklion hop on hop off bus?
Use the lower deck: Heraklion Sightseeing keeps it covered, and Sightseeingo’s Heraklion Open Tour listing notes air conditioning and tours in all weather. Upstairs on the open-top deck in summer, wear the hat, sunglasses and sunscreen that the Knossos combo listing asks for.