Rethymno transfers are pre-booked road journeys from Chania airport 70 km west, from Heraklion airport 80 km east, or from the Souda and town quays, driven for a fixed fare to a hotel in the old town, the beach strip at Platanes or a villa above Panormo. Plan the rest of the island with Greece Tours.
This guide covers the run in full: the times and fares from both airports, the private car against the shared seat and the KTEL coach, the road and what it does at each end, the resorts each transfer serves, the port arrivals at Souda and Rethymno, child seats and kit, and how far ahead to book.
How do you get from Chania airport to Rethymno?
By pre-booked car in about fifty-five minutes over 70 km of the E75 north-coast highway, by shared shuttle seat on the same road, or by KTEL coach from Chania bus station after a bus hop in from the terminal.
Rethymno transfers run 70 km east of Chania airport on the coast highway. Chania airport is the closer of the two gateways and the one most Rethymno arrivals use. The driver meets the flight inside the terminal, crosses the Akrotiri peninsula, joins the highway east of Souda and runs the coast past Kalyves and Georgioupoli into Rethymno. The fare is agreed before the wheels turn. Cancellation inside twenty-four hours returns the deposit in full. The Kourtaliotiko gorge road climbs to the south coast beaches. August charter banks are why Rethymno transfers are booked early. Child seats are fitted before the driver leaves for the airport. The KTEL coach is the cheap alternative to booked Rethymno transfers. Shared seats price Rethymno transfers per person instead of per car.
A private car is the fixed-fare form of Rethymno transfers. The coach is the cheap route and it costs an extra leg. KTEL runs Chania bus station to Rethymno roughly hourly for about 7 euros, taking an hour, and reaching that station from the airport needs the airport bus or a taxi. Detail on the Chania side sits in Chania airport transfers. Souda quay sends the western arrivals into Rethymno transfers. Plakias is the south-coast end of the Rethymno transfers map. Panormo and Bali sit down side roads off the highway. The old national road carries the run along the north coast. Heraklion airport sits 80 km the other way from Rethymno transfers.
How do you get from Heraklion airport to Rethymno?
By pre-booked car in about an hour and ten minutes over 80 km of highway, by shared shuttle seat, or by KTEL coach from Heraklion bus station for about 8 euros after the bus 1 hop in from the airport.
Heraklion airport sits 80 km the other way from Rethymno transfers. Heraklion takes the larger share of charter flights, so the eastern approach carries the summer volume. The road runs west past Ammoudara, climbs the Malevizi headlands and drops to the coast at Bali and Panormo before reaching Rethymno. Traffic thickens around Heraklion at the start and end of the working day. Two airports feed Rethymno transfers rather than one. Lake Kournas and Vryses sit on the western half of the run. A tracked flight number covers a delayed landing at no cost. Minivans carry six to eight passengers with the cases behind. Night landings leave no coach service into the town at all.
Shared seats price Rethymno transfers per person instead of per car. The shared shuttle works this corridor hard because the volume is there. A seat runs from about 20 to 35 euros against 90 to 130 euros for the whole car, so two travellers save and four do not. The Heraklion side is covered in Heraklion airport transfers. The town port sits inside Rethymno itself, a walk from the old quarter. Agia Galini is reached by way of Spili over the mountains. Georgioupoli and Kavros lie west of the town on the same road. Platanes and Adelianos Kampos hold the beach hotels east of town. The old national road carries the run along the north coast.
What do Rethymno transfers cost?
A private car from Chania airport runs from about 80 to 110 euros and from Heraklion airport from about 90 to 130 euros. A minivan runs from about 110 to 160 euros, and a shared shuttle seat from about 20 to 35 euros per person.
The old national road carries the run along the north coast. The fare covers the vehicle rather than the head on the private product, which is what turns the arithmetic for a family. Three passengers with cases fit a saloon, four fit an estate, six to eight fit a minivan. The operator states the class at booking and the price does not move at the kerb. Rethymno transfers run 70 km east of Chania airport on the coast highway. Cancellation inside twenty-four hours returns the deposit in full. The Kourtaliotiko gorge road climbs to the south coast beaches. August charter banks are why Rethymno transfers are booked early. Child seats are fitted before the driver leaves for the airport.
The KTEL coach is the cheap alternative to booked Rethymno transfers. Onward runs from Rethymno are quoted separately. Plakias on the south coast runs from about 60 to 90 euros, Bali from about 45 to 70 euros, Agia Galini from about 80 to 110 euros and Georgioupoli from about 35 to 55 euros. The island-wide picture sits in Crete transfers. A private car is the fixed-fare form of Rethymno transfers. Souda quay sends the western arrivals into Rethymno transfers. Plakias is the south-coast end of the Rethymno transfers map. Panormo and Bali sit down side roads off the highway. Platanes and Adelianos Kampos hold the beach hotels east of town.
How long does each run take and what is the road like?
Fifty-five minutes from Chania airport and an hour and ten from Heraklion airport, both on the old national road along the north coast, a fast two-lane highway with long straight sections and no toll.
Platanes and Adelianos Kampos hold the beach hotels east of town. The western half from Chania is the easier drive. The road holds a steady pace past Vryses and Georgioupoli and slows only at the junctions. The eastern half from Heraklion climbs and falls through the Malevizi hills, and the section around Bali carries slow lorries on the gradients. Heraklion airport sits 80 km the other way from Rethymno transfers. Two airports feed Rethymno transfers rather than one. Lake Kournas and Vryses sit on the western half of the run. A tracked flight number covers a delayed landing at no cost. Minivans carry six to eight passengers with the cases behind.
Night landings leave no coach service into the town at all. Neither run is a motorway in the northern European sense. The lane discipline is loose, the hard shoulder doubles as a passing lane, and the junctions arrive without long warning. That is the argument for a driver who runs it daily rather than a hire car collected after a night flight. Shared seats price Rethymno transfers per person instead of per car. The town port sits inside Rethymno itself, a walk from the old quarter. Agia Galini is reached by way of Spili over the mountains. Georgioupoli and Kavros lie west of the town on the same road. Panormo and Bali sit down side roads off the highway.
Which resorts around Rethymno do the transfers serve?
Platanes and Adelianos Kampos on the beach strip east of town, Panormo and Bali further east, Georgioupoli and Kavros to the west, Plakias and Agia Galini over the mountains on the south coast.
Panormo and Bali sit down side roads off the highway. The beach strip immediately east of Rethymno holds the largest hotels and sits four to seven kilometres from the old town. A booked car reaches the hotel canopy; the coach stops on the main road. Panormo lies 22 km east and Bali 32 km, both down side roads off the highway that the coach does not enter. The old national road carries the run along the north coast. Rethymno transfers run 70 km east of Chania airport on the coast highway. Cancellation inside twenty-four hours returns the deposit in full. The Kourtaliotiko gorge road climbs to the south coast beaches. August charter banks are why Rethymno transfers are booked early.
Child seats are fitted before the driver leaves for the airport. The south coast is a different order of journey. Plakias sits 40 km away through the Kourtaliotiko gorge and takes an hour, and Agia Galini sits 60 km away by way of Spili. Both are quoted as full runs rather than short hops, and neither has a useful bus after the early evening. The KTEL coach is the cheap alternative to booked Rethymno transfers. A private car is the fixed-fare form of Rethymno transfers. Souda quay sends the western arrivals into Rethymno transfers. Plakias is the south-coast end of the Rethymno transfers map. Georgioupoli and Kavros lie west of the town on the same road.
How do transfers work from Rethymno port and Souda?
Rethymno port sits inside the town, a five-minute walk from the old quarter, and takes the seasonal Piraeus sailing. Souda near Chania takes the year-round overnight boats and lies 55 km west of Rethymno.
Georgioupoli and Kavros lie west of the town on the same road. A Souda arrival lands at first light with the whole ship stepping ashore at once. The rank there empties in minutes and the coach connection runs to Chania rather than east, so a booked driver at the passenger gate is the difference between a fifty-minute run and a two-hour wait. The fare from Souda to Rethymno runs from about 70 to 100 euros. Platanes and Adelianos Kampos hold the beach hotels east of town. Heraklion airport sits 80 km the other way from Rethymno transfers. Two airports feed Rethymno transfers rather than one. Lake Kournas and Vryses sit on the western half of the run. A tracked flight number covers a delayed landing at no cost.
Minivans carry six to eight passengers with the cases behind. Rethymno’s own quay is the easy case because the town starts at the gate. Transfers from the port matter for the resorts rather than the centre: Panormo, Bali and the Plakias road all begin with a car. The town itself is covered at Rethymno. Night landings leave no coach service into the town at all. Shared seats price Rethymno transfers per person instead of per car. The town port sits inside Rethymno itself, a walk from the old quarter. Agia Galini is reached by way of Spili over the mountains. Plakias is the south-coast end of the Rethymno transfers map.
How does a shared shuttle compare with a private car?
A shared shuttle sells one seat, fills a minibus before it leaves and calls at hotels in sequence, so the price per head drops and the arrival time slips. A private car leaves when you do and stops once.
Plakias is the south-coast end of the Rethymno transfers map. The wait after landing runs from twenty minutes to an hour while the vehicle fills, and the drop sequence adds up to another hour for the last address. Two travellers heading to a mainstream hotel on the beach strip save real money. A family of four with cases pays more in total and arrives later. Panormo and Bali sit down side roads off the highway. The old national road carries the run along the north coast. Rethymno transfers run 70 km east of Chania airport on the coast highway. Cancellation inside twenty-four hours returns the deposit in full. The Kourtaliotiko gorge road climbs to the south coast beaches.
August charter banks are why Rethymno transfers are booked early. The shared product runs the Heraklion and Chania airport corridors into Rethymno and thins out beyond them. For Plakias, Agia Galini or a villa above Panormo there is no shared line at all, and the private car is the only booked option. Child seats are fitted before the driver leaves for the airport. The KTEL coach is the cheap alternative to booked Rethymno transfers. A private car is the fixed-fare form of Rethymno transfers. Souda quay sends the western arrivals into Rethymno transfers. Agia Galini is reached by way of Spili over the mountains.
What does the KTEL coach cost against a booked car?
About 7 euros from Chania and about 8 euros from Heraklion, running hourly through the day into Rethymno bus station on the edge of the centre, against 80 to 130 euros for a private car door to door.
Agia Galini is reached by way of Spili over the mountains. The coach is the right answer for a traveller with a cabin bag and time to spare. It is the wrong answer for a late landing, because the service stops in the evening, and for a party with cases, because the airport hop and the taxi from the bus station eat the saving. Georgioupoli and Kavros lie west of the town on the same road. Platanes and Adelianos Kampos hold the beach hotels east of town. Heraklion airport sits 80 km the other way from Rethymno transfers. Two airports feed Rethymno transfers rather than one. Lake Kournas and Vryses sit on the western half of the run.
A tracked flight number covers a delayed landing at no cost. Local buses fan out from Rethymno bus station to Platanes, Adelianos Kampos, Panormo and Bali through the summer, and to Plakias a few times a day. None of those timetables meets a night arrival, which is when the booked car earns its fare. Minivans carry six to eight passengers with the cases behind. Night landings leave no coach service into the town at all. Shared seats price Rethymno transfers per person instead of per car. The town port sits inside Rethymno itself, a walk from the old quarter. Souda quay sends the western arrivals into Rethymno transfers.
What do families and travellers with kit need to state?
Child seat type, pushchair, case count and any sports kit, all at booking. Greek rule puts a child under 135 centimetres in a restraint, and the seat is fitted before the driver leaves for the airport.
Souda quay sends the western arrivals into Rethymno transfers. The Rethymno beach strip runs on family hotels and the seat requests come thick in July and August. Operators carry infant carriers, group-one seats and boosters and fit them free on the private product, but only when the age and height are on the booking rather than asked for at the kerb. Plakias is the south-coast end of the Rethymno transfers map. Panormo and Bali sit down side roads off the highway. The old national road carries the run along the north coast. Rethymno transfers run 70 km east of Chania airport on the coast highway. Cancellation inside twenty-four hours returns the deposit in full.
The Kourtaliotiko gorge road climbs to the south coast beaches. Kit moves the booking up a class. Walking poles and packs for the Samaria and Kourtaliotiko routes fit an estate; bicycles, dive gear for the Rethymno wrecks and golf bags need a van. Stating the item count keeps a party of four out of a saloon that cannot take it. August charter banks are why Rethymno transfers are booked early. Child seats are fitted before the driver leaves for the airport. The KTEL coach is the cheap alternative to booked Rethymno transfers. A private car is the fixed-fare form of Rethymno transfers. The town port sits inside Rethymno itself, a walk from the old quarter.
How far ahead do you book, and what if the flight is late?
Two to four weeks ahead for July and August and a few days outside them. The booking carries the flight number, the operator tracks the landing, and a delayed aircraft costs nothing because waiting time sits inside the fixed fare.
The town port sits inside Rethymno itself, a walk from the old quarter. Rethymno draws from both airports, so it feels the charter peak twice. Chania and Heraklion land their banks inside the same ninety minutes on a summer Saturday, and the ranks at both empty while the last aircraft is still taxiing. A booking made in spring holds the car and the fare against that hour. Agia Galini is reached by way of Spili over the mountains. Georgioupoli and Kavros lie west of the town on the same road. Platanes and Adelianos Kampos hold the beach hotels east of town. Heraklion airport sits 80 km the other way from Rethymno transfers. Two airports feed Rethymno transfers rather than one.
Lake Kournas and Vryses sit on the western half of the run. Cancellation runs free to twenty-four hours with most operators here, and a changed flight number is a message rather than a rebooking. The overland alternative, with the road and the stops between the two towns, sits in Chania to Rethymno. A tracked flight number covers a delayed landing at no cost. Minivans carry six to eight passengers with the cases behind. Night landings leave no coach service into the town at all. Shared seats price Rethymno transfers per person instead of per car. A private car is the fixed-fare form of Rethymno transfers.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do Rethymno transfers cost from the airports?
From about 80 to 110 euros by private car from Chania airport and 90 to 130 euros from Heraklion airport. A minivan runs from about 110 to 160 euros and a shared shuttle seat from about 20 to 35 euros per person.
How long is the drive to Rethymno?
Fifty-five minutes over 70 km from Chania airport and an hour and ten minutes over 80 km from Heraklion airport, both on the old national road along the north coast.
Do Rethymno transfers serve the south coast?
Yes. Plakias runs from about 60 to 90 euros and Agia Galini from about 80 to 110 euros, both quoted as full runs over the mountains rather than short hops.