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Crete in Easter 2015

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I plan to visit Crete during the British Easter Bank Holiday for about two weeks (approx 28 March - 11 April 2015). Before booking, though, I had a few questions and would appreciate your thoughts and advice please!

(1) Has anyone experienced Crete during the Easter period (especially Chania, where I plan to stay)? Will grocery shops, restaurants, sites, etc be open?

(2) I am thinking about NOT hiring a car. I plan to rent a self-catering apartment and book organised day tours to sites like Knossos and the Samaria Gorge. Do you know of any good day tour companies who operate in March? I have found they tend to start work in late April to May.

(3) Does anyone have experience of driving in Crete? I've heard it's fairly high risk - should we avoid driving in Crete? We are used to driving in rural UK, midwest USA and rural Japan (all 'easy' driving) and don't want to get stressed out with driving on our holiday.

Many thanks in advance!

Posted by
16893 posts

I visited Crete during Easter of 1996, found all the services I needed to be open, and loved staying in Chania. I did all my travel by bus, but moving on to new locations, not round-tripping from Chania. Bus service can be much reduced vs. high season (e.g., I had only 1 or 2 bus departure options between Hora Sfakion and Chania, despite the more extensive summer schedule being posted at the bus stop). I'm sure you could rent a car on short notice if the tour companies don't work out. Driving is plenty easy if you want to do it. Staying flexible is always a good idea in Greece.

Posted by
4151 posts

Googling tells me that Greek Easter is 12 April this year. Did you realize that?

The Palace of Knossos is close to Heraklion, not Chania. Do a Rome2Rio search for distance, time and cost on your own if you can't find a tour.

We spent 2 nights in Heraklion with the day between used to visit Knossos and the wonderful museum in Heraklion that has the artifacts from the Palace. We took the bus to and back from the ruins.

It is about a 2 hour drive from Chania to Knossos. Try Googling "taxi tours of Crete" if you haven't done that already.

It would probably be pricey, but perhaps not as expensive as spending 1-2 nights in Heraklion and would certainly save time. And it looks like they would take you just about anywhere you'd like to go.

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