Good afternoon,
We are looking to going to Crete in September for 12 days. I know there are no direct flights from Boston. The flights look long with long layovers and multiple stops. I am wondering what flights people from Boston may have taken to get there. I was thinking maybe we could spend a couple of days in Venice or elsewhere first then go on to Crete. We have been to Athens Zurich and Rome already.
Thank you!
You won't find any direct flights from Venice to Crete, whether Heraklion or Chania.
However, in September 2026, you will find direct flights to Crete from several other cities in Italy, such as Rome and Naples, or in Spain, such as Barcelona, as well as from many cities in France and other major European cities. Most of these flights are operated by low-cost carriers.
For planning flights to secondary cities it can be helpful to find their airport website and work backwards to home. For example here is the website Heraklion arrivals https://www.heraklion-airport.gr/en/flight-information-amp-destinations/. It shows London, Munich and Frankfurt, probably at least one of which has a nonstop from Boston. A number of the flights on to Heralkion are on the budget airlines so maybe are not showing up when you search Boston-Heraklion flights. But if you are going to stay a night or two in the intermediate city anyway one of them may work for you.
A good way to find which European cities have direct flights to Crete is to use Google Flights.
Set "Heraklion" as your departure city and "Europe" as your destination, select "one-way" and a date.
You'll see all the cities displayed on the map, then filter by selecting "Non-stop flights".
You should also try using Chania instead of Heraklion.
As long as an airline offers a direct flight from Crete to a city, there's also a direct flight in the opposite direction.
If you are interested in breaking up your trip in the UK, we have lots of direct flights from different London airports (and other UK airports) to Herkalion and Chania in the summer months. And of course there are several direct flights between London and Boston as well.
Thank you everyone! This is great information!
I'm also currently planning a trip to Greece (mostly Crete) next September, so I've been going down this rathole, too, for months. Short version: There are (of course) no flights to Crete from anywhere in North America, so you will need to connect somewhere else in Europe. Many people choose to connect in Athens, and that's an obvious and often logical choice. But there are oodles of other places you could connect if you find that better. I haven't counted, but there are probably over a hundred options - name any large city in Europe, and there's probably a flight to/from Crete from there. One caution: Many (in fact most) of those flights are highly "seasonal" - only flying during peak tourist season (in med-September, when you are going, it's right on the trailing edge of the season - be careful and check availability for your proposed dates carefully - do not assume a return flight will still be going in late September, many have reduced schedules or stop flying entirely by mid/late September). Still, you have lots and lots of options, including some surprising ones (I'm flying to Crete from Seattle via Helsinki Finland, probably not a route that most people would think of - but I got a great deal on a flight, and it works nicely for me).
Here are snapshots of where you can fly to/from for both Chania and Heraklion. Look at all your choices!
There are two major airports on Crete that get virtually all the flights: Chania (CHQ) and Heraklion (HER). Most folks say they like Chania a lot more than Heraklion, but both get a lot of flights (Heraklion actually looks to get a few more than Chania). There's also a third airport, Sitia (JSH) at the eastern end, but it's small and only has a few domestic flights from elsewhere in Greece.
You have LOTS of options. My approach is to work on the long transatlantic flight first (because I'm more picky about that, since it's way longer - and overnight), find something I like for that, and worry about the relatively shorter connecting flight in Europe second. Others have their own strategies.
About stopping to spend a couple days in Venice or elsewhere before proceeding...I'll just add: Crete is big, really big. Many savvy Greece experts suggest you need a LOT of time to see Crete - more than almost everyone expects. I'm gonna have 11-12 days there and that's too short to get all around the place. If you hope to "see it all" (or even see half of it) you might reconsider stooping en route to spend a few days relaxing, and save those days for Crete itself, since you will have to make hard choices and trade-offs anyway. Just something to think about.
Hope some of that helps.
David, this is great! I do agree, I would rather spend 12 days there instead of stopping somewhere first. Plenty of time to research!
Thank you for the tip on fewer flights that time of year too. I clicked on the link, I can't believe how many options there from Chania!
Yes, there are a LOT of flights (turns out Crete is a very popular "fun in the sun" holiday spot for Europeans - who could have guessed that, eh? - duh!! and, surprise it seems every high, low and ultra-low cost airline in Europe has flights to Crete in the summer - again, what a shock!).
Initially, I was wracking my brain trying to answer the question, "how does one fly from the US to Crete?" Turns out the answer to that question is "Just pick any major city in Europe, and fly there on the way." Then the task becomes "well, what city is best for me as a connecting point?" which then becomes hard to answer because there are so many choices. Could be worse.
There is a secondary temptation one needs to guard against: Once you realize that you could add a stop in, well, pretty much any major or medium sized city in Europe, the possibilities for distraction become powerful (heeeey...we could stop and spend a few days exploring Vilnius, Chisinau, Larnaca or Yerevan on the way...why not?). Well, it tempts me. YMMV.
Have fun planning.
This is true! I see a lot of flights but many have two stops. I will keep researching! Same to you!
David, may I asked what software you used to make that map? I do some mapping myself and just curious, it looks great!
I will just add it's true that Heraklion is a bigger airport and gets more flights so you'll have more options there. It's very easy to get from Heraklion to Chania on the bus (KTEL).
One more thing to consider is that often these internal Europe flights, particularly on low cost carriers, leave from different airports than you would fly into on a transAtlantic flight (e.g. in London you'd fly into Heathrow from Boston but to Heraklion/Chania you'd be out of Gatwick, Luton, or Stansted). So just pay attention to that and you may want to consider spending a night in the transit city so you don't risk missing your connection.
Heraklion via Munich on Lufthansa would be a good option.
As most mentioned there is no direct flight from the US to Crete.
You'll have to transfer somewhere in Europe.
Most people who go to Greece want to stay in Athens so the obvious answer is fly to Athens then depending on time of flight to Crete stay at the airport and fly to Crete.
Or if the connecting time doesn't work stay in Athens for the night.
Flying to Athens then on to Crete is the easiest and most logical if you are not interested in going to another European country first.
I flew from Boston to Athens then flew direct to Chania.
If you are planning on a stay in another European country before going to Crete then there are flights available but you'll have to find them.
If you are going to Greece Athens is a must either before or after Crete.
Take your choice that works the best for you.
Hi, we were in Athens last year for 4 days after MYK and Naxos.
Where did you fly through to get to ATH? I am thinking just get there and stay in airport hotel :(
But hoping maybe there will be some direct flights next year so we can go straight on to Crete without missing the connection.
We missed our connection from MUC to MYK last year spent 8 hours at MUC airport! Then to ATH then MYK!! LONG travel day!
David, may I asked what software you used to make that map? I do some mapping myself and just curious, it looks great!
Didn't make that map myself, it's just a website - one I spend way too many hours on every day, but I find it incredibly useful: FlightConnections
I do make my own maps for most trips (eg this one), and for those and other trip planning/self-rolled custom guidebooks, I use the Holy Trinity of Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign (with Lightroom for photos), but for most folks those tools are overkill (among other adjectives). I embrace them.
But there's no need to reinvent the wheel for flight routes when someone else has already provided a perfectly good one that's available with a few clicks. Have fun (but don't stay up all night...).
Oh wow, I didn't know about this website, thanks so much for that tip! I could very easily spend all night on it :)
Very impressed you are using the Adobe suite to make maps. I use Google maps for simple maps and QGIS for more complex ones.
