Rethymno Transportation

Many people visit Rethymnon by car, taking the highway from either Iraklion (80km) or Chania (70km). The public parking lot at Plateia Plastira, at the far western edge, just outside the old harbor, is best approached via the coast road from the west.

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Rethymnon does have two ship lines, which offers direct daily trips to and from Piraeus. The first ship is a high speed vessel called "Aiolos Kenteris I" and belongs to NEL Lines and costs more (5 hrs) and the "LATO" that belongs to ANEK Lines and is an older and much slower but also cheaper ship (about 10 hr.).

There are no trains in Crete and instead the locals rely on a superior bus service. The main route runs between Chania- Rethymnon- Heraklion but there are plenty of other routes connecting the interior villages and the South, East & West villages also. A map and timetable can be found on the web site below.
On both occasions we caught a bus between Heraklion, where we flew in, to Rethymnon and this proved to be very efficient and inexpensive. The vast majority of buses are new, very comfortable and are fitted with air fans. I think the fare from Heraklion to Rethymnon only cost about 7 Euros each, which is peanuts. For a 3-hour odd journey this is great value.
The journey takes the coastal road and gives you the chance to sit back and enjoy the scenery. The Heraklion bus terminal is situated by the port. You can either take a taxi from the airport, which should cost you no more than 5 euros or a bus. There is a bus stop at the airport and I think from memory you jump off at the second stop (the local ones all run one way into town) and walk right, down the hill and then left along the port road for about 5 minutes.
We used the bus service to go to Prevelli also and it amounts to great value and I would assume that this makes for a large saving compared to ordering a taxi. Well worth it! 7 Euros? That's just silly money.

I like Rethymno as much as I like Chania. But Rethymno is much easier place to get around than Chania. First of all it is close to the National Hway. You have as much of shopping, restaurants and night life like in Chania. The hotels in teh Old Town of Rethymno are much cheaper then in Chania. It is still close to the airport (about 50 min from Chania and 1 hour from Heraklio). The biggest plus of Rethymno is that you have plenty of parking space on nice clean parking lot right at front of Police station, next to Fortezza. From there you can stroll your bags to your hotel easly and you are sure your car is safe during the night.
Parking lot is located on the corner of Periferiaki Leoforos & Melissinou street

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There is a small touristic train that helps you explore the old town of Rethymno, the old port and all the beauties of this town with the help of expert guides.