Crete Flight and Travel Information
General Flight Information
Rather than restricting our holidays to certain flights on specific days, we are happy to book any available flight that suits your particular requirements, whether those might be for a departure from your local airport or for a duration other than the standard one or two week package. Supplements will apply to cover the differential in cost between your chosen flight option and the standard option upon which our brochure prices are based. As most airlines now operate "fluid pricing" policies with fares rising and falling in line with supply and demand, typical flight supplements are shown for guidance purposes only. As a general rule, supplements tend to be highest for weekend flights, especially for school holiday departures such as May and October Half Term, when demand invariably outstrips supply. We will provide a definite quote for your chosen departure date at the time of booking, and advise you of any charges that certain airlines apply for options such as checked-in baggage or in-flight meals. When we are buying flights specially for you in order to offer the most competitive fares it may sometimes be necessary for you to pay the full amount for the flight at the time of booking.
All our regular flights are day flights (unless advised otherwise at the time of booking), and are operated by reputable carriers such as Monarch, Thomas Cook Airlines and Thomsonfly. All flight timings published are based upon information supplied to us by the relevant airlines at the time of going to press, but please note that these timings may change, both before and after you book. We will quote you the latest available timings at the time of booking, and advise you of any significant schedule changes that may occur subsequently, but please be aware that such changes are outside our control, and only constitute a 'major change' under the terms of our booking conditions if the departure time of your outbound flight changes by 12 hours or more from the timings confirmed on your original confirmation invoice.
Flights to Crete
The brochure prices for our holidays to Crete are based on direct charter flights from London Gatwick to Chania and to Heraklion on Tuesdays with a supplements for regional departures or flights on another day of the week. At the time of going to press, our flights are planned to operate to the following provisional schedule:
| Outbound: | Depart Gatwick | 08:25 | Arrive Chania | 14:00 |
| Inbound: | Depart Chania | 15:00 | Arrive Gatwick | 17:05 |
| Outbound: | Depart Gatwick | 09:00 | Arrive Heraklion | 14:50 |
| Inbound: | Depart Heraklion | 16:05 | Arrive Gatwick | 17:50 |
Direct flights to Chania only operate on Tuesdays (from both Gatwick and Manchester); Easyjet operate additional flights from Gatwick on Wednesdays and Sundays.
We can arrange flights from a variety of regional airports, and flights on other days of the week to Heraklion, including the Easyjet services from Gatwick and Manchester, all subject to availability and applicable flight supplements. Regional airports with direct flights to Heraklion during the summer season include Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, East Midlands, Glasgow, Humberside, Leeds-Bradford, London Gatwick/Stansted/Luton, Manchester, Newcastle and Norwich. Please note that some of these departure points only offer a limited selection of flights, in some cases at unsociable hours, but we will be happy to discuss the available options with you at the time of booking.
Typical flight supplements for regional departures are between £40 and £120 per person depending on your choice of departure airport and dates of travel. It is also possible to fly to both Chania and Heraklion via Athens at a variety of times and with a variety of airlines.
Transfers
Many of our properties included a complimentary car and this is collected at your arrival airport. We will ensure that you have accurate and up to date instructions to reach your property as effortlessly as possible.
For those properties where complimentary cars are not included we provide transfers - usually by taxi or minibus - from and to the airport if you fly into the airport nearest to your chosen accommodation (Heraklion Airport for properties in Neapolis, Istron, Sitia, Makriyialos and Panormo; Chania Airport for guests staying in Chania Town, Stavros and Loutro). The exception to this is Rethymnon as it is almost equidistant from Chania and Heraklion.
Please note that it is only possible to fly into Chania from Gatwick or Manchester so guests travelling from other regional airports to Chania, Stavros or Loutro will need to either hire a car from Heraklion or take a taxi at a cost of approximately £120 per journey, which we can arrange in advance.
The approximate driving/transfer times from Heraklion Airport are as follows:
| Pendamodi & Venerato | 30 minutes |
| Neapolis & Bali | 45 minutes |
| Panormo | 1 hour |
| Istron | 1 hour 15 minutes |
| Kamilari & Makriyialos | 1 hour 45 minutes |
| Sitia | 2 hours 15 minutes |
| Palekastro & Xerocampos | 3 hours |
| Kefalas | 1 hour 45 mins |
| Plakias | 2 hours |
| Rethymnon area | 1hr 15min to 1hr 40 min |
| Loutro | 2hrs 30 mins + 20 mins ferry |
The approximate driving/transfer times from Chania Airport are as follows:
| Stavros, Tersanas, Agios Onoufrios & Chania Town | 20 minutes |
| Kefalas & Pyrgos Psilonerou | 45 minutes |
| Plakias | 1 hour 50 mins |
| Rethymnon area | 1hr 15min to 1hr 30 min |
| Loutro | 2hrs 10 mins + 20 mins ferry |