The closest town to where the baptism will take place, with both an airport and a port, is Chania. You can therefore come either by boat from the port of Piraeus in Athens (takes longer but it’s fun like a mini-cruise) or by plane from Athens, Thessaloniki or multiple international airports in Europe. Please see below for some helpful information and links:
AIRPLANE
The flight time from Athens or Thessaloniki is approx. 1 hour. Domestic flights are run by Aegean Airlines and Sky Express.
There are direct flights to Chania (CHQ) from multiple European cities: Amsterdam (AMS), Basel (BSL), Berlin (BER), Brussels (BRU), Charleroi (CRL), Copenhagen (CPH), Dusseldorf (DUS), Frankfurt (FRA), Hahn (HHN), London (LON), Munich (MUC), Paris (ORY), Vienna (VIE), Zurich (ZRH).
Please check with Ryanair for low-cost flights too.
You may also choose to fly to the nearby airport of Heraklio (HER). From there it will be approx. 2,5 hours to reach Chania by car. There are many things to do even in Heraklio in case you want to spend a couple of days over there. See our top tips.
BOAT
The boat leaves from the port of Piraeus in Athens and it takes from 8 to 12 hours to get to the port of Chania (or Heraklio), depending on whether it stops to other islands in between. There is usually a boat leaving early in the morning but the most convenient is the one leaving around 9 in the evening as you can book a cabin to sleep during the trip and wake up directly in Crete. The night boat arrives between 6 and 9 o’clock in the morning, which means you will need to go somewhere for breakfast and maybe a quick swim before heading to your hotel for check-in.
Prices for a simple deck ticket start from 40 euros per way. You may notice that it is not yet possible to book a boat ticket for August as the itineraries have not yet been published. This will take place sometime in spring, we will update this site accordingly.
Ferry schedules will be published here: https://www.gtp.gr/routesform.asp
UPDATE: FERRY SCHEDULES HAVE BEEN PARTIALLY PUBLISHED. FIND THE INDICATIVE PRICES HERE BELOW
| Pireas – Chania One way ticket cost per person | Pireas – Chania round trip ticket cost per person | |
| Deck | 46 | 83 |
| Air Type Seats | 53 | 96 |
| Cabin AB2 | 107 | 193 |
| Cabin AB4 | 78 | 142 |
| Cabin A2 | 118 | 222 |
| Cabin A4 | 86 | 155 |
| Cabin Lux2 | 129 | 233 |
| Single Cabin AB | 161 | 290 |
| CAR | 68 | 136 |
| Possible combinations (similar cost, ask for it) |
Pireas – Heraklio//Chania – Pireas OR Pireas – Chania//Heraklio – Pireas |
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Stelios can help you book the tickets, which will be delivered directly at the port of departure. Please contact us at eva.stelios.16@gmail.com and he will get back to you asap. If more than 20 guests are interested in taking the boat on the same day we can ask for a group fare, let us know!
Please note that there are also other ports and airports in Crete, towards the east side. In case you are interested in spending more days on the island and exploring a bit, please let us know and we can provide you with additional information.
Or if you are feeling more adventurous…. island hopping in the Aegean islands is also an idea: https://www.ferryhopper.com/