Two prominent airports in Crete are Chania and Heraklion. A third airport in eastern Crete at Sitia should become operational any time, but will be targeting charter flights. Thus, not all Crete airports have regularly scheduled flights. We do not list the smallest Greek airports, since there is no way to provide you flights from those airports. AirGorilla offers flights, hotels, and rental car reservations for Crete.
Crete (Greek Kriti; Turkish Girit; Latin Candia, Creta) is the largest of the Greek islands at 3220 sq. miles and the fifth largest in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located at approximately 35 N 24 E.
Crete is a popular tourist destination; its attractions include the Minoan sites of Knossos and Phaistos, the classical site of Gortys, the Venetian castle in Rethymno, and the Samaria Gorge, as well as many other natural sites, monuments, and beaches. Crete was the center of the Minoan civilization (ca. 2600–1400 BCE), the oldest civilization in Europe.
Crete is one of the most popular holiday destinations in Greece. Fifteen percent of all arrivals in Greece come through the city of Heraklion (port and airport), while charter flights to Iraklion were last year 20% of the total of charter flights in Greece. In sum more than two million tourists visited Crete last year.
Today the tourism infrastructure in Crete caters to all tastes. There is accommodation of every possible category, from large luxury hotels with all the facilities (swimming pools, sports and recreation facilities etc.), to smaller family owned apartments, to camping facilities. Visitors can arrive at the island through two international airports in Heraklion and Hania, or by boat to the ports of Heraklion, Hania, Rethimno and Agios Nikolaos.
Crete's mild climate is attracting growing interest from Northern Europeans to have a holiday home or residence on the island. E.U. citizens have the right to freely buy property and reside with little formality. A growing number of real estate companies cater to mainly British expatriates, followed by German, Dutch, Scandinavian and other European nationalities wishing to own a home in the sun. The British expatriates are concentrated in the western prefectures of Chania and Rethymnon and to a lesser extent in Heraklion and Lassithi. Some 40 per cent of Britons in late 2006 said they were planning to live outside the United Kingdom or retire abroad due to socio-economic changes in the country. One in 10 Britons do so already. ()
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