You basically have 3 ways to get from Crete to Santorini: by ferry, by plane or by an organized tour (like this one). Ferries from Crete to Santorini depart from Chania, Rethymno, Heraklion or Agios Nikolaos.
In my honest opitnion, the best way to get from Crete to Santorini is by taking an organised tour that will also pick you up from your hotel in Crete. These are the best daytrip tours from Crete to Santorini:
- FROM CHANIA: Santorini Daytrip (with hotel pickup from Chania, 4 hr boat tour to Santorini and lots of free time to spend at Fira and Oia)
- FROM HERAKLION: Santorini Daytrip (taking the Champion Jet 2 from Heraklion and hop on an airconditioned bus at Fira while you also get the option to get on a guided volcano tour)
- FROM RETHYMNO: Santorini Daytrip (hotel pick up anywhere close to Rethymno, hop on Champion Jet catamaran and visit Fira, Oia and the famous beaches of Perissa and Perivolos)
- FROM AGIOS NIKOLAOS: Santorini Daytrip (hotel pickup from Agios Nikolaos area but actually depart from Heraklion where you will take the boat to Santorini and spend the day there)
If you don’t want to do an organised tour (which I do not recommend as you will spend too much time trying to figure out what is going on with the ferries and where to go when you arrive on Santorini), there is nothing stopping you from booking your ferry tickets or flights from Crete to Santorini as an individual.
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Keep reading…
RECOMMENDED WEBSITES FOR GREECE:
Booking.com is the website with the most available rooms and Private Villas in Athens, Santorini , Mykonos & Crete (more than Airbnb!)
DirectFerries is the best website to book your ferry tickets or check the timetables for Santorini, Mykonos , Crete & all greek islands
Get Your Guide has the best and largest variety of Tours in Athens and the greek islands (Santorini, Mykonos, Crete etc)
Rentalcars is the easiest way to rent a car or a quad for Greece with thousands of available options
Expedia has all the available flights to and from the greek islands
VERY IMPORTANT TO KNOW
- Best Way To Get From Crete to Santorini: By an organised tour that will pick you up from your hotel; From Chania , from Heraklion, from Rethymno or from Agios Nikolaos.
- All boats/ferries to Santorini depart only from Rethymno or Heraklion ports (the organised tours will pick you up with a bus from Chania or Agios Nikolaos to take you there so you really don’t have to worry about local buses)
- Best Website for Ferry Prices & Timetables from Crete to Santorini: Direct Ferries – ALWAYS CHECK THE LATEST FERRY TIMETABLES AND PRICES AS FERRY SCHEDULES IN GREECE CHANGE FREQUENTLY!
- Flights from Crete to Santorini: unfortunately there are no direct flights from anywhere in Crete to Santorini for 2020 so taking a ferry or a daytrip tour is your only opion.
- Between April-October there are 4 ferries a day from Crete to Santorini (and Santorini to Crete); there are far less ferry options in the winter (November-March) or possibly no direct ferry.
- How long does it take from Crete to Santorini: it varies from 2hrs (fast-Champion Jet) to 4 hrs (slow-Superferry)
- How much does it cost to take a ferry from Crete to Santorini: the slowest ferry (Superferry) costs 40 euros and the fast ferry (Champion Jet) can cost up to 80 euros for airplane type seats.
- You can book your ferry online but you always have to get the ticket printout from the ferry kiosk in Heraklion/Rethymno port or any other greek travel agency (it’s the greek law) in Crete
- There is no ferry from Chania or Agios Nikolaos to Santorini: you basically have to take the local bus to Rethymno or Heraklion (1-1.5 drive)
- LOCAL BUS FROM CHANIA TO RETHYMNO: check timetables, prices and book your Bus here
- LOCAL BUS FROM AGIOS NIKOLAOS TO HERAKLION: check timetables, prices and book your Bus here
Ok, so let’s see all the available options:
1. Crete to Santorini with a Daytrip Tour
Taking an organized daytrip to Santorini from Crete is the bestt hing you can do as the operator will pick you up from your hotel (so you don’t have to worry about the local buses in Crete) and you will also be guided on Santorini on a private bus (and you will also not have to worry about Santorini local buses or taxis).
All guided daytrips from Crete to Santorini pick you up from your hotel and take you to a port (Rethymno or Heraklion) to board on the ferry to Santorini. These are not private boats but the normal ferries that go to Santorini.
All of the tours also offer a bus that will take you around in Santorini and basically return back to Crete (Rethymno or Heraklion) in the evening.
You get about 6-7 hours on Santorini where you will visit Fira, Oia and
There are plenty of daytrips to Santorini from Crete options that you can actually book online on Get Your Guide but these stand out:
- FROM CHANIA: Santorini Daytrip (with hotel pickup from Chania, 4 hr boat tour to Santorini and lots of free time to spend at Fira and Oia)
- FROM HERAKLION: Santorini Daytrip (taking the Champion Jet 2 from Heraklion and hop on an airconditioned bus at Fira while you also get the option to get on a guided volcano tour)
- FROM RETHYMNO: Santorini Daytrip (hotel pick up anywhere close to Rethymno, hop on Champion Jet catamaran and visit Fira, Oia and the famous beaches of Perissa and Perivolos)
- FROM AGIOS NIKOLAOS: Santorini Daytrip (hotel pickup from Agios Nikolaos area but actually depart from Heraklion where you will take the boat to Santorini and spend the day there)
2. Crete to Santorini by ferry
Going to Santorini from Crete by ferry is basically your only other option if you don’t want to take any organized daytrips.
A few important things to know about the ferries from Crete to Santorini (and from Santorini to Crete):
- You have 2 ports to chose for your departure from Crete to Mykonos: Heraklion port or Rethymnon port. There are no ferries to Santorini from Chania or Agios Nikolaos.
- The slow ferry from Crete to Santorini takes approx. 3.5 hours to arrive (Superferries) – check timetables here
- The quick ferry (it’s actually a catamaran) from Crete to Santorini takes about 2 hours to arrive (Champion Jet 2) – check timetables here
- Slow Ferry ticket to Santorini costs ~40 euros (depending on the seat you chose)
- Fast Ferry ticket to Santorini costs ~80 euros (depending on the seat you chose)
- Between April-October there are 4 ferries per day between Crete and Santorini.
- The ferries to Santorini usually depart early in the morning and come back to Crete in the afternoon (usually after 5pm)
- There are no ferries from Crete to Santorini between November and March (but these thigns change so always check Direct Ferries)
Where can you book ferry tickets from Crete to Santorini?
The best thing you can do is to book them online in advance on Direct Ferries website.
You would still have to get the printout from the ferry kiosk outside of the ferry depart point (at the port) before departing (so make sure you arrive there early enough).
HOW TO GET FROM CHANIA TO RETHYMNO PORT
The easiest and cheapest way to get from Chania to Rethymno so that you can take the ferry to Santorini is by taking the local Crete bus.
There is a bus that runs every hour between the 2 towns and you can basically book your bus ticket online.
There is a bus between Chania and Rethimno every hour and the ticket costs 6.80 euros (but always check the website as these things change on an annual basis).
The trip from Chania to Rethimno takes about 1 hour by bus.
Here is a video showing how you can get the KTEL local Crete bus from Chania to Rethymno:
HOW TO GET FROM AGIOS NIKOLAOS TO HERAKLION PORT
The easiest and cheapest way to get from Agios Nikolaos to Heraklion port is to take the local KTEL bus.
Book your but ticket and check timetables here (Agios Nikolaos-Heraklio)
There is a bus to Agios Nikolaos every hour and the ticket costs 7.70 euros. The trip takes 1.5 hour.
3. Crete to Santorini by plane
Unfortunately there are no direct flights from Crete to Santorini but these things change every year, so you should always check Expedia for any available flights.
CHANIA AIRPORT CODE: CHQ
HERAKLION AIRPORT CODE: HER
SITIA AIRPORT CODE: JSH
(Sitia is the airport closest to Agios Nikolaos in Eastern Crete)
CONCLUSION
A visit to Santorini is totally doable and it will be a highlight of your trip to Crete actually! Taking a guided daytrip to Santorini (like this one) is the best way to take a glimpse of this greek gem that is Santorini. The good thing about the guided tour is that they will have arranged everything for you and they will actually pick you up from your hotel pretty much anywhere in Crete. But you can also book everything by yourself which will obviously take you a bit more time. The easiest way to check timetables and even book any ferry tickets online has been Direct Ferries and I highly recommend it to everyone looking to get a ferry from Crete to Santorini or to and from other Greek islands.
MORE TIPS ABOUT GREECE
I am looking to book a Champion Jet 2 catamaran from Crete, Heraklion to Santorini in, 1 way, in the end of October. It’s my honeymoon.
I have typed the date of Wednesday 26th October but no dates are available for any dates around this time.
Is this because it is too far in the future for selecting trips at this current time?
If so please advise when these available times would become available?
Many kind Regards
Unfortunately, chances are that there will be no ferries at all from Crete to Santorini at that time of the year. Direct ferries between these 2 islands only operate between early May – early October. 26th of October is considered low season and there is no high demand for such a route so it’s not operating at all. Maybe things change this year, so make sure you check again in July and August but I really doubt it to be honest…
Is it possible to book a trip to santorini ,stay overnight and return the following eve.. woukd orefer the fast ferry option?
Hi there,
Yes, it’s totally doable but it would be tiring.
In that case you definitely need the fast ferry option and you only have the option to take the ferry from Heraklion. There is no direct ferry from Chania to Santorini unfortunately.