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Driving from Heraklion: Knossos, Elounda, Matala and the South Coast
Three drives out of the city, with the distances, the honest times and the places the car actually fits.
/ 4 · Nights
The three drives that pay for the car
A hire car earns its keep here in three directions, and all three begin at the same ring of roundabouts on the edge of Heraklion. Knossos is five kilometres south, a morning rather than a day. Agios Nikolaos and Elounda sit 65 to 70 kilometres east on the quickest road Crete has. Matala is about 70 kilometres south, and it takes longer than the eastern run despite looking identical on a map.
Three of the least expensive cars on the listing
These days are cheap in fuel and expensive in hours, which is the argument for the smallest car you can live with.
€/day
Compact hatchback
5 doors · 5 seats · Manual
Seventy-one of the 120 cars.
Automatic
5 doors · 5 seats · Automatic
Thirty-two of the 120. Filter early.
Delivered to you
Hotel, villa or apartment
Eighty-four of the 120 deliver.
Four things the map will not tell you
Knossos is closer than the traffic makes it feel
Five kilometres is nothing, but the road out through the southern suburbs is a working city street with schools on it. At eight the drive takes a quarter of an hour. At ten it takes twice that, and the car park is full.
The National Road is two roads with one name
Part of the coast road east is motorway standard and part is old two lane tarmac with an etiquette of its own, set out on Driving in Crete.
The last stretch into Matala narrows
The Messara plain is flat and fast. Where the road drops to the coast it tightens, bends go blind, and a coach coming the other way takes its own side and a little of yours.
Spinalonga is a boat, not a bridge
You drive to Plaka, leave the car and cross by water, so the island decides when your day ends. Check the last sailing back before you buy a ticket out.
The three drives, one at a time
Take them in this order if you can: the short one on the day you collect the car, the long fast one mid week, the slow southern one when nobody has to be anywhere by evening.
A morning, not a day
The palace sits five kilometres south of the centre on a signposted road. Go early: the car park at the entrance fills by mid morning in summer and the overflow is a verge on a bend. Ninety minutes inside is enough, and you can be back in Heraklion for lunch. Take it on the day you collect the car.
Sixty-five kilometres of the fastest road on the island
Join the coast road east and stay on it past Hersonissos and Malia. Agios Nikolaos is roughly an hour when the traffic behaves and longer in August. Elounda is ten minutes north on a twisting road above the gulf, and its waterfront square is where every car in town tries to stop at once, so park higher up and walk down. Plaka and the Spinalonga quay are a few minutes on.
Over the ridge and across the Messara
Head out of Heraklion on the Moires road, climb the ridge and drop onto the Messara plain, which is flat and quicker than it looks. Phaistos stands above it with its own car park and a fraction of the crowd Knossos draws. Past it the road narrows as it falls to the coast, so allow an hour and a half each way. Matala has one large paid car park behind the beach.
The eastern day, in order
This is the longest of the three and the one people most often try to squeeze. Give it a whole day.
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1
Leave before nine and hold the road past Malia
As far as Hersonissos the coast road doubles as a commuter route. Past Malia it quiets, the gulf opens up on your left, and the next forty minutes are the easy part.
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2
Stop in Agios Nikolaos first, not last
Pay and display around the harbour and the lake, and spaces come easier before noon. Two hours covers coffee, the water and a walk.
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3
Take the coast road up to Elounda
Ten minutes, a lot of bends, and a view worth the bends. Do not fight for the waterfront spaces: stop on the slope above the village and walk down.
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4
Park at Plaka and cross to Spinalonga
The boats go from the quay and there is a lot behind it. The car does nothing for the next two hours, so arrive with fuel in it and no hurry.
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5
Drive home while it is still light
The bends between Plaka and Agios Nikolaos are narrow, unlit in places and shared with people who know them. Leave an hour early.
5 km
south from the centre to Knossos
65-70 km
east to Agios Nikolaos and Elounda
70 km
south to Matala across the Messara
71
of the 120 cars here are compacts
Distances, honest times and where to leave the car
These are allowances for a normal summer day rather than best cases on an empty road, and every one of them is one way.
| Where | From Heraklion | Allow each way | Where to park | How long to stay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knossos | About 5 km south | 15 to 30 minutes | The site car park, full by mid morning | About 90 minutes |
| Agios Nikolaos | About 65 km east | About an hour | Pay and display around the harbour | Two hours |
| Elounda | About 70 km east | About an hour and a quarter | Uphill from the waterfront, then walk down | One to two hours |
| Plaka, for the Spinalonga boats | A few minutes past Elounda | Add ten minutes | The lot behind the boat quay | Half a day with the crossing |
| Phaistos | On the Matala road | About an hour | Its own car park, rarely full | About an hour |
| Matala | About 70 km south | About an hour and a half | One large paid car park behind the beach | The afternoon |
None of the 120 cars on this listing has four-wheel drive, and none of these roads asks for it. What they ask for is something narrow enough to pass a parked van in a village street, which is why 71 are compacts. The case for that class is set out on Small Cars.
More Heraklion car hire options
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Insurance options available on all cars · TPL · CDW · SCDW · Full CDW
What drivers ask before they set off
Knossos, because it is the only one that fits into half a day. Five kilometres south and ninety minutes on site means the afternoon you collect the car is enough. Keep the eastern run for a full day mid week, and Matala for a day with nothing booked at the end of it.
On paper yes, in practice it spoils both. Knossos wants an early start and Spinalonga wants a boat that stops running in the afternoon, so the two compete for the same hours. If the east is all you have time for, take the coast road while it is quiet.
Allow an hour and a half each way rather than the hour that 70 kilometres suggests. The climb out of the city and the descent to the coast are the slow parts, and the plain between them is flat. The last stretch to the beach is the narrowest road of the three.
A compact is the right car for all of this. Seventy-one of the 120 cars on this listing are compacts because village lanes and narrow descents reward a small footprint, and nothing here needs four-wheel drive. Size up for luggage or passengers, never for the roads.
Yes, because the boats leave from Plaka and Plaka is 70 kilometres from your bed. The car sits in the lot behind the quay while you are on the island, which is still the only sensible way there and back.
Pick the car these roads were counted for
Heraklion Drive searches the suppliers who hold the keys in Heraklion, and 84 of the 120 cars come to your hotel.
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