Chania Airport (CHQ): Not Kastelli, Not Heraklion

CHQ, Not Kastelli: Where You Actually Land

Three names get mixed up constantly when people plan a trip to western Crete: Chania, Heraklion and Kastelli. Only two of them have an airport a traveller can fly into today, and the one most people mean to ask about, Kastelli, is not one of them.

Chania Airport, coded CHQ, sits at Souda, a few kilometres east of Chania town on the bay of the same name. It shares its runway with a Hellenic Air Force base, which is why the terminal is modest and the approach can feel military rather than touristic. That is normal, not a sign you have landed somewhere wrong. For anyone heading into Chania town, Souda and Akrotiri, or on towards Platanias and Agia Marina, Kissamos, Balos and Gramvousa or Elafonissi, CHQ is the airport that matters.

Inside, CHQ is small enough that most travellers are surprised by it: a single arrivals hall, one baggage belt, a handful of car rental desks and a snack bar rather than the duty-free sprawl of a major hub. That is not really a flaw — it means the walk from the aircraft to the taxi rank rarely takes more than ten minutes — but anyone expecting the amenities of Heraklion or a large European airport should adjust their expectations accordingly. There is no jet bridge for most arrivals: passengers typically walk across the open tarmac to reach the terminal, whatever the weather is doing that day, so hand luggage that copes with a short walk in July heat or an occasional November shower is worth packing with that in mind.

Heraklion Airport, coded HER, is Crete’s main international gateway, sitting on the north coast near the island’s capital. It is a legitimate choice for the centre and east of the island, but for the west it means a two-and-a-half to three-hour drive along the north coast highway before a trip based in Chania even begins.

Kastelli, a new airport under construction in the Heraklion regional unit, is meant one day to replace Heraklion’s current site. As of this writing it is not open, has no scheduled flights, and no traveller should plan a landing there. Any itinerary, transfer booking or route plan built around a Kastelli arrival is planning for an airport that does not yet exist in operation. This page assumes the two working airports only: CHQ and HER, plus the small regional strip at Sitia.

Chania Airport vs Heraklion Airport

The decision usually comes down to where your trip is centred. A quick comparison:

	Chania (CHQ)	Heraklion (HER)
Located	Souda, east of Chania town	North coast, near Heraklion city
Best for	Chania, Rethymno, the south-west, the White Mountains	Heraklion, Knossos, the centre, Agios Nikolaos and the east
Drive to Chania town	Roughly 15-20 minutes	Two and a half to three hours
Drive to Heraklion city	Two and a half to three hours	15-25 minutes
Terminal size	Small, shared with a military base	Larger, Crete’s main gateway

If your trip is genuinely split between both ends of the island, some visitors fly into one airport and out of the other rather than doubling back, since a rental car can usually be dropped at a different location for a fee. For a west-only trip, though, flying into Heraklion “because the flights were cheaper” is a common and avoidable mistake, one worth reading about in the wider list of things to get wrong in Crete.

Arrival times also bunch up in July and August, when several charter and low-cost flights from northern Europe land within the same hour each afternoon. Passport control and the single baggage belt cope, but not quickly, and a queue of thirty to forty minutes from touchdown to the exit is common in peak week, longer still if two wide-bodied charters land back to back. Outside July and August, or on an early-morning or late-evening arrival, the same walk from gate to taxi rank can take under fifteen minutes. Travellers with a tight onward transfer, a ferry connection to catch, or small children in tow are generally better served picking a flight that lands outside the early-afternoon cluster where the schedule allows it.

The Small Airport at Sitia

There is a third airport on Crete, at Sitia in the far east, coded JSH. It handles a handful of seasonal routes and is useful mainly for travellers based in the Lasithi region near Sitia and Vai. For a Chania-based trip it has no practical relevance: it sits roughly at the opposite end of a 260-kilometre island, and no through-route makes it a sensible arrival point for the west. It is mentioned here only so it is not confused with Chania or Kastelli when comparing flight options.

The Night Ferry from Piraeus to Chania (Souda)

Flying is not the only way in. An overnight ferry sails from Piraeus, the port of Athens, direct to Chania’s port at Souda, the same bay where the airport sits. The crossing takes roughly nine hours, typically departing in the evening and arriving early the next morning, which means a cabin booking turns the journey into a night’s sleep rather than lost travel time.

This route suits a few kinds of trip particularly well: a longer visit that also takes in Athens, a traveller who prefers sea travel to flying, or anyone combining Crete with other Greek islands where ferry travel is already part of the plan. It is not a shortcut and not necessarily cheaper once a cabin is added, but it is a genuine, comfortable alternative to a flight, and it lands you close to the same spot as CHQ. The full route detail, timings and how it compares to sailing into Rethymno or Heraklion instead is covered in the dedicated guide to ferries from Piraeus to Crete.

Overnight ferries from Piraeus also serve Heraklion, so the same choice, fly or sail, applies whichever end of the island a trip is based in. The comparison below sets the two options for reaching Chania side by side:

	Fly to CHQ	Ferry to Chania (Souda)
Journey time	Roughly 45-60 minutes from Athens	Roughly 9 hours, overnight
Where it lands	Souda, next to the airport	Souda port, next to the airport
Best for	Speed, short trips	Longer trips, combining with Athens or other islands
Booking note	Book well ahead in July and August	Cabin recommended, book ahead in peak season

One Hour Ahead: Crete’s Time Zone and Your Flight

Crete runs on Eastern European Time, the same zone as the rest of Greece: UTC plus two in winter, UTC plus three in summer. That puts the island one hour ahead of Paris, Berlin and Rome, and it is the detail that trips up more travellers than almost anything else on this page.

It matters in two moments specifically. First, when checking a connecting flight through Athens: a tight layover calculated in your home time zone can look far more comfortable than it actually is once the local clock in Greece runs an hour ahead. Second, when a driver, host or tour meets you at CHQ: a pickup confirmed for a time that was quietly converted to the wrong zone means someone waiting at an empty arrivals hall. Whenever a flight, ferry or pickup time is confirmed, check that it is stated in Greek local time, not the zone you booked from.

Getting from Chania Airport into Town

There is no train anywhere on Crete, and the public bus link from CHQ into central Chania is thin rather than a dependable timetable, so most visitors arrange something before they land. The realistic options are a taxi rank at arrivals, a transfer pre-booked online, or picking up a rental car directly at the terminal, which is the simplest route if a car is part of the plan anyway, as it is for most of the island outside the old towns; see driving in Crete and renting a car in Crete for what that involves.

A different choice is worth making before landing rather than after: what to do about a late-evening arrival. Touching down at CHQ after dark with a rental car already booked means driving unfamiliar Cretan roads, including the airport approach shared with military traffic, while tired and jet-lagged.

Many visitors instead book a transfer or taxi for the first night and pick up the rental car the next morning in town, a small extra cost that removes the riskiest hour of the whole trip. The reverse applies to an early-morning arrival: with daylight and a clear head, collecting the car at the terminal and driving straight in is genuinely straightforward, and it saves both the cost of a transfer and a second trip back out to a rental desk in town later.

For a first landing, especially with luggage and a late arrival, a pre-arranged pickup removes one variable from a long travel day. Some guided experiences in Chania even fold the pickup into the tour itself: a private guided tour of Chania that starts with a port or airport pickup is a way to turn the first hours on the ground into orientation rather than logistics, going straight from the terminal into the Venetian harbour and the lanes of the old town.

Once settled, Chania town itself rewards a slower first look. A private walking tour of the old town led by a licensed guide covers the layers most visitors miss on their own, and for something quieter and less obvious, a guided walk through Chania’s hidden corners and lesser-known attractions goes past the harbour-front postcard view into the backstreets behind it.

Because Souda, where the airport sits, is also the gateway to Akrotiri and the wartime cemetery on the bay, a guided buggy safari through Souda bay and the medieval sites nearby is worth considering for a day that starts or ends near the terminal rather than in the centre of town.

For onward planning once you’re settled, where to stay in Crete and how many days in Crete cover the decisions that follow an airport choice, and a two-day frame for the old town itself is laid out in Chania in 2 days.

So Which Should You Choose?

For a trip centred on Chania, the south-west or the White Mountains, the answer is straightforward: fly into CHQ at Souda. It saves the better part of three hours each way compared with landing at Heraklion, hours that are far better spent at Balos, in the Samaria gorge or wandering the Venetian harbour than sitting on the VOAK highway.

Heraklion only makes sense as the arrival point if your trip is centred on the centre or east of the island, or if you are deliberately splitting the route, flying into one airport and out of the other. Sitia is relevant only to travellers based in the far east. And Kastelli, however often it comes up in searches, is not an option yet: it is a construction site, not a gateway, and no honest itinerary plans around it.

Where seasons and weather also shape the choice of when to fly, best time to visit Crete and Crete weather month by month fill in the rest of the planning picture, and for anyone weighing the flight against the sea route, the getting to Crete overview and the Piraeus ferry guide cover both in full.

Chania Airport, Answered

Is Chania Airport (CHQ) actually in Chania?

It sits at Souda, on the bay a few kilometres east of Chania town, sharing its runway with a Hellenic Air Force base. It is Chania’s airport in every practical sense, just not inside the town itself.

Should I fly into Chania or Heraklion if I’m heading to the west of the island?

Chania. Landing at Heraklion for a west-coast trip adds a two-and-a-half to three-hour drive along the north coast highway before your holiday even starts, and the same drive again on the way home.

Is the new Kastelli airport open yet?

No. Kastelli, in the Heraklion regional unit, is still under construction. No scheduled flights land there, and no itinerary should be planned around it.

What about the small airport at Sitia?

Sitia (JSH) is a small regional airport in the far east of the island, useful for a handful of seasonal routes, but it has no relevance to a trip based in or around Chania.

Can I reach Chania by ferry instead of flying?

Yes. An overnight ferry sails from Piraeus, the port of Athens, to Chania’s port at Souda, a crossing of roughly nine hours that lands you close to the same spot as the airport.

Does Crete run on the same time zone as mainland Greece?

Yes, both are on Eastern European Time, UTC plus two in winter and UTC plus three in summer, which is one hour ahead of Paris, Berlin and Rome. It affects connecting flights and pickup times, not anything within Crete itself.

How do I get from Chania Airport into town?

By taxi, pre-booked transfer or rental car; there is no train on the island and public bus coverage from the airport itself is thin, so most visitors arrange transport before landing.

Is it worth paying more for a direct flight to Chania over a cheaper one to Heraklion?

For most itineraries based in Chania, Rethymno or the south-west, yes. The time and cost saved on a shorter transfer usually outweighs a modest fare difference.

Does Chania Airport get crowded in summer?

Yes, in July and August the small terminal handles several charter arrivals bunched into the same afternoon hours, and passport control plus the single baggage belt can mean a forty-minute wait from touchdown to the exit. Flying earlier or later in the day, or avoiding the peak week, cuts that wait significantly.

Should I book a taxi instead of collecting my rental car on arrival?

For a late-evening or overnight landing, many visitors do: a taxi or pre-booked transfer for the first night avoids driving unfamiliar roads while jet-lagged, and the rental car can be collected in daylight the next morning instead.