If you’re looking to make the most out of your time in Crete, renting a car is a great idea! It’s by far the best way to get around and explore the island as the public transport system is pretty bad in our opinion. We recently spent a month in the centre of Crete and we wouldn’t have been able to get anywhere without a car!
By having a car, you can easily get to all the beautiful coastal towns, access some of the best hikes, and go explore some of the more remote locations around the island β especially since the island is very big and full of hidden gems.
In this post, weβll share how you can rent a car in Crete β including the most common mistakes people make (such as booking a car from the wrong airport), what you can expect when you land at the airport and some important things to keep in mind when finding your car rental here in Crete.
We also share exactly how we rented a car for just β¬3.3 per day (+ insurance) in Greece back in November, so keep reading to learn how we got that deal!
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Everything you need to know about renting a car in Crete
Common mistake: Booking your car from the wrong airport
One of the biggest mistakes people make when renting a car in Crete is picking the wrong airport!
Crete has two major airports: Chania Airport (CHQ) and Heraklion International Airport (HER). There are almost 150km between the two (taking an average of 2.5 hours to drive), so it’s important you pay attention to which airport you fly into when booking your rental car.
Heraklion International Airport
Heraklion Airport is located near the center on the island’s north side. Since Heraklion (HER) is the second busiest airport in Greece (only beaten by Athens), there’s a good chance that this is the airport you will fly into.
This was also the airport we flew into and the one we rented a car from. So the information in this post will have more specific details on renting a car from Heraklion. However, a lot of the information applies to renting a car from Chania as well (since the process for renting a car in Crete is similar in both locations) β and what it’s like driving around the island!
Chania International Airport
Chania Airport is also located on the north side of the island but more on the west. The city of Chania is one of the most famous places in Crete so we were surprised to see that this was the smaller of the two airports. We then found out that Heraklion is the capital of the island, and suddenly it made more sense.
Depending on where youβll be staying during your time in Crete and flight prices (we usually check Skyscanner for the best rates), you can see which airport is better to fly into. Once you’ve got your flights, you can book your car rental to travel freely around the island.
π‘ Pro tip: Use a search engine like Skyscanner when booking your flights to find the best possible rates by comparing prices + flight times between the different airlines βοΈ
Things to consider before renting your car
When renting your car, there are a few things you need to look out for. These are things such as the size and comfort of the car and whether you want a car with an automatic or manual transmission.
The majority of the cars that can be rented in Crete are manual cars but you can also rent an automatic car. There is a good chance the car rentals will charge a premium for this, though. For comfort, itβs definitely better to have a bigger car but because of the narrow roads, it may be nicer to have a smaller car.
We go more into details on car insurance further down the post but for now, here are some things to consider and to look for on the booking page when renting a car in advance.
- Transmission: Automatic vs manual (if you’re American, there’s a good chance you will automatically get a car with an automatic transmission but you should still double check when booking).
- Size & comfort: There are some bigger highways (of European island standard) but to get to some of the more off-the-beaten-path places, the roads get quite windy and narrow and having a smaller car if youβre just 1-3 people might be better.
- Extra drivers: Will there be one or more drivers? Additional drivers often cost an extra β¬25-100 per driver (flat fee). Crazy I know!
- Is an international driver’s license needed? If you have an EU or American (English) driverβs license, you likely don’t need an international one.
- Insurance: Consider getting full insurance through DiscoverCars or the rental company (more on this below).
- Drop-off location: Select the same drop-off location for the best rates (in this case, Heraklion Airport then return it back at the same airport as it will save you money.
- Pick-up & drop-off times: Car rental pricing works on a 24-hour basis, so if you want to save a day’s money (and if it works with your flight times), you can select the pick-up & drop-off times to be at the same time of day.
Getting picked up vs picking up the car
One of the best ways to save money is by choosing a car rental company that picks you up from the airport instead of having their cars right at the airport. That slight βinconvenienceβ you could say is what usually makes a car rental company less expensive.
Iβve also noticed that these places have fewer wait times and you usually get your car a lot quicker than waiting in the queue at one of the car rental companies at the airport (off-season doesnβt make much of a difference). In Heraklion, these car-rental places are mostly only a 2-minute drive away.
Normally, you have to call the rental place after youβve picked up your luggage (if you have one) and then they will pick you up within 10-15 minutes.
If you are unable to make calls, there are ways to work around this… You can email the company beforehand OR you can download Skype on your phone and add some credits to it. From Skype, you can make an actual phone call to their local phone number. All you need is WiFi (thereβs free wifi at the airport) or a SIM card with data (such as an eSIM).
At the end of the day, it comes down to your personal preference and what type of car youβre looking for to cruise around Crete. The beauty is there are plenty of different options so we’re sure you will find a car that suits your needs.
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How to find the cheapest car rental from the airport
When looking at the price of car rentals from either of the two airports in Crete, thereβs quite a big difference in price between the different companies. Some car rentals range from around β¬30/day and some cost around β¬90/day (many different factors). Weβve seen as low as β¬3.3/day during the low season which is crazy!
Of course, this also has to do with the size and the quality of the car, but even if youβre renting the same type of car (say a Suzuki Swift or some other small car), you can often pay a very different price depending on who and where you rent from.
We always book through DiscoverCars which is a search engine for car rentals that compares prices between all the different car rental companies available in the given location. As we mentioned, we found a car for just β¬3.3/day + insurance on DiscoverCars and we actually lucked out and got a free upgrade to an SUV (even though this sometimes felt too big for some of the narrow roads).
Weβve used the platform in over 5 countries around the world and itβs been great every time β even when we’ve had to make adjustments or cancel. Weβve used them in the Czech Republic, Italy, New Zealand, and Portugal + Madeira and not once have we had issues with them.
They have 24-hour customer support and anytime weβve had to modify a booking, weβve just sent them an email or given them a call and theyβve gotten back to us right away with no issues.
Best practices when renting a car in Crete
Pay attention to the drop-off time
More often than not, car rental pricing works 24 hours at a time. So when booking your rental car, pay attention to the pick-up and drop-off times as well as drop-off location. If you are somewhat flexible with the timing, you can make the drop-off time is at the same time of day (or 30 minutes earlier) as your pick-up time and you wonβt be charged for an extra day.
This way, you avoid paying the fee for an additional day (note: this isnβt a hidden fee, this is just how rental cars work). For example, if you pick up your car at 3 pm on Friday and you want to drop it off at 4 pm on Thursday, you are technically paying the same price as you would if you were to drop off the car at 3 pm on Friday (paying for an extra day because itβs past the 24 hour mark).
So if you are a little flexible, you can actually save the cost of a full day if you can drop it off at the same time (in this case 3 pm) or earlier. If youβre picking the car up in the morning and dropping it off in the evening, this doesnβt make sense, but if the timing somewhat works and you want to save a bit of money, this is something to consider.
The other option is to select your pick-up time slightly later than you land. This also works well in case your flight gets delayed as some car rental companies only hold your rental for a few hours after your scheduled pick-up time. It’s pretty bad customer service, to be honest, but it’s just the reality of how it works sometimes! (This is up to the individual car rental company’s policy).
Car rental insurance
This one is up to your personal preference, but we always get full insurance when renting a car. Weβve always done this and find the ease of having full insurance worth the extra money rather than worrying about anything happening to the car. It does cost a bit of extra money but the peace of mind we get from it is worth it!
There are a few ways you can get your rental car insured:
- Through DiscoverCars
- Through your Credit Card
- Directly through the rental company
Letβs look at each of themβ¦
Through DiscoverCars:
We usually choose to get our insurance through DiscoverCars when we rent through them. We do this because we trust the company and we know they can help handle any issues that may arise. This is what we find the most important.
A downside of doing it this way is that the rental company will file the claim first should any issues arise, and then you get charged before getting reimbursed by DiscoverCars. So itβs basically like using a third party and it takes longer for the claim and everything to process which is one of the downsides.
Another downside of doing it this way is that the rental car might have to block off the security deposit from your car for the duration of the rental period (which in our case was 30 days which was quite long).
Through your Credit Card:
Some credit cards cover insurance for car rentals. You can call your credit card provider and ask them if they cover, and if so, ask them for the policy. If you have a good credit card this may be the best option as insurance through credit cards is usually quite good β especially if youβre from the US or Canada (they seem to just have amazing coverage).
Directly through the rental company:
It is always an option to get insurance directly through the rental company. If you decide to do this, you will likely have to pay for the insurance once you pick up the car rental (versus upon booking which is what you do when paying for DiscoverCarsβ insurance).
This way, you deal only directly with the car rental company in case any damage happens to the car. This may be the simplest way but the downside of this is that it is only you and the car rental company β you wonβt get help from DiscoverCarsβ support team or your credit card company in case you need it.
Please note that you should NOT get insurance both directly with the company and with your CC or through DiscoverCars. One insurance is enough. Our personal preference is to get full insurance through DiscoverCars upon booking the car rental but it is up to you what you decide to do!
However, the only place we’ve actually run into issues with this was actually in Crete! The guy who worked at the car rental company in Heraklion told us we should get their individual insurance instead of the DiscoverCars one.
To save you from a long story, we ended up getting insurance directly through them because of issues with Dom’s credit card (it had expired a few days prior). This leads us to the next point…
What to do when picking up your rental car
Bring a credit card, your driver’s license, and your ID (important)
This is very important! Please check the terms after booking your rental and what you need to bring. A physical credit card is almost always required.
We always bring both a MasterCard and a Visa just in case. Also, please note that in some cases, it is the primary driverβs credit card that needs to be used (as we mentioned, we had an issue with this recently). The company will also be taking a copy of your passport and driverβs license for their records.
Check for scratches and cracks
Depending on the type of insurance you have chosen for your car rental, itβs always a good idea to check for scratches on the car and cracks in the windshield. Take a video of the car as you walk around it before leaving the rental place.
Make sure you film any scratches and/or cracks that you notice. This way you have documentation for any damage that was already done to the vehicle before you picked it up. It should already be marked off on a piece of paper β and if you have full insurance, this is less important β but it takes less than 2 minutes to do so it doesnβt hurt!
One of the reasons why we like full insurance is that you donβt have to worry about this too much. Itβs still good to make sure the car is safe and good to drive but you donβt have to worry about all the little scratches and all that.
Check the tire pressure
This is very rarely an issue but we did have one time when we picked up a car rental (years ago) where the tire pressure was low (may have even been punctured). For that reason, we always suggest checking the tires before leaving the car rental place.
Just check if the tires look good from the outside and then again when you turn on the car. Itβs just a best practice so that, in case the pressure is off, you can ask them to fix it right then and there so that you donβt have to deal with this while youβre enjoying your vacation!
Check the gas gauge
Quickly check or ask the employee if the car rental is full-to-full. If so, double-check that the gas gauge is actually full when you turn on the car. If so, youβre good to go.
In case the policy is not full-to-full, quickly make a note of how much gas is in the car. Take a picture for your own recollection. Most of the time the employee will do it with you but itβs good to do it as well.
This should also be noted on the paperwork you get from the rental company!
What itβs like driving in Crete
This is a question we get asked a lot! Is it scary driving in Crete? What are the roads like? Crete is a huge island and we havenβt explored the whole thing so our answer stems mostly from the part of the island weβve driven around (which is the center of the island).
In general, the roads are good with some well-connected highways, but as soon as you’re off those, the roads are smaller and more windy.
Basically, when youβre driving from the main cities you will drive on the highways which are great and as you get more rural or off the beaten path to less popular hikes the roads get more windy and narrow. We still found them to becompletely fine but if youβre not used to narrow roads and you have a big car it takes a second to get used to.
Itβs a fun island to drive around and Crete has so many awesome spots to explore so you will definitely love driving around the island. Some of the locals may drive a little crazy but thatβs expected just like anywhere in the world!
Book your car rental in advance
If you already have your trip planned and you know the dates of when youβre coming to Crete itβs best to book your car rental in advance, especially during the busier months of the year!
Prices do change and get more expensive the closer you are to the actual date, so if you already now know the dates, we suggest looking at the options available on DiscoverCars and book before prices go up. It’s also easy to change or cancel should your plans change (just check their policy).
Check the rates and availability here!
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Conclusion on renting a car from Heraklion Airport
Hopefully, this post helps you with your car rental and answers any questions you have about renting a car here in Crete β and can see that booking one is actually quite easy. At least we found it quite easy and we put ours to good use during our time on this beautiful Mediterranean Island.
Once youβre here, youβll see how convenient it is to have a rental to get around the island to visit all of the best spots. We stayed in the middle of the island in Zaros at Avnea Coliving and it was great having a car to drive around to all the hikes we did and beaches we visited.
If you have any questions about Crete such as where to stay, which hikes you should do, or anything else related to this beautiful island, feel free to leave a comment below. You can also DM us on Instagram @redwhiteadventures if you prefer. We hope you have a great time during your visit to Crete!
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