Getting from Antipaxos to Crete

If you are heading to Crete from Antipaxos you are making your way from a tiny island in the Ionian Sea to the largest island in Greece, with ancient Minoan sites, mountain gorges, excellent food and a coastline that stretches for hundreds of kilometres.

Take the ferry

There are no scheduled ferries from Antipaxos to Crete. Antipaxos has no ferry port of its own and is accessible only by sea taxi from Gaios on Paxos. Getting to Crete by sea means taking the sea taxi from Antipaxos to Paxos, the ferry from Paxos to Igoumenitsa, traveling to Piraeus and boarding the overnight Piraeus to Crete ferry, which departs around 9pm and arrives in Heraklion or Chania in the early morning after around 8 to 9 hours. The total journey takes the better part of two days.

Getting there by air

Both Heraklion and Chania have airports with daily connections from Athens. Antipaxos has no airport either. Taking the sea taxi from Antipaxos to Paxos, the ferry from Paxos to Corfu and flying to Athens and then Athens to Heraklion or Chania takes around 50 minutes on the second leg. Total journey time is around 7 to 8 hours. In Greece, airlines do not operate direct inter island flights.

Your best option

Take the sea taxi from Antipaxos to Paxos, the ferry from Paxos to Corfu, fly to Athens and then fly to Crete. Choose Heraklion for central and eastern Crete, Chania for the west. If you are traveling with a car, take the sea taxi from Antipaxos to Paxos and drive to Piraeus for the overnight Piraeus to Crete ferry, which takes your vehicle directly to the island and arrives in the morning ready to go.