Crete - to hire or not to hire a car?

Gosia

Hi

We would appreciate your advice.

My husband and I and our 1 year old will be travelling to Crete next week for 10 days.

Just wondering whether it's worthwhile hiring a car for approximately 5 days.

My husband is quite apprehensive about driving on the right hand side of the road :eek:. I figured it might be worthwhile as there are quite a few places to visit / day trips to do and we are very limited with a 1 year old trying to do the organised tourist rep 1 day sightseeing tours.

Also is Crete fairly safe to drive on or is it full of crazy Greek drivers like Athens?

Any advice / recommendations would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Gosia

elsien

I found it useful to get round and as a novice on driving on the "wrong" side of the road I found Crete fairly straightforward. I think we hired locally for 3 days just to get a bit of variety and it was worthwhile to be able to explore the places where public transport is difficult or takes too long.

If you go to Heraklion though, check the parking carefully. We bought a ticket and were assured by the trader who sold it to us that where we were parked was fine. Only to discover that we were illegally parked, that the traffic police had taken the number plates off the car and we had to drive back the next day to pay the fine and retrieve the plates. Car hire company didn't bat an eyelid - obviously used to it.

ManAtHome

Nothing like Athens apart from a few bits of Heraklion. We hired a car first time we went and it was quite a hoot - the mapped roads in the middle of the island didn't exist, you just had to guess where the quarry (roadworks) finished at the other end - that was around 10 years ago, may have finished by now.

The north coast roads are very good - the biggest problems you are likely to face are (a) winding the window down instead of applying the handbrake and (b) winding the window down instead of changing gear and (c) forgetting that right of way is determined by size of vehicle...

Driving on the wrong side of the road isn't really a problem with local hire cars - same as over here, driver near the white line, passenger near the pavement (well side of the road - not too many pavements on Crete).

I'm off there myself tomorrow! Have a great holiday whatever you decide.

peachyprice

Definitely worth it!

There is so much more to Crete than tourist resorts, it's a country steeped in history with wonderful places to visit. The only recommendation I would make is that if you go from north to south avoid the 'shortcut' through the mountain roads, they are scary! As long as you stick to the main roads the driving is good, nowhere near as busy as Athens.

They had some money spent on the roads when Athens had the Olympics so the main road that does along the northern coast is actually a very nice road to drive.

Driving on the right is actually a doddle when you get used to it, it feels far more natural that driving on the left. I have problems when I get back home!

Enjoy Crete, it's one of my favourite places.

michele-p

Hi, I've not been to Crete, but we do like to hire a car wherever we go. Driving on the right is surprisingly easy, even me and the hubby take turns. It gives such freedom on a holiday, and great for a really hot day and a little one, get in the car, see some amazing places, and crank up the air con to keep cool inside. We hate being tied to one place, or to official tours, much happier just driving off and stopping at a taverna for drink whenever we want. Greek maps are fun though! In Corfu we had 3 in the car, each was different! Have a fab holiday.

donglemouse

it maybe depends on where you are staying (town centre vs. out of town) and what you intend to do (lots of trips or not many) - i spent a week in crete (based in heraklion & then chania) and managed fine without a car getting to places like the samaria gorge and between towns with public transport

from what i saw apart from possibly heraklion centre i don't think the roads would be busy or difficult to navigate though if you did rent a car