Heraklion Airport

✅ Verified Review | Heraklion is the worst airport, staff and facilities ever experienced. Rude staff, no facilities beyond filthy toilets. Combined with total disorganisation of BA, you will be guaranteed a disastrous passage through. There is no viable alternative as Chania is as bad. This is a major barrier to developing quality tourism in Crete which is a great shame. As beautiful as the island and the people are, it is just not worth the hassle of their airports.

Arrival was fine. Bus quickly transferred passengers to terminal building. Then a long wait for luggage to arrive. Quickly found rep and was directed to transfer coach. Return: Sunday 14th May. Airport very busy. People queuing outside. Rep directed us to correct desk and made a new queue. Checked in within 15 minutes. Why then do you queue again to get bags x-rayed. No clear directions as to where to go for security checks. Departure lounge was clean and tidy. Plenty of seats available and bottles of water available for 50 cents. Screens were informative and updated regularly. Not a bad experience but this was May. Expect it's horrendous in July and August. Would not put me off visiting again

✅ Verified Review | The arrival in Heraklion N. Kazantzakis airport was a smooth experience: Disembarking of the Business Class worked remarably well and fast by providing a dedicated bus shuttle service and took less than five minutes to board a taxi. By contrast, the departure procedure was not so pleasant, there was no priority lane for premium cabin passengers and/or frequent flyers and the security screening made an unorganised, overstrained impression. Due to decades of use the terminal looked neglected, worn-out and is definitely no place where passengers want to spend a lot of time. However, due to its proximity to the city of Heraklion I would recommend it though.

On reaching Heraklion Airport we went through security with our hand luggage - thankfully the suitcases had been checked in from the hotel. The "lounge" looked shabby and dirty. Going upstairs to the duty free shop the food area wasn't much better. The shopping area was in a different league and much nicer. We decided to come down in the lift as I have mobility problems. We were joined by another couple with a pushchair.The interior of the lift was rusty in parts, dirty and like a metal container, one of two buttons to operate the lift was just hanging in space and none of us felt safe. It was a relief to get out once we slid the door open manually. We went onboard ahead of time which was fine. Won't be returning to Crete anytime soon!

My husband and I have landed at and departed this airport for the last 3 years as we love Crete but the airport experience is an absolute nightmare. On our latest holiday in September most of the carousels were not working on our arrival so the lounge was packed with passengers from at least 3 flights and no-one knew where to pick up luggage. Needless to say, this is not a good start to any holiday as the conditions are hot and cramped. Unfortunately, leaving Crete is no better. The entrance to the departure terminal is disgusting and the same can be said for the toilets inside. We also cannot understand why we queue to check in baggage then join another line to take our own cases to x-ray. There are not enough food and drink outlets or comfortable seating. This airport definitely needs bringing up to date. The condition is enough to put any traveller off visiting Crete which is a shame.

I have travelled to countless airports and Heraklion is by far the worst. We checked in for our easyJet flight back to Gatwick. We were given no help with finding where we needed to go and we were not alone. There was countless people wandering aimlessly through the airport. Eventually we went through passport control and were looking forward to settling down and enjoying a hot drink and food. We clearly should have done this before we arrived at the airport. There are two restaurants but only one was open. The one that as open had run out of nearly everything - not great considering there were 3 UK flights departing and countless other international flights. We had a turkey baguette which was dry and tasteless and a cheese and ham pie with next to no filling. The staff were rude and lazy often messing around with colleagues halfway through serving a customer. The airport was covered in dirty tables and the toilets were disgusting. Anoter traveller tried to report abandoned luggage to several members of staff who shrugged and ignored it. When the flight was ready to board we went through the gate and were left queuing on a staircase for 20 minutes - there were families carrying small children. All in all the experience was an awful end to what was a great holiday.

✅ Verified Review | This is the worst airport I have ever been to (and I travel a lot). Arrival is fine, just collect your bags, through passport control and go. Departure is a disaster. Firstly the airport is old and too small. It looks like something from the 1960s. Wrong check-in desks are shown so people have to move cases across the terminal, but there is no room to move. Check-in takes forever because the computers are slow and the staff don't care. Then you have to take your cases to the conveyor belt. There is one behind the check-in desks but it doesn't work. Then you have to queue to get through passport control and security. The queue stretched half way across the terminal building, so you couldn't tell which queues were for that and which queues were for check-in. No fast track for disabled or business class passengers. No-one available to help. Once airside it gets no better. Very little seating and no lounges. Two eating places only serving overpriced snacks and weak coffee. All we wanted was a filter coffee - they didn't have it. The terminal is filthy. There was a drink spilt on the floor, which was just left. Toilets disgusting. The, only place they had spent money on was the shop, what a surprise. Here there were lots at staff just standing around. However very few people buying, as it was expensive. You can buy drink cheaper at your local supermarket in the UK. Given that this is the second biggest airport in Greece, together with the huge number of tourists, you'd think they would put some money into this airport. There also needs to be some serious staff training, with the emphasis on service and politeness. Every member of staff we met was rude, unhelpful and disinterested. It presents a poor picture of Greece. Certainly I will not be returning. I would advise anyone to avoid this airport and go elsewhere. The only reason I've given 1/10 is because I can't give 0.

Currently in a 2 hour long queue. Nobody will tell you where you should be going. They've put the wrong gate number on at least 3 flights. Angry tannoy lady is shouting that passengers aren't on their flights but how can they be when everyone is busy queuing. Don't come here. It smells, it's unpleasant and its horrendously organised.

✅ Verified Review | I have had the misfortune of using this airport for arrival once and departure twice. Arrival is fine because it's just a case of going through the motions to get out of it. Collecting your luggage etc however on departure it is a different story. There is no organisation with queues everywhere that can be so long you have to go outside and use a different entrance to get around them and nobody seems to be in charge of looking after the chaos. You have to queue to check in your luggage then join another queue for it to be taken off you. Then you have to navigate through the masses of confused people through security to the departure lounge where you hope for some reprieve and relaxation however expect little to no air conditioning, very little choice in the way of food and drink options and extremely little seats for the amount of passengers going through the airport. Finally expect that the departure gate displayed on one of the very few boards will be wrong. This airport serves its purpose of getting passengers from A to B however for the amount of traffic going through this airport for about 6 months of the year there is no excuse how this airport remains so underdeveloped and at times it would surely make people vow never to return to Crete.

Heraklion is the worst airport I have been to in a long time. Just observe how this airport presents Greece and this island to the world travel population. Was on business transfer. Unbelievably dirty restrooms with no soap dispensers working. No transfer gate. One working departure screen in the airside area. Staff that do not understand English. It took 3 times to ask the way to the departure area when arriving at the terminal by bus and this staff member was only able to give directions and say no more than yes and no. The terminal is too small to hold all the passengers. It was just one big queue and took being pushed and squeezed to move forward to my gate. The crowd was so loud that announcements could not be understood. First due to the overall noise level, secondly because the announcements were done in an extremely fast way using a very harsh and difficult to understand English pronunciation. The air conditioning does not work properly inside the terminal. Outside was 29 deg C. Imagine what it will be in temperatures approaching 40 degrees. No bridges to board the aircraft. Transfer by bus. Air conditioning in the bus did not work on both occasions. Avoid.