Heraklion Airport

Not Verified | Most Greek airports are poor, this surely is one of the worst. I don't think there's been a Euro of investment in HER since I was last here over ten years ago. Toilets are filthy, signposting is almost non existent, not enough staff, confusing layout, dirty, not enough gates, not enough seats, the tannoy announcements are unintelligible, there's not enough space - yet there is a huge, behemoth of a duty free shop. Air conditioning basically non existent. Limited food options, with mad prices (€4.50 for a bottle of Coke is crazy even for an airport) some of which are only accessible if you are flying out of the Schengen zone. Love Crete, hate Heraklion Airport. Never again, sorry Crete - I will not be back.

Not Verified |  A dirty, hot, inefficient airport. Toilets disgusting. No AC. Nowhere to sit or eat. No charging points. Baggage belts broken. Security was quick however. Flight left on time thank god…

Not Verified | This is the worst airport I have been to in Europe. It’s totally inadequate for the number of passengers, there’s an enormous, shiny duty free but nowhere to sit. We and many others ended up having to find a corner of duty free to sit on the floor. Oh, and the aircon doesn’t work properly. They should tear it down and start again, but in the meantime do all you can to avoid flying from here.

Not Verified | This airport is not fit for purpose. No Ac. Nowhere near enough seats. No catering outlets. Nowhere to sit. No charging points. Its a disgrace. Many flights delayed. The worst I've been in. Halve the size of the duty free and put in some proper facilities. Totally unacceptable.

✅ Trip Verified | Small, busy, and completely disorganized, this airport is a disgrace to Crete and Greece. The toilets are so dirty. No sufficient seating at the gates. Lots of other seating marked for people with disabilities. The bus that transferred us to the actual plane had no air conditioning even though it was over 40C hot outside. People bring billions to this island, only to be treated like cattle. The good news is there are plans to shut down this airport soon for good and transition to a new one. It'll be a tremendous relief when this finally becomes reality!

Not Verified | Arriving at this airport is a little chaotic but not too bad. However, the departures area is absolutely appalling. We departed from here last year (2022) and thought it was terrible (for example people cleaning their shoes when they came out of the toilets) but chalked that experience up to all the UK flights being delayed by at least 3 hours and therefore not the fault of the airport. One of our party was in a wheelchair and we had booked assistance, however none was given until we had to get shirty with someone, which we shouldn't have had to do and was an upsetting end to our holiday. We travelled to and from there again this year- no flight delays and not yet the height of the season and yet....just as bad. No seats available, people sitting all over the place on the floor, signage poor, layout terrible and confusing, toilets disgusting (no toilet seats, no dryer, no working locks, loo paper shoved in the hole where the flush should be to attempt to flush) and the final straw- passport control is right at the end by the gates and poorly organised so you can be stuck there waiting while your flight is boarding. We nearly missed our flight, as did others, and were being called on the tannoy, despite queueing for 40 minutes. The passport control staff didn't care, didn't prioritise the queues in order of flights, there weren't enough staff (when they know how many people are passing through) and it was absolute chaos. We love Crete but this airport badly lets tourists down and we will not use that airport again. We are experienced travellers but this is the worst we've ever been to.

✅ Trip Verified | Terrible! First the placement of the airport lounge, you can only go there in non Schengen flights which there are very few! Next there’s no seating anywhere. Most people just sit around on the floor waiting for their flights which are typically delayed. No good catering options and always crowded as gates are place right next to exits, seats. So poorly designed. Hopefully new airport will be better if it’s ever finished.

Not Verified | Arrival was ok, bit of a wait at passport control but nothing too bad. Departure is where it gets bad, I’ve been all over the world and this has to be the worst I’ve ever been to. Currently sitting waiting for my flight which has been delayed a couple of hours, not the airports fault but it’s chaos here and it’s far too overcrowded. Not enough seats, everyone sitting on the floor. Hardly anywhere to eat and the places that do have food have huge queues. Will never come back to crete just based off this airport experience, shame really as it’s a nice place.

✅ Trip Verified | It's a small airport, very overcrowded and in bad condition overall. There is nowhere to eat here either. Just a very overpriced takeaway. The airport obviously cannot cope with the number of people. Dirty toilets and wash facilities with lack of actual toilet paper and hand dryers. Air condition is useless. Staff can be rude and can't communicate properly. Not enough seats to rest in and you could be standing for hours.

✅ Trip Verified | The worst airport I have ever come across. Was supposed to depart on 15 October 22. Arrived to total chaos. Very few seats to sit down, people were sitting on suitcases in the middle of floor and conveyor belts. Our flight never even appeared on the two large departure boards which meant we missed our flight. Appeared on some small screen at other end of airport, giving us 5 minutes to check in luggage and was then denied boarding - not the only ones this happened to. The sky express desk was totally disorganised and unable to deal with the volume of angry customers. No one around to ask. Queues lengthy with customers complaining that they had been told to wait for shuttle us which would be 30 minutes and then queueing again as it had not arrived after 1hour so we’re told incorrect information. When finally got to counter we were asked why we missed our flight, then she ignored us and moved onto the next person. Loved Greece but there is no way I would fly to Heraklion again, it ruined our holiday.