VISA REQUIREMENTS
Visa requirements for people visiting Greece can be found at the Hellenic Republic Ministry of Foreign Affairs web site's relevant page (please follow this link).
GETTING TO CRETE:
BY AIR:
The recommended airport, closest to the conference site is the Chania International Airport (CHQ). The Orthodox Academy of Crete (OAC) is located 39 km (24 mi) west of CHQ airport.
OAC can be reached from the Chania Airport by taxi, public bus, or rental car. The full fare for a taxi, including airport surcharge is around 60 Euros. By bus is cheaper (line Chania- Kastelli), however, the bus stop is located at a distance of about 1 km from the OAC.
Transportation from and to Chania Airport
Bus transportation from Chania International Airport to OAC will be provided in the afternoon of the first day of the workshop (August 16th 2019). Also, bus transportation will be provided from OAC to Chania International Airport on the last day of the workshop (August 21st 2019). Cost is free for workshop participants and is included in the conference fee. Please check back here for more information.
Flying to/from Heraklion (the capital of Crete) is not recommended. If you have to fly to Heraklion, which is located 200 km from Kolymbari, you can reach the workshop site by taxi (one-way fare around 200 Euros) or by bus from Heraklion to Chania (buses leave every hour, route name is "Heraklion-Rethymnon-Chania", duration about three hours), and then to the OAC as explained above.
Please note that the workshop period is during high tourism season in Crete. We strongly recommend to book your flights as soon as possible.
BY SEA:
Chania can be reached from Athens (port of Piraeus) daily by boat. The company operating the route is ANEK Lines (please see ferry schedules at this link). Boats dock at Chania's port Souda bay, which is located about 7 km east of the city of Chania. From there you can reach Chania and Kolymbari by bus or taxi.
Car Rental
All major international/European, as well as several local rental car companies service the Chania airport.
Taxi
Taxi company names and telephone numbers are provided by the Chania municipality website: https://www.chaniatourism.com/useful-information.html. For taxi fares please click on “Taxi Prices from Chania” or the “Chania Airport”.
Special HiX2019 discounted taxi fares for rides between CHQ and OAC are offered by Mr. Ioannis Koumandrakis, giannisk1981@yahoo.gr, Mobile: 30-694-4338618 (50 Euro one way).
Public buses from Heraklion to Chania
The company name is "KTEL" (in Greek, so the last letter is a capital Lambda).
- First bus: 5:30
- Last bus: 21:00
Buses run every hour starting from 5:30 to 18:30 and there is one at 20:00 and one at 21:00.
Phone number: 0030 2810 246534
You have to take a taxi from the Heraklion airport and ask the taxi driver to take you to the KTEL Station A, close to the city port, to get the bus to Chania.
The fare of the taxi from the airport to the port should be approximately10 Euros and the ticket price of the Heraklion-Chania bus also approx. 10 Euros.
For information for public buses in Crete (e.g. from Chania to Kolymbari, from Chania Airport to Chania etc) please visit e-ktel.com/en/
