How to get to Gavdos: A precise guide to the easiest way to get to the island of Gavdos.
Updated: 2 days ago
Gavdos is only accessible by boat from the island of Crete - from the small harbours of Paleochora and Chora Sfakion. If you are not yet on Crete, your trip is divided into 3 parts: The journey to Crete, the trip to Paleochora or Chora Sfakion and finally the crossing to Gavdos. In the next 3 chapters you will receive precise explanations. To go directly to the chapter "The ferry to Gavdos", click here.
Part 1: The journey to Crete
To get to Crete, you can choose form many cheap flight connections, especially in summer. I recommend the website "Skyscanner.com" to compare prices. If you are a bit flexible in terms of time and dont necessarily need an exact day or departure airport, you can find pretty cheap flights there. I usually enter "Germany" as the "departure airport" in the search bar and have the entire month in which my planned trip is located displayed. Then you can see directly which airports offer the cheapest connections. You can choose between Chania, Heraklion and Sitia as your destination airport on Crete. Heraklion is larger and more frequented, but not necessarily cheaper. Especially in summer it is worth considering Chania airport. Far to the east of Crete, there is a newly developed airport in Sitia. If you can find a cheap flight there, however, you must bear in mind that Sitia is very far from the rest. To get to Gavdos later, you would have to plan a long bus ride.
The bus ride to Chora Sfakion or Paleochora
The landing stages of the Gavdos ferries on Crete are located in the south-western towns of Paleochora or Chora Sfakion. Both places can only be reached by bus or car from Chania. Both routes are about the same lenght. Bus connections can be found on the website of the local bus company "KTEL": https://www.e-ktel.com/ .
To get to Chania, buses run very regulary from Heraklion and Rethymno, but also many other towns. Bus timetables are not valid for the entire year, but are subject to constant change. Accordingly, it makes no sense to upload a bus timetable in this blog article. Future and current bus timetables can be viewed on the bus company's website. To see the departure times for the connections to Paleochora or Chora Sfakion, select "With departure from Chania". In high summer there are usually 3 daily bus trips to Paleochora and one trip to Chora Sfakion.
The ferry to Gavdos from Paleochora or Chora Sfakion
The ferry company is called "Anendyk" (https://anendyk.gr/). Mostly the small car ferry departs 3 days a week from Paleochora (e.g.Monday to Wednesday) and 3 days from Chora Sfakion (e.g. Thursday to Saturday). Always check the departure times on the website as there are constant changes. But the good news: The ferry operates very regularly throughout the year, as the crossing to Gavdos is subsidized by the state. Bookings can be made conveniently online (only in summer!) or at the ticket office directly at the port area. Departure times can be viewed online. The duration of the journey to Gavdos takes about 4 to 5 hours, depending on the port of departure. Before the ship leaves to Gavdos, it usually stops at small Cretan coastal towns such as Loutro, Sougia or Agia Roumeli. The total fare for the crossing is about 30 euros for adults in 2023 (departure from Chora Sfakion is 5 euros cheaper). If you buy your return ticket at the time of departure, you save 10 euros. This is called "open return ticket". With this ticket you are not bound to a certain date, but you can only go to the port where you started from. The crossing on the Anendyk ferry feels like a small cruise. During the stops on Crete, you can enjoy breathtaking views.
The Anendyk website: https://anendyk.gr/
Until a year ago there was a second way to get to Gavdos: A family company "Gavdos Cruises" offered fast crossings from Chora Sfakion to Gavdos. You could reach the island within an hour. Unfortunately, the service is no longer available for an indefinite period of time. If there are any changes, I will inform you about them.
The Gavdos Cruses website: https://gavdos-cruises.jimdofree.com/
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