Greece
Chania docks you at Souda Bay — a working naval port seven kilometers from the Venetian harbor postcards everyone came for. The bus the cruise line sells you is the same one locals take for €2.50.
Taxi €15–20 fixed rate, 15 minutes, drops you at the Old Venetian Harbour. Public bus #11 runs every 30 minutes for €2.50 and takes about 25 minutes. Walking is not realistic — it's 7 km along an unshaded highway.
Cruise-line shuttles are typically €15–20 round trip per person; for a couple, two taxi rides are cheaper.
Taxis at the Souda gate run a fixed €15–20 to the Old Venetian Harbour, 15 minutes in normal traffic. Confirm the price before getting in — drivers will quote in euros. Public bus #11 runs every 30 minutes from a stop just outside the gate, €2.50 to the Chania KTEL station, 25 minutes.
Greece uses the euro. Cards work at most Old Town restaurants, larger shops, and hotels; cash preferred at back-alley tavernas, the Saturday market, and beach cafes. ATMs at Souda charge €3–5 per withdrawal — use bank ATMs (Eurobank, Piraeus, Alpha Bank) in town for lower fees. Decline dynamic currency conversion on card terminals; the euro rate is always better.
Old Venetian Harbour and the surrounding Old Town are the default — 15 minutes by taxi, walkable in three hours. For a full day, Balos Lagoon (90 min drive plus boat, return by 17:00 to make ship) or Samaria Gorge upper viewpoint (90 min drive, requires pre-booked tour). Confirm your ship's all-aboard time before booking any tour from Kissamos — boats running late is the main reason cruisers miss the ship here.
Ships dock at the commercial pier inside Souda Bay, about 7 km east of Chania Old Town. Souda is a working NATO naval base; the cruise terminal is a single pier with minimal facilities — bring water, bring sun. No taxis wait inside the secure perimeter; a shuttle drops you at the gate where taxis line up.
Souda Bay itself has no swimmable beaches. The Akrotiri peninsula starts 15 minutes north by taxi — Marathi has two small organized beaches with sunbeds (€8 for two), Stavros has the lagoon from Zorba the Greek and one taverna. None of these are the European resort beach-club format; expect family-run cafes.
Technically yes, practically no. The full hike is 16 km, takes 5–7 hours, and ends at Agia Roumeli where you catch a ferry to Sougia or Chora Sfakion before busing back to Souda. You need to be off the ship by 06:30 and pre-booked on a guided package. Most cruise excursions visit only the upper viewpoint at Omalos — pretty, but not the gorge.
Yes if your ship is in port at least 9 hours. Boat from Kissamos takes about an hour each way, and Kissamos is 50 minutes by car from Souda. The pink-sand lagoon is real, the water is the color of the postcards, and it gets aggressively crowded between 11:00 and 14:00. The 4x4 land route is faster but rougher.
Cruise ships dock at Souda — the deepwater commercial and naval port. The small marina inside the Old Venetian Harbour is for fishing boats, day-trip catamarans, and the occasional yacht. No cruise ship has ever fit through the harbor mouth and never will.
Cards work at restaurants, hotels, and the larger Old Town shops. Cash is still expected at tavernas in the back alleys, the Saturday market, taxi drivers (officially they take cards, in practice they prefer cash), and any beach in Akrotiri. ATMs at the harbor charge €3–5 per withdrawal; better rates at bank ATMs in town.
Manageable. Chania is not Santorini — most days see one ship in port, occasionally two, and the Old Town absorbs them into a population that already includes weekend visitors from Athens. Lighthouse pier and the leather alley (Stivanadika) get tight 11:00–13:00; everywhere else stays walkable.
Not at Souda Bay itself — it's a working harbor with restricted shoreline due to the naval base. The closest swimmable beaches are on the Akrotiri peninsula (Marathi, Stavros) about 15 minutes by taxi, or Kalathas about 20 minutes. Stavros is where the final scene of Zorba the Greek was filmed.
I saw the sea, a thousand masts arrayed, and felt the old enchantment of departure touch me again.
— C. P. Cavafy, 1911
