Taxi
Licensed taxi to Knossos ~€15–20, ~20 minutes
Heraklion taxis are silver/grey with a roof sign and a meter. From the cruise terminal: ~€10–15 to anywhere in the Old Town, ~€15–20 to Knossos Palace (5 km south), ~20 minutes in light traffic. Agree the fare before getting in or insist the meter is on (Tariff 1 daytime). For longer day-trip runs, get a flat rate in writing at the rank. Uber does not operate in Heraklion the way it does in Athens — use a marked taxi or the cretataxi.com / city-airport-taxis dispatch services.
Currency
Euro (EUR); cards accepted, small cash for buses and tavernas
Greece uses the euro. Contactless and chip-and-PIN are universal at ticket offices, museums, supermarkets, and most Old Town restaurants. Carry €30–50 in small notes for the KTEL bus, family tavernas off the main streets, and tips. ATMs are easy to find; use bank-branded ones (Alpha Bank, Eurobank, Piraeus Bank, National Bank of Greece) and decline the dynamic-currency-conversion option when the screen offers it.
Day trip
Knossos Palace + Heraklion Archaeological Museum
The canonical Heraklion cruise day. Take bus #2 (~€2, every 15–20 minutes) or a taxi (~€15–20) the 5 km south to the Palace of Knossos — the Bronze Age Minoan capital, Europe's oldest city, the labyrinth of the Minotaur in the legend that the early-1900s excavations promptly turned into a tourist site. Book the €20 e-ticket on hhticket.gr to skip the queue. After, return to town for the Heraklion Archaeological Museum (€20), where the actual Minoan artifacts live — frescoes, the Phaistos Disc, snake goddesses. Lunch in the Old Town between the two. Done.
Dock
Working harbor piers, free port shuttle to passenger terminal
Heraklion is a commercial port shared with ferries; cruise ships dock alongside at Pier II, III, or IV-V depending on the day's traffic. You aren't allowed to walk inside the port perimeter, so the authority runs a free shuttle bus from the berth to the passenger terminal — about five minutes. From the terminal, the Old Town and Koules Fortress are roughly 1.5 km along the waterfront, a flat 15-minute walk. A painted yellow line on the pavement marks the route.
Beach clubs
Ammoudara is the only realistic cruise-day beach
Crete's famous beaches — Matala, Elafonissi, Balos, Elounda — are 70+ km from Heraklion and not realistic on a cruise day unless you're skipping everything else. The closest swim is Ammoudara, ~5 km west of the port, ~10–15 minutes by taxi (~€10–15 each way). It's a long, sandy public beach with a few paid sunbed clubs in season. Pleasant enough; not the reason to be in Crete.
