A private transfer from Heraklion Airport to Matala covers 66.0 km (41.0 mi) in about 1 hr 2 min and costs a fixed fare from €80 per vehicle, not per person.
One booking covers the journey in either direction: arrival from Heraklion Airport, or the departure run back from Matala at the same fixed fare.
Fares are per vehicle, not per person, and cover the whole car, so a family of four pays once. The price you see is the price confirmed on your voucher; it does not change with traffic, time of day, or a delayed flight.
| Vehicle | Typical models | Passengers | Bags | Fare | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Standard | Skoda Octavia, VW ID.3 | up to 3 | 3 | €80 |
|
SUV | Skoda Karoq | up to 4 | 4 | €90 |
|
Premium | Mercedes E Class, Skoda Kodiaq, Jeep Compass | up to 4 | 4 | €95 |
|
Minivan | Peugeot Traveller, Mercedes Vito | up to 8 | 8 | €130 |
|
Minibus | Mercedes Sprinter | up to 18 | 18 | €200 |
|
Bus | Coach Bus | up to 52 | 30 | €415 |
The same fare applies in both directions: Matala back to Heraklion Airport costs the same as the arrival leg. Child and booster seats are added at booking, at no extra charge.
The line is the road a driver actually takes from Heraklion Airport (HER) to Matala: 66.0 km (41.0 mi), about 1 hr 2 min door to door. Pickup and drop-off are marked at the coordinates the booking engine quotes against, not at the centre of the nearest town.
The 66.0 km drive from Heraklion Airport crosses the island southward to reach Matala on the Libyan Sea, which is why it takes 62 minutes rather than the hour the north-coast runs of the same length take. Filmed along the route a private transfer follows.
Your driver meets you inside the arrivals hall at Heraklion Airport, holding a sign with your name on it. Your transfer starts there rather than at a taxi rank, so there is no queue to join and no fare to agree on the spot.
Heraklion International Airport (HER) is Crete's main gateway and handled 4,039,249 international arrivals in 2025. Heraklion International Airport concentrates its arrivals into one short terminal, which keeps the walk from baggage reclaim to the meeting area brief even at peak season.
The driver confirms your name and destination, loads your luggage, and leaves from the airport car park. Nothing is settled on the day when you have paid online, and the fare on your voucher does not change.
The airport sits on the coast road immediately east of Heraklion city, which puts every eastern resort on a direct run without crossing town. Westbound journeys join the same national road in the opposite direction.
Inside the arrivals hall, past baggage reclaim, at the transfers meeting area. Your driver holds a name sign that matches the booking.
Look for the sign rather than a taxi rank or a car park level. The phone number on your voucher reaches a person who can locate your driver, if the sign is not where you expect it.
Give us your flight number at booking. Your pickup is then scheduled against that flight rather than against a clock time, and the driver is told to arrive later when the flight lands late.
Tell us as early as you can when a flight is cancelled or rerouted, so the driver can be reassigned.
Matala is a village on the south coast of the Heraklion region, set in a small bay under a sandstone cliff cut through with man-made caves. Matala's caves were carved as tombs in Roman times and were lived in again in the late 1960s, when the village became known for the people who stayed in them.
The bay itself is a single sand and shingle beach closed at both ends by rock, with the village immediately behind it and the caves in the cliff on its northern side.
Red Beach lies over the headland to the south, reached on foot in about half an hour, and the Minoan palace of Phaistos and the Roman site of Gortyna are both a short drive inland.
We drop you at the door of your hotel, apartment or villa in the village or on the approach road above it.
Matala's centre is small and closed to traffic at the beach end. Your driver stops at the nearest legal point, which is rarely more than a short walk from any address in the village.
The drive crosses the island to the south coast, 66.0 kilometres in about 1 hr 2 min, and is the cheapest of the four southern runs this airport sells.
The fare table makes the point better than a description does. Kalamaki is 65.0 kilometres from the terminal at €88 for a Standard car, Matala 66.0 at €80, Lentas 70.8 at €85 and Agia Galini 74.5 at €90. Matala is a kilometre further than Kalamaki and eight euros below it, and it is quicker than all three at about 1 hr 2 min.
The car passes Heraklion on the bypass and takes the road south, climbing away from the coast into the hills behind the city.
The Messara opens beyond the climb, the wide agricultural plain that fills the centre of the south, with Mires as its market town on the way through. Olive groves and greenhouses run either side for most of it.
Pitsidia comes shortly before the coast, and the last kilometres drop to the bay. Matala is small and closed to traffic at the beach end, so the car stops on the approach road rather than at the sand, which is rarely more than a short walk from any address in the village.
The caves in the cliff above the bay are the reason most people come. They were cut as tombs in Roman times and lived in again in the late 1960s, which is the period the village is still known for.
Sunshine Hotel and Apartments, Hotel Calypso, Hotel Coral, Paradise and Armonia Hotel are among the properties in the village behind the sand, all of them within a few minutes of the approach road the car stops on.
One comparison to make before booking, since the two Heraklion pickups are four kilometres apart. Matala is 66.0 kilometres from this terminal and 62.9 from the port, and the airport is quoted four minutes quicker despite being the further of the two. If your party is split between a flight and a ferry, the two transfers are the same €80 either way.
The public route is a KTEL bus from Heraklion to Mires, then a second on to Matala.
Both run on a rural timetable rather than a frequent one, and the connection at Mires is the weak point: miss it and the wait is measured in hours. The first leg also starts from Heraklion's bus station rather than the airport.
Your driver takes you to the door of your accommodation in Matala. There is no central drop-off point and no walk with your luggage at the end. These are properties in the resort we transfer guests to regularly; if yours is not listed, it is still covered, so enter the name when you book.
Villas, apartments and private addresses in Matala are served the same way. Add the address at booking and the fare stays as quoted.
The return leg is the same journey in reverse: 66.0 km (41.0 mi), about 1 hr 2 min, and the same fixed fare from €80 per vehicle. Your driver collects you from your accommodation in Matala at the agreed time and takes you straight to Heraklion Airport.
Matala back to the airport is the same 66.0 kilometres at the same fixed fare.
The climb out of the Messara is the slow section northbound and it is worse early, when farm traffic is on the road, so departures allow for that rather than for the daytime run.
Book both directions together and the return is held at the same fare. Switch the form at the top of this page to Departure, or select a return when you book.
About 1 hr 2 min of driving, the check-in and security time your airline asks for, and a margin for the plain and the climb back to the north coast.
Give us the flight number at booking and the exact pickup is confirmed on your voucher.
The fare covers the whole vehicle rather than each seat, so 4 people pay the same as 1. The price on your voucher is the price you pay, with no booking fee and no card surcharge.
Your driver waits in the arrivals hall holding a sign with your name on it. You walk out of baggage reclaim straight to the car, without joining a taxi rank or agreeing a fare on the spot.
Child seats cost nothing extra. Reserve the seat in the booking form and state the child's age, so the correct seat is fitted before the driver sets off.
Cancel at least 24 hours before your pickup time and you pay nothing. Plans change; the booking does not lock you in.
The vehicle carries your party and nobody else. It runs from the pickup point to your exact address, with no intermediate stops and no waiting for other passengers.
Your pickup is set against your flight number, not a clock time. Transfers run at any hour, which covers night landings and pre-dawn departures.
Every booking is confirmed by a person and carries a voucher showing your route, vehicle, pickup time and fare.
These are the questions guests ask most often about the Heraklion Airport to Matala transfer, answered with this route's own distance, duration and fares.
Anything not covered here is answered when we confirm the booking.
A private transfer from Heraklion Airport to Matala costs a fixed €80 for a Standard car carrying up to 3 passengers. A Minivan for up to 8 people is €130.
Cut into the sandstone cliff above the bay as tombs in Roman times, and occupied again in the late 1960s by the visitors the village became known for.
Over the headland south of the bay, about half an hour on foot. There is no road to it.
Pitsidia at 62.0 kilometres from this airport, Kalamaki at 65.0, and Phaistos and Gortyna inland on the same plain.
Whichever suits the rest of the trip: the fare is €80 from either Heraklion pickup. The airport is 66.0 kilometres out and the port 62.9, and the engine quotes the airport four minutes faster despite the extra distance.
On the approach road above the village, because the beach end takes no traffic. Matala is small enough that no address in it is more than a short walk from where the driver can wait, and he will carry the cases to the door where the lane allows.
Per vehicle. The fare covers the car and everyone in it, up to that vehicle's passenger and luggage limit. Two people and four people pay the same €80 for a Standard car to Matala.
Yes, at no extra charge. Reserve the seat in the booking form and state the child's age so the correct infant, child or booster seat is fitted before the driver sets off.
Give us your flight number when you book. We track the flight and move the pickup to match the actual landing time, so a delay does not cost you the transfer.
Inside the arrivals hall, at the exit, where the driver waits with a board showing your name. You do not need to find a taxi rank or a car park level.
Yes. Cancel at least 24 hours before your pickup time and there is no charge.
Pay by card online when you book, or in euros in cash to the driver. There is no card surcharge and no booking fee either way.
You receive a confirmation email with your route, vehicle, pickup time and fare on it. Check the details and tell us if anything is wrong. An automated receipt on its own is not the confirmation. The emailed voucher is.
Yes. Heraklion Airport to Matala and Matala to Heraklion Airport are the same journey at the same fixed €80, and both directions are booked from this page. Select a return when you book and the price is held for both legs.
Those routes are priced the same way as this one: a fixed fare per vehicle, confirmed before you travel. The same applies to every private transfers in Crete we run, from the airports and ports to the resorts and villages along both coasts.