A private transfer from Heraklion Town to Elafonissi covers 209.0 km (129.9 mi) in about 3 hr 20 min and costs a fixed fare from €240 per vehicle, not per person.
One booking covers the journey in either direction: arrival from Heraklion Town, or the departure run back from Elafonissi 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 | €240 |
|
SUV | Skoda Karoq | up to 4 | 4 | €299 |
|
Premium | Mercedes E Class, Skoda Kodiaq, Jeep Compass | up to 4 | 4 | €320 |
|
Minivan | Peugeot Traveller, Mercedes Vito | up to 8 | 8 | €340 |
|
Minibus | Mercedes Sprinter | up to 18 | 18 | €432 |
The same fare applies in both directions: Elafonissi back to Heraklion Town 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 Town to Elafonissi: 209.0 km (129.9 mi), about 3 hr 20 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.
Your driver comes to the door of your hotel, apartment or address in Heraklion at the time on your voucher. City pickups are door-to-door, so there is no meeting point to find and no walk with luggage.
Heraklion is Crete's capital and largest city, and its centre is a dense grid of one-way and pedestrianised streets inside the Venetian walls. Heraklion's older streets will not take a vehicle at all, so where an address sits behind a pedestrian zone the driver arranges the nearest point a car can legally stop and tells you where that is before the day.
Give the exact address and the hotel name when you book. A street name alone is not always enough in the centre, where numbering restarts across districts.
Journeys east towards Hersonissos, Malia and Agios Nikolaos leave on the national road without crossing the centre. Journeys south to Matala and the Messara plain climb out through the Venetian gate and over the hills.
At your accommodation's entrance, or the closest legal stopping point when the address sits inside a pedestrian zone.
Your driver calls ahead if there is any doubt about where the vehicle can wait.
Give us the pickup address and a contact number at booking. Your driver waits at the agreed time and calls if the entrance is not accessible.
Tell us as early as you can if your plans change, so the driver can be rescheduled.
Elafonissi is a beach and a small island at the south-western tip of Crete, joined to the mainland by a shallow sandbar that can be waded at most times. Elafonissi is known for the pink tint in parts of its sand, which comes from crushed shell fragments, and for water shallow enough to stand in a long way out.
The site is a protected area with no development on it. Facilities are limited to seasonal kiosks and a car park at the end of the road.
Getting there is the constraint. The approach is a long mountain road from either the north coast or the south, and the last section is slow.
We drop you at the car park at the end of the road, which is as far as any vehicle goes.
Elafonissi has no accommodation and no village. Tell us at booking whether you want the driver to wait or to return at a set time, since there is no taxi rank here.
The drive crosses the island west and then south, 209.0 kilometres in about 3 hr 20 min, to the car park at the south-western tip of Crete.
Elafonissi is the furthest destination this hub sells and the only one on the list with nothing to check into. It is a protected site: a lagoon, a sandbar, seasonal kiosks and a car park where the road stops. There is no accommodation, no village and no taxi rank, so the return has to be arranged when the outbound is booked rather than found at the end of the day.
Read the whole thing as a day out. Three hours and twenty minutes each way from a city address is most of the daylight, and anyone staying in Heraklion who wants Elafonissi should know that before the car is booked rather than after.
Your driver joins the national road within minutes of the pickup. Ammoudara, Agia Pelagia and Lygaria pass early, then Fodele, Bali and Panormos take the headlands, and Rethymno comes at 78.4 kilometres.
Georgioupolis and Apokoronas follow, the road climbs over Aptera above Souda Bay, and Chania is skirted at 139.0 kilometres. The western strip runs out past Maleme at 155.0, and Kissamos comes at 172.0.
The last section turns south into the hills and works down the western side of the island on a long mountain road, and its final kilometres are the slowest of the whole journey.
What waits at the bottom is a small island joined to the mainland by a shallow sandbar that can be waded at most times, with a pink tint in parts of the sand that comes from crushed shell, and water shallow enough to stand in a long way out.
Nothing is built on any of it, which is why it looks the way it does and why the practical arrangements are yours to make.
A seasonal coach runs to Elafonissi from Chania in the summer months on a limited timetable.
From the city that means Heraklion's bus station, close to three hours west, a change, and then a service whose return time is fixed for you rather than chosen. Outside the season it does not run, and there is nothing at the beach to fall back on.
The return leg is the same journey in reverse: 209.0 km (129.9 mi), about 3 hr 20 min, and the same fixed fare from €240 per vehicle. Your driver collects you from your accommodation in Elafonissi at the agreed time and takes you straight to Heraklion Town.
Elafonissi back to Heraklion covers the same 209.0 kilometres at the same fixed price.
The mountain road north fills the first hour and is slower in the dark, and the whole north coast follows it. A late departure from the beach makes for a long evening.
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.
Allow about 3 hr 20 min of driving in each direction, whatever time you need at the far end, and a real margin for the mountain approach.
Give us the return time you want from the beach when you book the outbound. Both legs are then set rather than left to be arranged on the day.
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 Town to Elafonissi 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 Town to Elafonissi costs a fixed €240 for a Standard car carrying up to 3 passengers. A Minivan for up to 8 people is €340.
No. The site is protected and has no accommodation and no village, only seasonal kiosks and the car park at the end of the road.
Arrange it at booking. Either the driver waits or returns at a set time, because there is no rank and no reliable local transport at the beach.
Fallasarna is 187.0 kilometres from the city at €250 and Paleochora 207.0 at €215, against 209.0 and €240 here. The three do not line up with the distance.
The sandbar joining it to the mainland is shallow enough to wade at most times, and the water either side stays shallow well out from the shore.
Crushed shell worked through it, strongest along the water's edge. It varies by day and by patch rather than colouring the whole beach.
Mid-afternoon usually works best. The coaches and hire cars fill the car park through the middle of the day, so arriving early and leaving before the exodus gets you the quieter half of it.
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 €240 for a Standard car to Elafonissi.
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.
The driver arranges the nearest legal stopping point and confirms it before the day, so nobody is left waiting on a pedestrianised lane. Give the accommodation name as well as the street when you book.
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 Town to Elafonissi and Elafonissi to Heraklion Town are the same journey at the same fixed €240, 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 Crete taxi we run, from the airports and ports to the resorts and villages along both coasts.