A private transfer from Heraklion Town to Matala covers 62.8 km (39.0 mi) in about 1 hr 5 min and costs a fixed fare from €80 per vehicle, not per person.
One booking covers the journey in either direction: arrival from Heraklion Town, 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 Town costs the same as the arrival leg. Child and booster seats are added at booking, at no extra charge.
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.
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 from the north coast to the south, 62.8 kilometres in about 1 hr 5 min. Matala is one of the few routes from Heraklion that leaves the national road almost immediately, so this journey looks nothing like the coastal runs east and west of the city.
Your driver leaves your address and takes the road south out of Heraklion, climbing away from the coast towards the interior. The city is behind you within a few minutes and the road begins to gain height.
The middle section crosses the Messara, the broad agricultural plain that fills the centre of southern Crete, with Mires as its market town on the way through. This is farmland rather than resort country, and the road runs between olive groves and greenhouses for much of it.
Pitsidia comes shortly before the coast, and the last few 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.
The public route is the KTEL bus from Heraklion to Mires, then a second bus on to Matala.
Both legs run to 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 rather than minutes. The first leg also starts from Heraklion's bus station rather than your accommodation.
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: 62.8 km (39.0 mi), about 1 hr 5 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 Town.
Matala back to Heraklion is the same 62.8 kilometres in reverse, at the same fixed fare.
The climb out of the Messara is the slow part northbound, and it is worse in the early morning when farm traffic is on the road, so departure pickups 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.
For a departure from Matala we work back from what you need to reach: about 1 hr 5 min of driving, plus any check-in or terminal time, plus a buffer for the Messara and the climb back over to the north coast.
Tell us the flight, the sailing or the appointment at booking, and the exact pickup time 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 Town 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 Town to Matala costs a fixed €80 for a Standard car carrying up to 3 passengers. A Minivan for up to 8 people is €130.
About 1 hr 5 min for the 62.8 km (39.0 mi) route. This is an inland crossing rather than a coastal run, so the time depends on the climb and the plain rather than on resort traffic.
Only with a change. The KTEL service runs Heraklion to Mires, then a second bus covers Mires to Matala, on a rural timetable that leaves little room for a missed connection.
Both sit on this road across the Messara. Ask at booking rather than on the day if you want the car to stop, because the driver's schedule is built around the time on your voucher.
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.
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 Matala and Matala to Heraklion Town 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 Crete transfers we run, from the airports and ports to the resorts and villages along both coasts.