Knossos
Knossos is the largest Bronze Age site in Crete and the centre of Minoan civilisation, five kilometres south of Heraklion and about ninety minutes by road from Rethymno. The palace complex covers some 14,000 square metres of courtyards, storage magazines, staircases and workshops, occupied from around 1900 BC and destroyed in the fifteenth century BC. Sir Arthur Evans excavated it from 1900 and reconstructed parts in painted concrete, which is why Knossos looks unlike any other Greek archaeological site and why it divides opinion. The walk round takes about ninety minutes on uneven but mostly flat ground, and the original frescoes and finds are in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, not on site.
At a glance
- Drive from Rethymno
- About 1 hour 30 minutes, roughly 80 km
- Location
- 5 km south of Heraklion
- Site walk
- About 90 minutes on uneven but mostly flat ground
- Occupied from
- Around 1900 BC, on a site inhabited since the Neolithic
- Excavated by
- Sir Arthur Evans, from 1900, who reconstructed parts in concrete
- Tickets
- Bought at the site; a combined ticket with the Heraklion Archaeological Museum is normally available and cheaper
What survives
The palace is organised around a large central court, with the residential quarters, the throne room and the ceremonial spaces on one side and the storage magazines, with their rows of enormous storage jars, on the other. The features worth slowing down for are structural rather than decorative: the light wells that carry daylight into rooms three storeys down, the drainage and water-supply channels, the grand staircase, and the sheer number of storerooms, which tell you more about how the place worked than the frescoes do.
Occupation began around 1900 BC on a site already inhabited since the Neolithic. The complex was rebuilt after damage more than once and destroyed for good in the fifteenth century BC.
Evans and the reconstructions
Arthur Evans began digging in 1900 and, over the following decades, rebuilt sections in reinforced concrete with reproduction frescoes painted in. Archaeologists have argued about it ever since: the reconstructions fix one interpretation in permanent material, and some details are certainly wrong. They also make the site legible to a non-specialist in a way that a field of foundations would not be. Both things are true, and it is worth knowing which parts you are looking at.
The museum
Almost everything portable from Knossos is in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, twenty minutes away: the original bull-leaping fresco, the snake goddess figurines, the Phaistos Disc, the seals and the gold. Seeing the palace and then the museum, in that order, is the sequence that makes both work.
Practicalities
There is very little shade and the stone reflects heat, so early morning or late afternoon is much better than midday in summer. Tickets are bought at the site or online, and a combined ticket covering Knossos and the Heraklion Archaeological Museum is normally available and cheaper than buying the two separately. Neither ticket is included in tour prices from Rethymno.
Good to know
How far is Knossos from Rethymno?+
About 80 km east, roughly an hour and a half by car on the national road. A private day tour from Rethymno covering Knossos, the museum and Heraklion old town runs about seven hours.
How long do you need at Knossos?+
About ninety minutes for the site itself, at a gentle pace with stops. Add a further hour and a half if you are also visiting the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, which holds the original frescoes and finds.
Are the tickets included in a tour?+
No. Entrance to Knossos and to the Heraklion Archaeological Museum is paid separately at each site. A combined ticket covering both is usually available and works out cheaper than two individual tickets.
Is Knossos a reconstruction?+
Partly. Arthur Evans rebuilt sections in reinforced concrete and had frescoes repainted, so what you walk through mixes original fabric with an early twentieth-century interpretation of it. The reconstructions make the layout comprehensible; they are also, in places, disputed.
Is there shade at Knossos?+
Very little. The site is open stone with almost no cover, so visit early or late in the day in summer and bring water and a hat.
Visit Knossos with us
Read more about Knossos
- 12 Best Day Trips from RethymnoRethymno is the best day-trip base in Crete because it sits in the middle of the north coast. Within 45 minutes you can reach Lake Kournas and the Argyroupoli springs, the pottery village of Margarites with Arkadi Monastery, and the south coast at Preveli and Triopetra. Within 90 minutes you reach Imbros Gorge and Knossos with the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. Beyond that, at two hours or a little more, lie Aradaina Gorge, the Samaria trailhead at Omalos, the 2,453 m summit of Pachnes, and the pink lagoon at Elafonisi. Every one of the twelve below is a return trip in a single day.
- Best Time to Visit Crete: A Month-by-Month GuideThe best months to visit Crete are May, September and October. May brings 24°C days, an opening Samaria Gorge from 1 May and small crowds; September has the warmest sea of the year at around 25°C with the summer crowds gone; October keeps the sea near 23°C and gives the best walking weather, with Samaria open until 31 October. July and August are the hottest at over 35°C inland, the busiest and the most expensive. April is the greenest month, with wildflowers, over seventy orchid species and Orthodox Easter, but the sea is only about 17°C and Samaria is closed. Winter is mild, cheap and beach-free.
- Chania vs Heraklion: Which Should You Base Your Crete Trip In?Base yourself in Chania if your trip is about beaches, gorges and a beautiful old town: Elafonisi, Balos, Falassarna and the Samaria trailhead are all within 90 minutes, but Knossos is 2 hours 15 and Spinalonga is 2 hours 30. Base yourself in Heraklion if Minoan archaeology, ferries or budget matter most: Knossos is 15 minutes away, the port sails daily to Piraeus, accommodation is cheaper, but the city's own beaches are poor and Elafonisi is a three-and-a-half-hour drive. Rethymno, halfway between the two and roughly an hour from either airport, is the compromise that costs you least.
- Crete Without a Car: Is It Possible?You can have a full Crete holiday without renting a car by combining three things: the KTEL coach network, which runs hourly along the north coast between Kissamos, Chania, Rethymno, Heraklion and Agios Nikolaos for about €8 Rethymno to Chania and €15 Chania to Heraklion; pre-booked private transfers at a fixed price for airports and hotel changes; and guided day tours with hotel pickup, which reach the gorges, Elafonisi and Spinalonga that buses cannot serve in a day. There is no Uber or Lyft in Crete. Base yourself in Rethymno, Chania, Heraklion or Agios Nikolaos, and accept that remote southern villages, high trailheads and sunrise beaches genuinely require a vehicle.
