Alternatives for traveling by public transport  to Amari from North/west Europe submitted by Jan Van der Weerd

For those who like to avoid airplanes and taxis, some alternative traveling options are presented, from personal experiences:

• On Crete: from any air- or sea port to Amari:
  • Take a bus to Rethymnon. Along the North coast there are generally more than one bus per hour. From Herakleion or from Chania the ride takes about 1 hour. Timetables, prices, route maps, hotels etc. at: http://bus-service-crete.com/

  • From the bus station of Rethymnon there is a bus going to the Amari valley, usually not further than "Scholi Asomaton". The ride takes about 1 hour. From this bus stop it is only a few km to Amari village. If there is nobody from Amari village to pick you up, you'll probably be able to find a car to bring you there, if you ask at the cafe near the busstop. 
    That bus goes only once a day, leaving Rethymnon around 2 p.m.
    For people who don't speak Greek it may be a bit tricky to find out when and where exactly from the bus station the bus leaves. For if you ask you're told it will be anounced through the loudspeaker, but that is very difficult to understand and the anouncement doesn't mention Scholi Asomaton. But if you are persistent you'll find somebody to give you the required information.
• From Piraeus to Crete and back: by ferry
  There are slow boats and express boats, to the Cretan ports Herakleion, Rethymnon, and Chania. http://www.danae.gr/ferries-Greece.asp is a very practical website to get all the information you need. 
  It may be wise to book before you travel; it has happened that a ferry was booked full, beginning of September. Sometimes a travel agent has second hand tickets for sale.
  • One recommendable itinerary: Slow day-ferry from Piraeus to Chania, spend the night in a hotel in Chania in the pictoresque old part near the harbour, bus next morning to Rethymnon and then the afternoon bus to Scholi Asomaton. If you have an extra day to spend in Chania, the old town centre and harbour are worth it ! A recommendable little hotel: "Chania Rooms" (http://www.booking.com/hotel/gr/chania-rooms-kali-kardia.en.html).
    The ferry from Piraeus to Chania doesn't arrive in Chania but in Souda. From there you take a bus to Chania (about 1/2 hour). Then ask for the old harbour (palió limáni). From there you can find Chania rooms using the map of the above mentioned web page. Alternatively  from Souda, you can take a bus directly to Rethymno. Only you need to hurry, once you've landed, as they fill up very quickly! If you do this after taking the slow day-ferry to Chania, which arrives in the evening, you'll have to take a hotel in Rethymnon. There are also night-ferries from Piraeus to Crete.
  • In Piraeus, the convenient Delfini Hotel (http://www.booking.com/hotel/gr/delfini.en.html) is only 2 minutes walking distance from where you leave the bus coming from Patras, and about 20 min. walking to the ferry. But if you take the bus from Patras to Piraeus which leaves right after the arrival of the ferry from Venice to Patras in the morning, you are early enough to catch a day-ferry from Piraeus to Chania that same day.
• Traveling to Piraeus (/Athens), coming from North/West Europe:
  • By train. See http://www.railfaneurope.net/frameset.html for time tables. In general the German site provides very good information, also about trains in other countries. But for Greece only to Thessaloniki. From there take the Greek site. Make sure to book a train not to Athens but to the end of that line: Piraeus. The Piraeus train station is conveniently close to the ferry port.
  • By boat. Unfortunately there is no direct ferry service from Italy to Piraeus (or to Crete, nor from Thessaloniki). You have to take a ferry to Patras, and take a bus from there to Piraeus (there are train connections too, but you have to change several times). But that 3 hours bus ride is beautiful, especially if you sit on the left hand side of the bus. There are busses waiting at the quay when the ferry arrives. Bus tickets can be bought on board of the ferry. See http://www.ferries.gr/anek/defaultEN.htm for ferry time tables.
    The ferry trip with Anek lines from Venice to Patras is very nice. You leave Venice around 7 p.m., with a beautiful view over the old city centre in the evening sun, if you stand on the top deck. You arrive in Patras early morning 2 nights and 1 day later.
    If you arrive in Venice by train some extra advice may be very useful:
    Don't try to take one of the lokal ferryboats directly from the station to the ferry boat. If you do that you end up at a place from where you still have to walk quite a distance to the quay. Better take a local ferryboat to the San Marco square. From there regular shuttle busses leave right to the Ferry to Greece.
• For the real lover of traveling by sea: All the way to Crete by freighter with passenger accomodation. 
  See: http://www.geocities.com/freighterman.geo/mainmenu.html The average costs for this kind of traveling is US$ 80-90 per day, and from London to Heraklion or Piraeus could take 1 week or a bit less, depending on ports visited along the way. Traveling dates are not always reliable, so you should plan for a ship that arrives several days before you really have to be there. But this is real traveling !