What's the must-see thing in Crete?

The Palace of Knossos sits on a low hill 5 km south of central Heraklion. People settled this spot as early as 7000 BC, though the palace complex you walk through dates to roughly 1900 BC in its first incarnation. What stands today is partly Sir Arthur Evans' reconstruction from the 1900s through the 1930s, which is either brilliant spatial context or archaeological overreach depending on who you ask. The red-painted Minoan columns and reconstructed throne room give your eyes a framework that bare foundations never could. That said, the poured-concrete restorations feel weathered and slightly odd against the original gypsum. Arrive when gates open at 8am between April and October. By 10:30am, buses from Heraklion port deposit 300 to 400 cruise passengers at the entrance, and the narrow corridors around the Queen's Megaron become packed, hot, and loud. Tickets cost 15 euros full price, 8 euros reduced. A combo ticket with the Heraklion Archaeological Museum runs 20 euros and saves you about 6 euros.

The Heraklion Archaeological Museum on Xanthoudidou Street, founded in 1883 and reopened after a full renovation, holds the largest collection of Minoan artifacts on earth. The Snake Goddess figurines from around 1600 BC, the Phaistos Disc, the bull-leaping fresco. These objects are the reason Knossos matters. Without them, the palace site is concrete pillars and drainage channels. With them, the 1,300-room complex makes sense. Visit the museum after the palace, not before. You want the spatial memory of those rooms still fresh when you see the originals of frescoes Evans left as reproductions on-site. Plan 2 hours. The ground-floor Minoan halls are the priority. The upper floors cover Greek and Roman periods and feel thin by comparison. The museum is a 20-minute ride on KTEL Bus 2 from the Knossos site, or a 10-minute walk from Heraklion's Eleftherias Square.

If you have more than 2 days on Crete, take the 2.5-hour drive west or a KTEL bus for roughly 15 euros to Chania. The Venetian harbor there, built in the 1300s, is the most photogenic single spot on the island. The lighthouse at the harbor mouth dates to Venetian construction in the 1570s and you can walk the full stone breakwater in about 10 minutes, with the White Mountains visible to the south when the afternoon haze clears. The old quarter behind the harbor smells like grilled octopus and spilled raki by evening. Mind you, the waterfront restaurants charge tourist prices for average food. Walk one block inland to the Splatzia or Topanas neighborhoods for the same grilled lamb chops at roughly half the cost. Chania is the romantic half of Crete. Heraklion is the working half. A KTEL bus between the two runs roughly every hour from 5:30am to 10pm.

Crete is Greece's largest island at 260 km east to west. You cannot cover it in a day. The distance from Heraklion's Nikos Kazantzakis Airport to Chania is about 140 km along the north-coast national road, which tends to slow through coastal towns. A rental car at the airport currently costs roughly 30 to 45 euros per day in June. The KTEL bus network connects north-coast cities well but reaches the south coast poorly. For a 3-day trip, spend 1.5 days in the Heraklion area for Knossos and the museum, then 1.5 in Chania. With 5 or more days, add Rethymno's Fortezza fortress, built by the Venetians in 1573, and a day at Elafonisi beach on the southwest coast, where the sand takes on a pale pink tint from crushed Foraminifera shells and the water stays shallow enough to wade 50 metres out.