The Palace of Knossos, Crete, Greece

5WestofIre2013 5:00 PM Jul 28, 2022

Worth a visit
Interesting architectural site that is worth a visit. Sections of the palace have been reconstructed but there are original remains visible. A lot is left up to imagination to visualise the original construction. It took us around an hour and half to walk around reading the information points, without a guide. Guides are plentiful & offer their services at the entrance. Self guided 3-D audio equipment is available to hire. We arrived at 9:30am having intended to arrive earlier, but for some reason the frequency of buses was less than expected. Knossos is a very popular attraction. It was busy with large groups by 10am and a significant queue was at the entrance on our departure. I recommend advance purchase of tickets from the official Greek archaeological website etickets.tap.grand download them onto a smartphone. There is then no need to queue on arrival so go straight to the turnstiles where staff scan the tickets. Bus no. 2 is direct to Knossos from the city centre from various bus stops. We got a bus from the stop at Pl. Eleftherias, in front of the pharmacy. Tickets can be purchased at self service kiosks on the street. It costs €1.50 per bus journey so buy two tickets, to cover each way. Otherwise it costs €2.50 on the bus per journey. It was quite hot here but there are tree shaded areas offering respite. Bring water, sun cream and a sun hat. There are a couple of food outlets on site and across the road are others, along with souvenir shops.

3Shan B 5:00 PM May 20, 2022

Not as authentic as it should be
It goes without saying that when visiting Crete a trip to this place is a must, but as a major history nerd it is extremely disappointing. It might have once been a really interesting place but now it's just yet another tourist attraction that has been spoiled by the restoration work and additions that are modern, unsympathetic, and not historically accurate. What it boils down to is that Arthur Evans and his team guessed a lot of what they did, Frescos are placed where they thought they should be, and everything other than the basic structure and foundations are modern additions and guesswork. I noticed a lot of fellow visitors were disappointed too except for the American tourists which this site plays right into their needs. It's become a bit of a joke now that they lap up this kind of place and it's been moulded to cater to the easily impressed and believers of the Minotaur and Labyrinth myths. Make sure you get there early, and pre-book, the queues even at a quieter time of year were long and chaotic, lots of very rude tourists who don't like queuing and jump the line, push people out of the way etc. We bypassed the free for all mentality by already having tickets so could avoid the chaos. The coach parties and organised tours take up a lot of space so get ahead of them if possible or you will not be able to properly read the information boards (also better known as leaning posts for the selfish). You can also book a dual ticket that gives you access to the excellent Archaeological Museum in Heraklion which is well worth the money and you can see the original Knossos pieces that have been expertly preserved. If you want to see some more authentic and well preserved palace ruins I recommend Malia Palace instead.