More pics in the gallery here:

https://www.theweatheroutlook.com/twoother/sky-eye-gallery.aspx?user=Brian%20Gaze 

We're off there (not far from Rethymno) in early July.

We stayed 5 days in Chania and 9 days in Agia Galini. With hindsight we should perhaps have stayed longer in Chania and may be gone to somewhere near Kissamos for the rest of the time. That said, it depends what sort of holiday you want.

Cheers.

Sounds great. I've heard Chania old town is stunning.

Yes the old town is impressive, but the downside is that it was already crowded and I expect it will be worse in July. On the whole we found Crete to be something of a curate's egg. 

We flew BA from Heathrow to Chania.

That's not an option for us.

Good flight times?

Very good in our opinion. The outbound flight was late morning and the return was early evening.

Thanks. Our ideal is around 09:00-10:00 and return 12:30-13:30 for our destinations.

Obviously, those are best times and not always available. We still prefer close to those times though.

Certainly not a fan of flights that get you back to the UK at silly o' clock in the early morning or those that leave the UK before 7. 

We fly out (to Heraklion) at 8am

We were due to land back in the UK at 0.20am, which is just about OK. The arsehole airline (TUI) have shunted our return flight back 2 hours.

And there's nothing we can do about, and aren't eligible for any compensation.

We always use Jet2.

When it comes to the last day of the holiday we just want to get away and back home. For us, there's nothing worse than having to hang around all day knowing you have to go home

Snap.

I love the early outbound flight. We're flying to Heraklion just after 6am which means we'll get to our resort around lunchtime, have a bite to eat, check in to our villa and chill by the pool for the rest of the day.

To add insult to injury, a Tui rep was going up and down the queues of frustrated travellers, offering (for a fee) instant checkin and the use of a luxury lounge.

Think that's missing quotes around "luxury"! 😉

By comparison with the pushing and shoving and general chaos in the check-in area, any lounge could be described as 'luxury'.

I get that - but we've done both and I'm OK either way, to be honest. Both have advantages and disadvantages. Even when we go on a holiday where we drive, I'll fit something in on the journey home. When we went to France in 2023, we got the overnight ferry back to Portsmouth, but diverted through the Cotswold, stopping briefly at Diddly Squat, then having a couple of hours in Stratford with some lunch. 

We're all-inclusive in Crete and have confirmed with the hotel that we can have full use of it all the last day.

I more often than not drive to the airport and park [pre-booked, discounted]. This time we're Ubering it so I'm not worried about driving afterwards! I expect I'll nap on the plane.

I've been in long queues but have never experienced pushing and shoving at any check in.

Admittedly it was a one-off experience but none the less real. The basic problem was that there were no barriers, no crowd control, just a lot of people in a smallish and rather hot space, and too few check-in desks. . I complained afterwards but got nowhere.

I never notice - I'm too busy worrying whether the snurges will charge me for our suitcase being 2kg over.

😖

Next time leave the kitchen sink at home. 🤣

Travelling with 3 girls/women. They each bring a kitchen sink.