Knossos Palace E-Ticket with Audio Guide & Optional Museum Heraklion

Knossos, the capital of Minoan Crete

Knossos lies on a low hill in the green valley of the Kairatos stream, about five kilometres south of the centre of Heraklion, with the sacred peak of Mount Juktas rising to the south. For several centuries of the Bronze Age it was the largest settlement on Crete and the seat of the Minoans, a seafaring civilisation that traded with Egypt and the Near East. Clay tablets found in the palace carry two early scripts, Linear A and Linear B, the second of which records an early form of Greek.

Is Knossos worth visiting? It is the most visited archaeological site on Crete and one of the most important in Europe, so for anyone staying in Heraklion it is the essential half-day out. The palace was partly restored in the early twentieth century, and these reconstructions, together with the narrated audio guide, make it far easier to picture the building as it once stood.

The West Court, the procession frescoes and the West Magazines

Your audio tour begins in the West Court, a wide paved square with round stone-lined pits once used for grain storage. From here the Corridor of the Procession led towards the South Propylaeum, the monumental entrance where copies of the procession frescoes show young men carrying vessels and gifts. The narration uses these figures to explain Minoan fashion, hairstyles and even the beauty products people used.

Along the western edge, the West Magazines form a long row of narrow storerooms where giant clay jars held olive oil, grain, honey and pulses, all recorded on clay tablets by palace scribes. Near the South Entrance you will see the painted relief known as the Prince of the Lilies, a copy of the original in the Heraklion museum, and a view of Mount Juktas perfectly framed by the eroded walls. Allow about 40 minutes for this part.

The royal quarters and the Queen's Megaron

The east wing holds the most impressive architecture at Knossos. The Grand Staircase, with its red columns that narrow towards the base, descends several floors around a light well that brought daylight and air into the rooms below. At the bottom lies the Hall of the Double Axes, named after the sacred symbol carved into its walls, and beside it the Queen's Megaron, decorated with the famous fresco of blue dolphins swimming among fish.

Next to the Queen's Megaron is a small room with a clay bathtub and a toilet connected to a drainage system, which the audio guide uses to explain Minoan bathing habits and the palace's advanced water supply of stone channels and clay pipes. This part of the site is often the busiest, so an early time slot gives you more space. With the full audio guide, the palace visit takes about two hours.

Heraklion city and the Archaeological Museum

The second audio guide in the default option turns the centre of Heraklion into a self-guided walk. It follows the Venetian harbour and the Koules sea fortress, the Lions Fountain and the arcaded Loggia, the Church of Saint Titus and the market street, then the great Venetian walls that still ring the old city. You can start it straight after Knossos or keep it for another day of your stay.

Just off Eleftherias Square stands the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, which keeps the original frescoes, the snake goddess figurines, the Phaistos Disc and the finest Minoan gold and pottery. Museum entry is not part of the options in the booking panel, but tickets are sold at its entrance and it completes the story you heard at Knossos. To reach Knossos from the centre, city bus line 2 takes about 20 to 30 minutes.