Is the worst airport in Europe really so bad? I visited to find out
Approaching Heraklion’s airport, cars were abandoned along either side of the road – it was like a scene from a post-apocalyptic film. “There’s only one car park and in summer it’s always full, so people just abandon their cars anywhere,” said taxi driver Giorgos Perakis, who drove me here on a burning hot day in late September.
Named for the man who created the chaotic character Zorba the Greek, Crete’s Nikos Kazantzakis Airport is the main gateway to Greece’s largest island, to which almost five million people travel each year. According to a recent Holidu ranking, however, it is also Europe’s worst airport – and one of the 10 worst worldwide. The company analysed millions of Google reviews, looking at Europe’s 85 busiest hubs. Heraklion had the worst average rating – scoring just 2.6 out of 5 – with complaints about a lack of seating, a dearth of decent loos and poor cleanliness cropping up frequently in its 21,000 reviews.
I was travelling through the airport to see if it was really as bad as the survey said.
Giorgos deposited me and my luggage a good five minutes’ walk from the terminal. “It’s impossible to get any closer,” he said, indicating the groups of tourists flooding out of tour buses blocking the busy airport road because there was nowhere else for them to park. Taxis circled like sharks in their bid to bag a passenger. “There’s little or no regulation here, and there have been problems with fake taxis picking up travellers, so the real taxis have to get in quick,” Giorgos told me.
Inside the main building, thousands of passengers flocked around a single screen showing flight times. It was 37C outside, but inside the hall felt even hotter. I asked one of the airport staff why there was no air conditioning. He shrugged, adding: “It’s always like this.”
The lines for Ryanair, BA and Lufthansa were each so long they had morphed into a single messy crowd of irate Italians, angry Britons and irritable Germans. Children screamed, parents scolded, and exhausted grandparents staggered about or sat on piles of abandoned luggage. Two passengers, convinced they were in the queue for BA, were having a heated argument with the Lufthansa lot, who insisted it was their line; a few Britain-bound Ryanair passengers were unpacking Thermos flasks and sandwiches, obviously prepared for a long wait.
“I love Crete, but we hate this airport – there’s nowhere to sit, there are people everywhere, it’s chaos,” said Chantal Lamouroux, whose flight to Paris had been delayed by several hours.
Airside it was just as bad, with barely any seating, hardly any air conditioning and festival-sized crowds stampeding through the duty-free shops. With coffee that tasted as if it had been strained through an old sock selling for €4.50 (£3.80) a pop – and sandwiches the size of matchsticks costing upwards of €6 – there was nothing much in the way of comfort food, either.
“This is definitely one of the worst airports I’ve ever been through – the Wi-Fi doesn’t work, it’s crowded at passport control, and the toilets were so dirty I didn’t use them,” Philippa Starns from Kent told me as we waited in line to buy a €4 bottle of water.
Mark Walker from London told me about the men’s loos. “There are no locks on the doors, lots of graffiti and no toilet roll – it reminded me of the last time I was in Mumbai,” he said.
Arriving at Athens Airport was like coming up for air. Ranked third among Europe’s best airports, Athens earned 4.3 out of 5, based on more than 49,000 Google reviews.
Crete’s dismal airport could end up costing it holidaymakers. “Experience at the airport has become fundamental to passengers’ decision making,” said David Lavorel, the chief executive of aviation IT provider Sita, in a recent passenger insights report. “Travellers are telling the industry loud and clear: the more they are subjected to clunky and inefficient processes, the more likely they are to consider other options.” I have approached Heraklion Airport for a comment regarding its poor performance, but no response has been forthcoming.
Fortunately for Crete, help is on the horizon. Slated to open in 2027, Heraklion’s long-overdue new airport will have 19 boarding gates, as well as facilities for entertainment and leisure, a prayer room and designated areas for families. It should (hopefully) solve the problem. Until then, passengers should be prepared to brave the chaos, remembering the words of Zorba the Greek’s creator, Nikos Kazantzakis: “When everything goes wrong, what a joy to test your soul and see if it has endurance and courage.”
