1

There are at least three ports for cruise ships - you'd have to specify which as they are far apart.
I'm sure the ship will be organising tours and for 8 hours that might be best?

2

Yes, where in Crete will your ferry dock? It's a huge island.

3

The cruise ship docks in Chania

4

Well then i would suggest to just stay in Chania as it is such a beautiful town and it is pointless to drive away from it with only 8 hours.

5

There is going to be a basic logistics problem here, which can affect how easy it will be to rent a car.

There are no docking provisions in Chania itself for a large ship. I have seen a large cruise ship off-shore. I think the passengers must have been ferried to land by motor launches. If this is what's done, it is going to take a bit of work/walking to get from any sensible landing point to where you could rent a car. If a rental could be arranged in advance, you'd have to coordinate a pickup point with what the ship actually does. Thus, you need these practical details.

If the cruise ship actually docks then it will be at Souda Bay, which will be several km. away from Chania. This will mean that the cruise company will have arranged some sort of transport into Chania itself. Possibly you can rent a car in Souda, have one waiting there when you get off the ship. But for all this to be arranged in advance? Does the cruise company offer help?

So: where the ship drops you off and how easy it will be to rent a car from that point are organizational problems that might be easy to resolve, or a time-wasting headache. Ask the cruise company what their transfer and/or excursion procedures are.

If your heart is set on driving then with full 8 hours (assuming that you do have a car waiting) it is possible to take a couple of scenic drives that shouldn't be too rushed. The simplest and shortest is to drive up to Omalos plateau, where the Samaria gorge starts. Even the bus takes only an hour or so. You could drive there, have a look around, drive back to Chania .. subtract some time from the ideal 8 hours and this can still be done easily.

The longer doable option, easy from Souda, is to drive to the south coast at Sfakia, passing the Imbros gorge along the way. A straight drive takes less than 2 hours by bus. So, there, back, 2 additional hours for looking around, and back to Chania all taking 6 hours. This can turn into a looking-at-your-watch rush if you have delays finding/renting/getting a car to drive. Not my idea of a fun time, but "doable".

Oh, and add an hour getting into and out of Chania -- first-timer phenomenon of figuring out the streets, maybe getting temporarily lost. These things happen, and eat away at the time available to you.

6

Too hard. Just relax and enjoy whatever the cruise dudes have organised. Have you checked what's on offer yet?

7

I do agree on above, since I consider Chania as being one of the most beautiful cities in Greece, but if you really want to make a nice drive, which is not too long, then you could consider driving through the gorge of Therisso (beautiful scenery), just south of Chania and have a coffee in the village of Zourva (stunning views on the Lefka Ori) and visit the Byzantine church in Meskla. This would take you, if you take your time, not even 3 hours until your back in Chania and you can still have a nice stroll around the Venetian Harbour, visit the Agora etc before you head back to the port of Souda.

An alternative would be to have a taxi-driver you taking you to the gorge of Therisso-Zourva-Meskla and then drop you off in Chania where you can take the local bus back to the port of Souda

Edited by: jackie1308