Cretaquarium tickets get you into the sea aquarium at Gournes, on the coast east of Heraklion, where the tanks hold the fish of the Mediterranean. Pair the visit with other tours in Greece for the rest of your days on Crete.
This page covers what the tickets include, the opening hours, the road from Heraklion, the story of the former air base, the sea creatures and tanks, group and school visits, who enjoys a visit and the tours that pair the aquarium with Heraklion market or Dinosauria Park.
What do Cretaquarium tickets include, and where do you use them?
Cretaquarium tickets give you entry to the aquarium at Thalassokosmos, in Gournes near Heraklion. An online ticket is valid on the date you pick. You can walk in at any time during opening hours.
The online listings state that Cretaquarium tickets cover entry only. Hotel pickup and drop-off, food and drinks, and the audio tour device are not included. You can rent the audio tour device at the reception. It plays in nine languages: Greek, English, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Russian and Czech.
The official site lists separate ticket categories. These cover general entry, children aged 5 to 17, seniors over 65, students and organised groups over 20 people. The virtual reality room is a separate experience for visitors over 12 years old.
Using Cretaquarium tickets is simple. Each digital ticket has a unique code, either a QR code or a number code. Smartphone tickets are accepted, and you take the ticket with you to the attraction. Show it there on the day you chose.
After you book, a confirmation email arrives once the provider confirms the booking. This can take a short while, depending on the provider. Your ticket is in that email, and also in the bookings section of your account. The person who books must be 18 or older, and children must come with an adult.
Plans change, so check the cancellation line. When you book Cretaquarium tickets online, the listings state free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start time. If you miss your exact time slot, the ticket stays valid for that day. You just lose the chance to skip the line.
What are the Cretaquarium opening hours through the year?
The Cretaquarium is open 365 days a year, seven days a week. Summer hours run from 1 April to 31 October, 9:30 to 19:00 daily. Winter hours run from 1 November to 31 March, 9:30 to 16:00 daily.
The aquarium stays open even during festive periods and holidays. That means no closing day to plan around, so Cretaquarium tickets fit any date on your calendar. The two seasons differ only at closing time. Opening time stays at 9:30 all year.
Winter closing is 16:00 instead of 19:00, so a winter day is three hours shorter. When you buy Cretaquarium tickets for the cooler months, plan the day backwards from that closing time. Start early, and leave the rest of the afternoon for other stops.
Summer has its own rhythm. A ticket listing says the aquarium gets very busy in summer between 11:00 and 16:00, with long lines possible. Arriving at 9:30 puts you inside before that rush begins.
The aquarium sets its hours by season, so dates and times can change. Check the opening hours page on the official site before you go. Cretaquarium tickets bought online follow the same hours, because they are valid during operating hours.
How do you get to the Cretaquarium in Gournes from Heraklion?
Your Cretaquarium tickets take you to Gournes, 14 km from the city of Heraklion and from Nikos Kazantzakis International Airport. You can arrive by car, taxi or bus. The national road links the site with the main destinations of the area.
Drivers and motorcyclists follow the special brown road signs along the roads of Crete. A free, spacious parking area at the aquarium means a day with Cretaquarium tickets starts without a parking fee.
You can hire a private taxi from and to the aquarium. The official site lists Radio Taxi, Taxi Gouves and Club Taxi. A tour listing says the trip by car or taxi takes 25 minutes from Heraklion, or from Malia and Hersonissos. Allow for that time when you plan a day with Cretaquarium tickets.
Bus travellers with Cretaquarium tickets have a dense network of routes to Heraklion and to the wider Malia-Hersonissos area. The official site says buses run every 20 minutes in summer and every 30 minutes in winter. It gives no line numbers, but it lists the KTEL Heraklion central station phone numbers.
What is the story of the Cretaquarium and the former Gournes air base?
Cretaquarium tickets give entry to an aquarium built on a former US Air Force station near Gournes. Staff of a Cretan marine institute planned it as the first large aquarium in Greece. Today the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research runs it.
The idea came from employees of the former Institute of Marine Biology of Crete. They wanted to create the first large aquarium in Greece, inside a marine park for research, education, culture and recreation. The official history calls the plan a challenge and a vision for local researchers and for Cretan society.
The land was once Iraklion Air Station, a non-flying facility of the United States Air Force near Gournes. The station closed before the aquarium arrived. The aquarium first opened there in December, in the first decade of this century. Visitors with Cretaquarium tickets arrive at the north-western part of the former American base.
Cretaquarium tickets today cover more than the first opening offered. A major expansion over one winter added 25 new tanks. The official site says the European Free Trade Association and the Greek National Public Investments Programme co-funded the aquarium.
The Hellenic Centre for Marine Research operates the aquarium now. This public body formed when the Institute of Marine Biology of Crete merged with the National Centre for Marine Research. One of its institutes, for marine biology, biotechnology and aquaculture, works on the aquarium premises. Cretaquarium tickets therefore lead into a working research site.
Together with the research institutes of the centre, the aquarium forms Thalassokosmos, whose Greek name means “sea world”. The official site calls it one of the largest centres for marine science and for promoting the Mediterranean marine world. It adds that hundreds of thousands of visitors come to the aquarium each year.
Which sea creatures and tanks do you see inside the Cretaquarium?
Cretaquarium tickets let you walk through five sections of Mediterranean sea life. They run from dim cave tanks to the Open Sea section. It has the two largest tanks, sand tiger sharks and loggerhead sea turtles.
With Cretaquarium tickets, you start in a section called “Playing with the light”. Its tanks show sea life from caves and great depths, so the light is low. Red scorpionfish, common stingrays and dusky groupers live here. The official site counts 62 tanks in all.
The Open Sea section shows animals from the open Mediterranean. The first and second largest tanks are here, holding 600,000 and 400,000 litres of water. Their scenery is inspired by the seabed at Vai and Matala. Visitors with Cretaquarium tickets can watch a shark pass above them. Smaller tanks show common octopuses and Mediterranean slipper lobsters.
The “Coastal areas” section shows the habitats of the shallow coast, with European spiny lobsters and snakelocks anemones. “The Aquarium beyond the glass” has shallow open tanks. You see Mediterranean rainbow wrasse and moon jellyfish up close and learn how tanks are built.
“Travelling to the Tropics” is the last section. It shows tropical fish such as clownfish and spinefoots, with a focus on introduced species. Touch screens and displays along the route explain the species, so Cretaquarium tickets bring you facts as well as views.
The aquarium also cares for sick or injured animals and returns them to the wild after they recover. It puts special emphasis on threatened species such as sea turtles.
How do hosted group tours and school visits work at the aquarium?
Cretaquarium tickets can be paired with a hosted tour led by a staff member. It lasts about one hour, in Greek or English. Scheduled tours need at least 10 people, and tours on a day you choose need at least 20.
Scheduled tours run at set times in the aquarium’s programme. For a custom tour, you pick the day and time. Both are booked by phone, and the tour fee comes on top of the entrance ticket. Groups of more than 20 people have a separate group rate, so check it before you buy individual Cretaquarium tickets.
The Little Explorers tour is an add-on to the Cretaquarium tickets of a group of small children. It lasts about one hour and is playful: the children explore the Mediterranean underwater world and learn about the animals. The fees page sets a limit of 20 children.
The behind-the-scenes tour takes up to 20 people to the area where the daily work happens. You see the preparation of feeding, tank safety checks and the quarantine areas, and trained staff answer your questions. It is booked on top of your Cretaquarium tickets. Check with the aquarium first, because the official page has listed this tour as not available.
Schools and other groups in remote areas or abroad can book the e-tour. It is a live webcam tour, and questions get answers as they do on site. It runs only on request. The group stays where it is, so this option sits apart from Cretaquarium tickets. On site, staff run interactive educational programmes for all age groups daily.
Who enjoys a visit, and how long do you spend inside?
The aquarium suits the whole family, and the ticket listing says you need approximately 1 hour inside. Cretaquarium tickets let you explore at your own pace, so you can linger at the tanks you like.
A second ticket listing calls the aquarium an ideal activity for the whole family. It says children and adults alike learn about marine animals. One visitor on the official site says their 12-year-old, who loves wildlife, saw fish the family had never seen. Two Greek-language comments there praise the visit for young and old.
Two tour listings aim straight at families. Platanos Tours says its bus tour is created for families and explorers. Tourline calls its trip ideal for families, because the aquarium is both fun and educational.
Cretaquarium tickets sold on a third booking site come with clear access notes. The floor is accessible to wheelchairs and strollers, and the visit suits all fitness levels. Children must come with an adult. Tourline’s listing says the aquarium is fully air-conditioned, a great choice even on hot days.
With Cretaquarium tickets bought on their own, the first listing says to plan on approximately 1 hour. It also says to bring comfortable shoes. On a combo tour, the operator sets your time at the aquarium. The next section gives each stop, from 1 hour up to about an hour and a half.
Which tours pair Cretaquarium tickets with Heraklion market or Dinosauria Park?
Four day tours pair Cretaquarium tickets with other stops. One private tour adds Dinosauria Park, and three bus tours add the Heraklion market. Each listing sets its own pickups, timings and ticket terms.
Castor and Pollux run a private 6-hour day trip with Dinosauria Park. Hotel pickup is included, with a van between stops. The plan is 1 hour at the aquarium, 30 minutes at Dinosauria Park and 2 hours free in Heraklion. The park has life-size dinosaur models and a playground with a fossil-hunt sandpit. The listing marks the tour wheelchair accessible.
Platanos Tours runs a 6 to 8 hour bus tour, led live in French, English and German. Pickups include Malia and Hersonissos. The tour starts at the aquarium for about an hour and a half. You buy Cretaquarium tickets on the bus and skip the line. It then visits Liberty Square, Koules Fortress, the Venetian Walls and the open market.
Tourline runs a 6-hour bus tour, led live in English, German and French. It has 14 pickup points, including Malia and Hersonissos. The itinerary gives 80 minutes at the aquarium and two Heraklion market stops of 1.5 hours and 2 hours. Cretaquarium tickets skip the line and are bought on the bus. The listing names the Morosini Fountain.
Sealand Travel runs a 7-hour bus tour, led live in English, French and German. It has 10 pickup points, including Malia and Stalida. The itinerary gives 75 minutes at the city’s biggest open-air market. It adds 2 hours in the city center and 75 minutes at the aquarium. Here Cretaquarium tickets are an optional extra with their own fee.
What else do visitors ask about Cretaquarium tickets?
Can you have a coffee or shop at the aquarium?
Yes. The café sits in the outdoor area of the aquarium. The official site says you can pause there for a coffee, a soft drink or a snack, with sea views.
The gift shop, called Octopus, stands indoors on the ground floor. Specialist staff select the products: souvenirs inspired by the marine world, toiletries for adults and toys for children. The shop has two entrances. The foyer entrance needs no ticket. The second one, at the end of the route, needs Cretaquarium tickets.
Do Cretaquarium tickets include the virtual reality room?
The official fees page lists the virtual reality experience as its own item, apart from general entry. The experience runs in a specially designed room. The official site opens it to visitors over 12 years old.
In the virtual world you feel like a diver. You meet the gaze of a 24-metre whale from an arm’s length away. You watch manta rays lead a huge school of glowing jellyfish through a coral reef. A special light lets you explore the Luminous Abyss and uncover strange creatures of the deep.
Which visitors enter free, and who needs Cretaquarium tickets?
The official fees page lists free entrance for children aged 0 to 4, individuals with a disability and aquarium members. The ticket listings add that assistance animals are allowed.
Other visitors have their own categories for Cretaquarium tickets. These include children aged 5 to 17, students and seniors over 65. European Youth Card holders aged 13 to 30 also have one. The general fee differs between summer and winter, so read the fees page again before you go.
Does the membership card replace Cretaquarium tickets?
Yes, for the card holder. The official site says the card gives free entrance for a whole calendar year. It also brings free electronic news about the aquarium and discounts at the souvenir shop.
You can apply at the aquarium customer service on the former American base. You can also email the application form to the aquarium, or apply by phone.
Do you pay when you book Cretaquarium tickets online?
It depends on the listing. One ticket listing lets you reserve now and pay nothing today. Another listing collects the payment when you book.
The listings also note that providers can cancel because of unforeseen conditions. For that reason, check your email before you set off.