Chania, Crete – the harbour. Chania is the 2nd largest town on Crete (the largest is Iraklion) situated on the northern coast, west of Rethymnon. It takes about one hour by regular bus to get to Chania from Rethymnon. I stayed just outside Chania in 1982 and visited it also over the day in 1997 when I last was in Rethymnon. It is a nice town with lots of shops.