BY PLANE
More people fly from the Athens Airport with Olympic Airways or Aegean Airlines, that  have cheap, fast, domestic flights from Athens to Chania. Reservations are necessarily in the High Season. For more info see Olympic Airways or Aegean Airlines.The airport of Chania is located about 24km from the conference hotel. From the airport to get to the conference hotel one should take a Taxi. Chania, Crete Airport website: http://www.hcaa-eleng.gr/hania.htm.

See the Athens International Airport website for full information on flight schedules and airlines operating to/from Athens. Summary of direct flights to Athens
Amsterdam: KLM & Olympic Airways
Brussels: Olympic Airways
Barcelona: Iberia; Madrid: Iberia & Olympic Airways
Berlin & Stuttgart: Olympic Airways; Frankfurt: Lufthansa; Munich: Lufthansa & Olympic Airways
Bangkok: Thai Airways; Singapore: Singapore Airlines
Copenhagen: Maesk Air
Geneva & Zurich: Swiss Airlines
Vienna: Olympic Airways & Austrian Airlines
Manchester: Olympic Airways; London Gatwick and London Luton: EasyJet
London Heathrow: Olympic Airways & British Airways
Milan & Rome: Alitalia, Olympic Airways & Aegean Airlines
Montreal & Toronto: Olympic Airways
New York JFK: Delta Airlines & Olympic Airways
Paris: Air France & Olympic Airways

BY BOAT
Most Travelers arrive in Crete by boat. During the summer the island has frequent connections to Athens (Piraeus Port), Thessalonica and sometimes in high season occasional  international ferries to Ancona in Italy, Cesme in Turkey, and Halifa in Israel.

The journey from Piraeus, Athens port to Crete take about 9 hours on standard ferries, and 6 hours on the high-speed fleets ( Knossos Palace and Festos Palace - of the Minoan Lines). On the Athens - Crete route, overnight ferries arrive at their destination between 5.00 and 6.30 in the morning.  Thessaloniki to Heraklion  sailing (with the Minoan Lines El Greco) takes approximately 22 hours.

On the route to and from Heraklion in Crete, the Eleftherios Venizelos on the ANEK fleet is one of the biggest ships of its kind. Public areas and cabins are all of high standard. The new Knossos Palace (Minoan) was put in service at the end of 2000. It includes amongst its facilities a cinema, internet cafe as well as a swimming pool and music club. Food on the ships is satisfactory.
There are both self service and full service restaurants - pricing in each is similar.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The ferries sail when the weather is considered suitable and stable conditions are predicted. If the weather is bad, sailings will be cancelled (not often - but there are a few such days every year), and you should be accommodated on the next available sailing. 

ADVICE: Allow flexibility in your schedule when traveling by ferry as part of an ongoing journey. If delayed, see some of the sights of interest you may have missed! The shipping companies are prone to changing which ships they use on any given route - so as always, call to check if you want to book on a particular ship.