Sitia Airport (JSH) Car Rental Quick answer Yes, you can arrange car hire at Sitia Airport (JSH) — but only one supplier holds an official office there. The HCAA airport page lists Autohellas Hertz/Thrifty as the sole official car-rental office at JSH; every other name you will see advertised for "car rental Sitia airport" — Alamo, Enterprise, National, and a handful of Sitia-based firms — either meets you in the arrivals hall with advance notice or delivers the car from a town office a few minutes away. If you are comparing car hire against picking up in Heraklion (HER) and driving roughly two hours east, the short version is: JSH gets you to Sitia in minutes but with a much smaller car pool; HER has far more stock and lower entry prices but adds a long drive. Both routes are covered below, with a dated price snapshot rather than a guess. For most travellers weighing rent a car Sitia airport options, the deciding factors are handover type, out-of-hours cost, and whether a one-way drop is available — not the headline daily rate, which a two-car market can't really set. Who hands over cars at Sitia Airport (JSH) "Pickup at the airport" at JSH means three different things depending on the supplier: an HCAA-listed airport office, a pre-arranged meet-and-greet in arrivals, or delivery from a town office. The table below merges HCAA's own listing with each supplier's own terms and location pages — no single one of those pages tells you all three. Autohellas Hertz / Thrifty. Handover at JSH: HCAA-listed official car-rental office at the airport. Out-of-hours pickup: Not published for the JSH page specifically (the location page itself was unreachable); general Hertz terms list €23 for out-of-hours delivery/collection. Deposit / excess note: Not published for JSH; general terms: Tyre & Glass Protection €5.50/day, underside/wheels/tyres excluded from Super Cover. Where it's published: HCAA + Hertz's own general terms. Alamo / Enterprise / National. Handover at JSH: Meet-and-greet in the arrivals hall, ≥24 hours' advance notice and flight details required, advertised as free. Out-of-hours pickup: €40 plus VAT and airport charges outside operating hours. Deposit / excess note: Deposit €290–€1,000 by vehicle class; deductible €1,000–€2,500 by class. Where it's published: Alamo's own Sitia Airport page. Minoan Tours. Handover at JSH: Free delivery from its Sitia town office. Out-of-hours pickup: Not published — its terms page states only "during working hours". Deposit / excess note: Not published. Where it's published: Minoan Tours' own terms page. Sitia Rent A Car. Handover at JSH: Delivery from its Sitia town office; JSH listed as a pickup/return location. Out-of-hours pickup: Not published. Deposit / excess note: Not published. Where it's published: Sitia Rent A Car's own site. Kazamias Rent a Car. Handover at JSH: Not specified (free pickup/drop-off in Sitia stated; desk vs. delivery not distinguished). Out-of-hours pickup: Not published. Deposit / excess note: Optional full package with FDW, theft, fire and glass cover at €0 excess; base-package excess not published. Where it's published: Kazamias' own terms page. Ifigenia Car Rental. Handover at JSH: Not published (a meet-and-greet claim on its homepage was flagged unreliable and is not used). Out-of-hours pickup: Not published. Deposit / excess note: Not published (insurance exclusions confirmed: underside, wheels, tyres, roof, interior, mirrors). Where it's published: Ifigenia's own terms page. Apollon Sitia. Handover at JSH: 24-hour pickup and drop-off at JSH (handover mode not specified). Out-of-hours pickup: Not published. Deposit / excess note: Not published. Where it's published: Apollon Sitia's own site. Crete Royal. Handover at JSH: Lists JSH as a location; its "Open 24 hours" claim reads as an unedited template, not a confirmed schedule. Out-of-hours pickup: Not published. Deposit / excess note: Not published. Where it's published: Crete Royal's own site. Monza Rent a Car. Handover at JSH: 24-hour pickup and return delivery from JSH to any hotel, no extra delivery fee. Out-of-hours pickup: Not published on its own page. Deposit / excess note: Not published. Where it's published: Monza's own site. Protos Car Rentals. Handover at JSH: JSH listed as a pickup/return location; handover mode not stated. Out-of-hours pickup: +€25 (22:30–01:00) / +€35 (01:00–06:00) / +€25 (06:05–07:59), added automatically; hotel delivery or return 22:00–07:59 costs +€100. Deposit / excess note: Not published. Where it's published: Protos' own terms page. Cretan Cars. Handover at JSH: Meet-and-greet: staff wait at the arrivals exit holding a CretanCars sign. Out-of-hours pickup: €45 for pickups 22:00–08:00 at Sitia Airport (the same supplier charges €25 at Heraklion Airport). Deposit / excess note: Prices on its site include the insurance listed on its policy page; excess not stated there. Where it's published: Cretan Cars' own policy page. The column that decides most bookings — handover type crossed with out-of-hours cost — is the one no single supplier page shows you next to a competitor's. If your flight lands late, that column matters more than the headline daily rate. One supplier shows the airport gap directly: Cretan Cars charges €45 for a night pickup at Sitia Airport and €25 at Heraklion Airport. JSH or Heraklion (HER)? The arrival decision Whether flying into JSH is worth it comes down to travel time, car choice, and price — and only one of those has a dated, checkable number. Fly into HER, pick up at HER. Travel reality: Drive east to Sitia, roughly 123–130 km, about 2–2.5 hours; see our Heraklion Airport to Sitia drive guide. Car choice signal: HER's rental pool is far larger than Sitia's. Price signal: Live check, 4–11 Oct 2026 window, checked 13 Sep 2026: Heraklion's first listed cars start from €5.99/day (Kia Picanto); this reflects only the first cards mounted, not the full market. One-way fee status: Not applicable. Fly Athens (ATH)→JSH, pick up at JSH. Travel reality: Olympic Air flies ATH–JSH in about 1h05–1h15; JSH terminal is roughly 1 km from Sitia town centre. Car choice signal: Same Localrent check showed only 2 cars at Sitia. Price signal: Sitia showed a Hyundai i10 at €52.15/day and a Fiat Tipo Cross at €62.15/day for the same window — a snapshot, not the whole market; separately, Monza's own page quotes Economy from €30/day for a 4-day July 2026 booking. One-way fee status: Not applicable. Pick up at HER, drop at JSH (one-way). Travel reality: Avoids the return drive, but restricts your supplier choice to firms that permit one-way moves. Car choice signal: Availability is confirmed only at reservation. Price signal: No verified price exists for the one-way leg itself. One-way fee status: Not published — quoted at booking; Hertz's own terms state that one-way availability and fee depend on location and vehicle type and are confirmed at reservation, with written authorisation required. Read the two Sitia rows carefully: a two-car live snapshot cannot represent the whole market, and a search made on a different date will show different cars at different prices. Treat it as evidence of scarcity, not a price guarantee. Landing times and terminal hours JSH's terminal keeps short, date-specific opening windows rather than all-day hours. HCAA/YPA's own 2026 operating-hours document sets four separate date windows: 01 June–19 July, 20 July–06 September, 07 September–01 October, and 02–24 October 2026. For the 20 July–06 September window, the published hours are Saturday 05:30–07:30 and 13:00–15:00, and Sunday 05:30–07:30 and 10:30–14:15; hours for other days and other windows vary by the same document, and no winter-season row is published at all. This matters directly for car hire: if your flight lands outside the terminal's open window, or after a supplier's own office hours, you fall into the out-of-hours pricing shown in the table above — €40 plus VAT and airport charges with Alamo/Enterprise/National, €23 under Hertz's general terms, or a night fee with the independents that publish one — €45 at Cretan Cars (22:00–08:00) and +€25 to +€35 by time band at Protos. Who actually lands at JSH: Olympic Air (Aegean group) flies Athens–Sitia. SKY express's own route page does not list Athens among its current Sitia origins; it lists Sitia's current origins (Alexandroupoli, Preveza, Kefalonia, Munich, Milan, Rhodes, London, Corfu, Sofia, Larnaca). Sunclass Airlines also runs a seasonal Copenhagen–Sitia charter, flight time about 3h45; treat this as limited seasonal charter capacity, not a year-round scheduled service. There is no confirmed direct scheduled flight between Heraklion and Sitia for 2026. From the terminal to Sitia and back JSH sits about 1 km north-northwest of Sitia town centre, roughly a 5–10 minute drive — short enough that a car hire delay rarely costs you much time once you're through arrivals. HCAA does not publish a taxi fare; it publishes only a dispatch number, +30 28430 22700, so confirm the fare when you call or board. No airport bus service is published for JSH — plan on a taxi, a supplier's delivery service, or the short 1 km transfer rather than assuming a public bus exists. Parking at the terminal is free: HCAA lists 100 free passenger/visitor spaces plus 9 separate positions for tourist buses. No public petrol station was identified at or near the airport — HCAA's own page mentions only an Air BP aircraft-refuelling apron, which does not serve cars — so refuel in Sitia town before you return the vehicle. Our Sitia driving tips page covers fuel stops, parking, and road conditions in more detail. Contract clauses to check before signing A few clauses recur across the suppliers above and are worth reading before you book, not after you're at the counter: Unpaved and dirt roads void standard cover. Multiple suppliers' own terms state that driving off paved roads voids the rental insurance outright — the driver becomes liable for the full cost of damage, towing, storage and recovery. No single fixed penalty figure is published anywhere; treat the exposure as full liability, not a flat fine. Taking the car by ferry needs prior written approval. General guidance across suppliers confirms this, and it may carry a separate charge or void cover if skipped; Hertz's own general terms specifically price ferry cover at €20/day, capped at €60, only with written approval obtained in advance. CDW commonly excludes tyres, glass and the underside/wheels. This pattern holds across suppliers with published terms — Hertz's Super Cover excludes underside/wheels/tyres, and Ifigenia's own terms page separately excludes underside, wheels, tyres, roof, interior and mirrors. Check what add-on (Hertz's Tyre & Glass Protection at €5.50/day, for example) closes the gap. Young and extra-driver fees are named, not universal. Alamo charges €12.40/day plus airport surcharges for drivers aged 21–22 (Mini and Economy exempt) and €4/day plus VAT and airport fee for an additional driver; Hertz's general terms separately list €7.50/day for an additional driver and €10/day plus VAT for younger drivers on some vehicle groups. These figures are supplier-specific — confirm against the exact company you book. Deposits scale with vehicle class. Alamo's own table runs from €290 (Mini/Economy/Compact/Intermediate) up to €1,000 (Premium/Luxury/Electric Elite), with deductibles from €1,000 up to €2,500. See our rental terms guide for how insurance and deposits generally work across Crete. Who JSH suits JSH works best if your trip is centred on eastern Crete from the start — Sitia town is a 5–10 minute drive from the terminal, and HCAA's own PSO (Public Service Obligation) route list also connects JSH to Rhodes–Karpathos–Kasos, Alexandroupolis, and Aktio (Preveza/Lefkada) on subsidised regional routes, alongside the Athens service. That makes JSH a realistic entry point for repeat visitors and slow travellers who already know eastern Crete and want to skip the drive from Heraklion. If your itinerary also includes western or central Crete, or you simply want the larger Heraklion rental pool, picking up at HER and driving in — or exploring day trips from Sitia once you're settled — is the better-supplied option.