Hiking

Access

The Samaria Gorge in Crete can be reached from our hotel near Kissamos town, where you take the bus to Chania and after to Omalos. Every day there are several buses that travel the route. The journey takes about 90 minutes and the bus leaves you in front of the National Park.

To enter the canyon you have to pay an entry fee and to exit you must show your ticket. If you decide to make the journey from St. Roumeli to Sfakia by boat, you must have come out of the canyon early in the afternoon. Entrance into the gorge is prohibited at night.

Crossing the Gorge The Samaria Gorge is certainly one of those places that does not need too much of an introduction or recommendation. Famous for its wild beauty, especially in the summer, hundreds of visitors from Greece and from abroad come here to southern Crete to walk the 16 easy km and enjoy one of the most beautiful spots in Greece. Let us follow their steps. From the beautiful and interesting Chania, take the bus to the characteristic Plateau. The transportation is well scheduled and punctual, especially during the summer months. It is however a good idea to get the first morning bus from Chania to start your path as early as possible because the heat in southern Crete is sometimes intolerable.

The route starts from the Xiloskalo, the beginning of the Gorge National Park, surrounded by impressive cliffs of Gigilos and the White Mountains. The path is long but not difficult and within one hour you arrive at the stream bed that crosses the gorge. This is where the chapel of St. Nicholas is built, beside the river in a landscape of incredible beauty. From here the path (or perhaps street) descends gently passing the steep slopes of Psilostras, which is the last refuge of the Kr-Kri Cretan wild goat. If you are lucky and there are few visitors, you could run into a small herd. As you walk you will come across small billboards informing you of the kilometres left in your journey. The figures are misleading because they count the end of the route leaving the gorge, whereas ours is the culmination of Agia Roumeli 3 km further on. So always add that number in the number of kilometres walked.

Towards the middle of the canyon is the abandoned village of Samaria, whose inhabitants left when the National Park was created. The deserted village has a mystique, as we pass over the wooden bridge that brings us back to the path beside the stream. After 90 minutes, we meet the most striking point of the famous gorge, the Sideroportes. It is here that the walls of the gorge close to form a narrow gate whose sides reach 300 meters. If the stream has enough water, you will probably have to go barefoot. From here on, the landscape changes as the canyon becomes broader approaching the sea. 3 km further on, you reach the end of the canyon and the excellent beach of Agia Roumeli.

The Samaria Gorge National Park in Crete was created in 1962 to preserve one of the greatest natural habitats in Greece. Surrounded by impregnable cliffs, the special microclimate of living organisms is of a huge natural, historical and cultural importance. By choosing your accommodation at the Guest house Kaliviani you will have the opportunity to visit the largest gorge in Europe and the last refuge of the Kri-Kri, the famous Cretan wild goat with a length exceeding 16 km.

The path that starts from Ag Roumeli in Crete bound for Loutro is one of the most inhospitable parts of Greece. Nevertheless it is busy, especially in summer, and well marked, which can be lost (which is unlikely). The difficulty is not the road, but the lack of water and the terrible heat, especially in summer. On the way there is no water anywhere! So take you two or three bottles of mineral water. Plastic bottles of soft drinks may prove valuable. For the heat there is an antidote. An early morning awakening is advisable, around 5a.m. if possible.

The trail is steep at the beginning and after an hour or so; you will come across St. Roumeli down towards the sea where you will see the church of Agios Paulos, an important monument of the 13th-14th century. The beautiful beach in Crete is ideal for swimming. Do not be surprised by the very cold water since this is the point where freshwater springs flow into the sea. If you dig into the sand you will find fresh drinking water. From here the trail climbs and after about two hours you reach a junction point with a few trees. The left branch (going in a NE direction) leads to the village of Agios Ioannis and the right branch continues to Loutro. After another 40 minutes walk, you reach an abandoned building with a well without water. After another 40 minute walk, you reach the characteristic point on the route to the beach at the edge of the Marble Gorge Aradena in south Crete.

The beach is beautiful and often served by a boat from Loutro. From the Marbles on the path, another 20 minute walk takes you to the Gulf of Lupus also a nice spot for swimming and relaxing. From here you follow the marked path and after 40 minutes you reach Loutro in a very quiet hamlet deep in a bay. Here you can catch the boat from Agia Roumeli to Sfakia and then to Chania. At the edge of the village is the ruined Venetian castle where you can sleep with the company of splendid night sky in the South of Crete.

We emerge from Loutro in Greece and in an easterly direction walk towards the icon located on the edge of the village. Here there is an abandoned house. The trail is an easy one and takes about an hour as it has been trodden by many feet over the years.

Walking towards the base of the impressive rocks and the blue sea with its crystal waters, the beautiful beach named ‘Fresh Waters’ can be found below the impressive cliffs. We cross the beach and after 20 minutes reach a phenomenal point. We are moving higher in anticipation of reaching the point where we will continue our journey destined for the public road that connects the beautiful village Anopoli to Sfakia. Another 45 minutes of easy walking bring us to our destination and the end of our journey, always having as the ideal starting point our hotel in Kissamos.

Start from our hotel in Crete to walk the Syrikari gorge which located in Kissamos, Greece. Enter through the village Sirikari (altitude 500 m, 50 km from Chania) on the road that joins Kissamos - Kalergiana - Kalathenes - Sirikari and ends at Polirinia Kissamos (altitude 400 m) six kilometres from the town of Kissamos. It hosts a multitude of trees and fauna, chestnut trees at the beginning, then Plantain, Cardoon, wild olive, holly, locust, and others including many aromatic herbs of Diktamos such as sage.

Halfway we find the source of legends "Gravrissi”. Other legends refer to the "demons" and "elves" that lived in the gorge. The walking time through the gorge takes some three hours or more. At the end are the remains of the famous ancient city Polirinia.

We look forward to welcoming you to Guest house Kalviiani.