We spent two weeks near Chania and toured W, Crete on day trips except for a few nights in beautiful Loutro on the south coast. Lots to see in the area surrounding Chania.

thanks...how did you get to Loutro?

There are no cars allowed in Loutro.
You can reach Loutro either from Chora Sfakion or Paleochora.
That means that you will have to park your car in one of these towns and take the ferry to Loutro.

There are daily connections between Loutro and Paliochora, but last year the return boat to Paliochora arrived in the evening, which means you may have to overnight there on your way back.

We're hoping the car ferry will run in May from Chora Sfakion to Sougia or Paliochora so we might save a drive across the island.....?

We drove over the mountain from Chania to Chora Skafion, parked our car, and took a ferry to Loutro. Stay at Hotel Porto Luotro, owner Alison is British.
Also visit the beautiful beaches on the west coast of Crete..Falassarna and Elafonisi, quite different from each other.
Other places to visit:
Margarites..the pottery village
Village of Vamos on the peninsula east of Chania, the eastern side of Souda Bay.
Arkadi Monastery
Akrotiri Peninsula of Chania, visit the Agia Triada Monastery

Tommo

There is a connection between Chora Sfakion and Paliochora but i was told from the shipping company that the schedule is not very reliable, as it depends on the weather.

If you wish to overnight in Loutro, then you will have to park your car either in Sfakia or in Paliochora.

I think it would actually be better to go to Loutro from Paliochora, Sfakia ( or Chora Sfakion as it is stated on the maps) isn't very inviting as a small town....

HT - not sure how you got to West coast?
Driving down from Chania again?
This was the ferry from Chora Sfakion to Paliochora plan, to avoid driving up to top of Crete again, then down.

Tommmo

Why do you want to go to Chora Sfakion?
It is not worthseing....

Paliochora is a nice little town, and Elafonisi is nearby, one of the most beautiful beaches of Crete.

If it is Loutro that you want to visit, you can do it from there, otherwise Sfakia is totally out of the way.

Ok. If one is driving around Crete clockwise, along the south coast, the roads stop at Chora Sfakion and one is forced to drive up the width of the island all the way to the north coast . Then drive all the way down across again to come to Sougia and continue towards the west.
If the Chora Sfakion ferry can take the car to Sougia you've saved two crossings of the island and can continue on around the west coast from Paleochora and up to Falasarna.
We can only plan from a map at this stage and admittedly there could be other considerations we are not aware of yet.

Personally i would drive from Heraklion to the South, to see Matala, Gortys and perhaps Lentas, a nice quiet village on the sea, and would continue from there to Spili and the Plakias Area where there are great beaches but also the castle of Frangokastello or the Monastery and the Palm beach of Preveli plus the Kotsifou and Kourtaliotiko gorges.

From there Rethymno is only 50 minutes ago.
Skip Sfakia and go to Sougia from Paliochora, which you can visit after Chania.

Thanks. If we've driven all the way west to Frangocastello then it would seem only a little further to C.Sfakion and then a boat to Loutro which people seem to love.
Rethymno seems an awful long way back from there - my maps indicate a good road from C.Sfakion to Chania. Wouldn't this be a better alternative....?

From Plakias you will be in Rethymno in about 50 minutes...
and this is a very scenic drive as you would drive through a very long gorge, the Kourtaliotiko gorge.

On the contrary the road from Sfakia up to the west coast, and i am talking about the part right after Sfakia, is very steep...
Still remember driving there back to my home ( i was living in Rethymno) together with numerous tourist busses....

Have a look on Google Maps and you will understand what i mean

Hopefully the ferry will be running in May (awaiting their email) and we can put the car on that and drive on from Paleochora and Elefonisi around the west coast to Chania that way.

I thought the only reason for being in Loutro was to take the boat back to Hora Sfakion after doing the gorge trek? The island does not take that long to travel north and south keeping in mind that you said, "great drives, small towns/family tavernas, interesting ruins". This is what you see in the small villages in the mountains in those drives from north to south.

Tommmo,

Not sure i understand your plans....
Since Loutro is a car free village, you would have to park your in Sfakia, In order to take the ferry to Paliochora, you would would have to go back to Sfakia and pick up your car,

I phoned the head office of the company in Chania 3 days ago, they told me ( and i've mentioned in my previous post) that the ferry will be running, it will be depending on the weather conditions though.

I agree with Chania, driving to the north is a very scenic drive, with many interesting villages on the way.

As I understand it , one loads the car onto the ferry at Chora Sfakion and sails to Loutro where there is a break for several hours . Then the ferry goes on to Agia Roumeli and Paliochora.
Having driven from Heraklion to Chora S. it seems too much to drive all the way back up to the north coast, drive to Chania then all the way down the other side of the White Mountains to Paliochora and continue round the west coast and back again to Chania. Why not just continue the round - Crete drive, by taking the car ferry for a few hours?

...and if we arrive at Chora Sfakion and the ferry isn't doing its thing, we can always find a nice way to drive up to Rethymno and carry on with our car tour......