Samaria Gorge, Crete
 

We'll be in Chania July 3-5. Would like to hike Samaria Gorge, but concerned about a few things:

How long should one allow for the hike? We will take the bus from Chania and then the boat back. Is this an all-day excursion and is it worth it if we only have 2 full days on Crete?

How steep/switchback-y a hike is it? We hiked 4 Mile Trail from Glacier Point in Yosemite 2 years ago, and although it was spectacular, it was somewhat unnerving for one of us that has a "fear of falling".

Any other suggestions/thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

It's a whole day. Most people leave long before dawn, and take the bus up to start walking 6.30-7.30am.

You end up in Agia Roumeli about lunch time, and you have lunch and maybe swim a bit. Then you get the boat mid afternoon, and that takes whatever time it takes to get back to Sougia or Chora Sfakion, where your bus is waiting.

Depends on you whether it's worth it or not. It's a lovely walk, and some of it is spectacular.

The only steep bit is the very start; the Xylo skalia- the wooden steps. But it's a lot longer than 4 miles.

We were on Crete for a week, but the Samarian Gorge full day trip was a highlight of our stay.

As sheila says, the hike starts with about a million steep stairs (but with handrail) leading way down from above into the gorge. My knees felt it. After that, it's a piece of cake. We packed a lunch and stopped at a spot within the gorge. We met the bus in the early morning darkness in Chania and it was just gettting dark when we got back.

Frankly if you've only got 2 full days on Crete, you don't want to spend one of them 8 hours or more, hiking down a gorge.

So many people say they want to hike Samaria, but mainly because it's been so highly promoted. If you had more time it would be different. Here are some options.

(1) Spend a full day enjoying the city of Chania -- read up on it a bit beforehand, so you'll know more.

(2) if what you want is a short hike go out to the akrotiri peninsula, by car or bus... I hear there's a hike up to a mountain monastery and then you can go to a nice beach.

(3) Do you just mainly want to see a gorge? Will you have a rental car? Do you want to explore beyond Chania but not a beach. THen Have you considered driving on the rim of a scenic Gorge?

We did that on my first Crete trip...went out of Chania, drive west to near Kissamee and then south (look on Map) along the rim of the Topalian Gorge. Stunnng scenery...stop along the way so both of you, driver AND passenger can look.

You go through a tunnel in the side of the mountain that is on your right, and just as you emerge, you'll see a sign "Ag. Sofia". STOP.

You can climb about 200 steps up in the rock to a Cave that has been a place of worship since the Stone Age (really!!) -- awesome view from up there ... makes you understand Pantheism (the worship of all in Nature).

Continue on road down to Elon, have a lovely lunch under HUGE chestnut trees, and return. All in 3-4 hours.

With two days I wouldn`t go anywhere but stay in Hania. I remember we took the 5AM bus from Hania to Samaria (about two hours), then walked the gorge (4-6 hours), then waited for the boat for a couple of hours, boat took about an hour, and then the bus again. It is from dawn till dusk.

"We hiked 4 Mile Trail from Glacier Point in Yosemite"

Well, that is about 6,5 kilometres. No offence, but that is a very little hike, something people easily walk every day just when going from point A to point B. Samaria is more like 12 miles, but it is easy to walk if you watch your ankles. My son walked it at the age of 7, and at the same tome there were two little French girls who could not be older than 4-5. And a French woman with ridiculous strappy sandals. But what the heck, she walked it.

It is about 11 to 12 miles, all downhill, starting at around 5000 feet all the way down to the sea and it means a very early start. We were reasonably fit walkers at the time and had no difficulty walking it (and I'm scared of heights) but as it was all downhill, you only use 1 set of muscles and we were incredibly stiff the next day. It is possible to do "Samaria the easy way" trips where you arrive at the bottom in a boat and walk a mile or 2 into the gorge from the bottom.

My friends and I hiked the Imbros Gorge last October because the Samaria was closed. I don't know if they differ much (besides length), but the Imbros was beautiful with many arches, narrow passages, and beautiful views. We saw mountain goats but few people. Another advantage is that it DIDN'T take all day.

I would be interested in more information about the "easy" way to see the Samaria Gorge or about visiting the Imbros Gorge. Can you tell me more about where to read about these trips?

Are there any tour companies that do bus tours from Chania to these places? I don't plan to rent a car.

Is it possible to visit the Imbros Gorge from Chania by public bus.

Any information is appreciated. Thanks.

Thanks for all the responses. I suspected we wouldn't want to tie up an entire day for the gorge, sounds like we would be physically and mentally able to do the trip, just not sure there areother things/prople/places we'd like to experience during that time.

Most of the tour agencies in the area seemed to do organised trips to Samaria when we were there, we took the full day trip - bus pick up at 5am, which we nearly over slept and missed! The idea is to start the walk at 7am before the sun is up too high and arrive at the botton by midday. The same places seemed to do the "easy way" tours. It will be easy enough to get a tour from Chania when you are there. I'm not sure about Imbros, we didn't look for that at the time.

Thanks for the reply and the information. I think I'd rather do it the "easy way".
Does anyone know how warm/cool Chania will be in the second week of May? Is it swimming weather? Will people be wearing shorts that early in May?
Thanks again.

Grrr (see comments passim about "Samaria the easy way")

It'll be warm. Not roasting, but warm. You might get me in a pool, but not in the sea. Shorts in the sun, cooler out. Definitely too cold for shorts at night. Take a sweater for the evenings

Sheila...Thanks for the reply.