The Samaria Gorge, Crete, Greece

6 Tips for an Enjoyable Trip

One of the most popular tourist destinations in Western Crete, the Samaria Gorge is a wonder of nature. 16 kilometers long, it is filled with dizzying rock formations. The easiest way to organize your hike is to book a trip through a travel agent. They will pick you up near your hotel and at the drop off point after the boat ride and deliver you back to your starting place. Not all that much harder (and a little bit cheaper) is to take one of the KTEL busses to the top and from the bottom. When buying your ticket, you will get a round trip for around $14. Greece's currency is the Euro, but I've exchanged it and rounded off to dollars. The gorge entrance is around $6, and the boat ride is around $10. If you plan to eat before or after your trip (and you'll want to even if you don't plan to) take another $10 or $15. Enjoy your hike, take pictures and rest along the way. The first two kilometers are down, down, down. I've never been so happy to step upward in all my life as I was after that first hour. The walk throughout the gorge is beautiful, there's forest, there's rock formations and there are plants that grow no where else in the world. There are rumors that kri-kri (native wild goat of Crete) are there, but I didn't see any. If decide to walk the Samaria Gorge, go prepared. Much can be found in the many guides to Crete and the gorge. Also read the tips below to make your walk a little more enjoyable, culled from experienced gorge walkers (me and my hiking buddy, Fred.)

For ease of use, one might say that the problem with the Samaria Gorge is that it starts in one place and ends in another. To complicate matters further, the end point is only accessible by boat or by foot through the gorge. Unless you are a true glutton for punishment, after coming through the gorge nothing short of machine gun fire will persuade you to turn around and go back. So, boat it is.

Item 1: If the schedule says there are two boats, one at 3:45 and one at 6:45, believe it. Don't rush at a breakneck speed through the gorge hoping for an early boat. If you don't heed this bit of advice, you will spend nearly 3 hours on a beach wishing you'd brought your bathing suit until the first boat leaves at 3:45.