Samaria National Park — Attraction in Municipality of Sfakia

We did the trip on 28.10.2024 through Allcretetours, booked via getyourguide.com, which I can recommend as the trip was well organized. The costs per person were as follows: €32 for the bus, €5 for entering the National Park, €13 for the boat, and €2 for the bus that took us between the end of the National Park and the beach (this was a lifesaver in the end). We were picked up at 5:45 AM, and the driver collected passengers around Chania before heading up into the mountains to an altitude of 1200 meters, where it was -1°C upon our arrival.

Our first stop was at a café/restaurant where, unfortunately, the coffee was quite awful—likely instant coffee. The snacks were nearly inedible; the bread was stale, and the pastries were dry and overly sweet, almost as if they had been sitting out for a week. I strongly recommend bringing your own snacks and food, as you'll need plenty to get through the day.

Now for the most important message: while the views are spectacular and definitely worth it, the hike was much harder than we expected. I advise anyone considering this trip to go outside of the hot summer months, avoid bringing small children, and only attempt it if you are REALLY fit and have no health issues, especially concerning your knees. You’ll be dropped off at the start of the trail and left on your own; your guide does not accompany you. The descent from the mountain at 1200 meters takes about 3 hours if you maintain a good pace.

The next 3 hours involve walking through the gorge, which is truly breathtaking. However, be prepared: about 95% of the trail consists of small stones and rocks (you can rent hiking sticks for €6). This is not a standard hike; it’s demanding on your knees and muscles.

Wear your most comfortable hiking boots—definitely not new ones or just running shoes. There’s hardly a section of the hike that doesn’t involve navigating smaller or larger rocks, requiring you to concentrate on EVERY step.

In my opinion, this is the trip's weakest aspect: you need to be so focused on each step that enjoying the scenery becomes difficult. Many hikers rush through, seemingly trying to break records. You’ll often find yourself being passed by others (I can’t imagine doing this trip in high season with 1200 other people), leaving little time for breaks. We managed to take only two short breaks while maintaining a steady pace; both of us are fit, and I’m not sure how average hikers can complete this trail with adequate breaks for resting and taking photos. Seeing younger children on the trail raised questions for me about who allows them to participate in such a challenging hike (which is also dangerous due to the possibility of falling rocks!). The temperature was about 21°C in the shade, and in the sun, it was probably 26°C, which made it just bearable (lots of sunscreen is required).

We witnessed many people falling or struggling along the way. Occasionally, park employees with walkie-talkies passed by, suggesting they had a lot of work to do. There was even a horse waiting to assist troubled hikers.

After completing the 13 kilometers, we found an outdoor tavern, and from there, it was another 3 kilometers back to the port town to catch the ferry. About 500 meters further, there’s a shuttle for €2, which significantly saved our legs as we were both exhausted. We then ate at the restaurant "Samaria." The French fries were awesome, but the rest of the food was very average, with prices about 30% higher than in Chania.

After that, we went to the beach, and swimming there is a must. At 5:30 PM, we left on the slow ferry, and the bus ride back was long and winding; it was really exhausting. We arrived home at 8:30 PM, completely drained, and today we’re feeling sore all over. Again, the views are spectacular, but this is not a hike...

So, I’d start by saying we are very keen walkers & have walked in some impressive places… Norway & dolomites as examples and we live in the Peak District. If this sounds like you this isn’t going to be an epic walk like most of the reviews say! Yes nice… but wow best thing ever no. It has become a tourist trail and it felt like an annoying ant trail that cost nearly €50 to complete, for this reason I probably wouldn’t recommend it to any truly keen hikers!

We had a hire car and were going to either walk one way and then get the boat and bus back to the car like most people do or walk out and back! We did the latter which made it a 17 mile walk or so! Things to know if you’re going to do the same or considering it! They close the gorge (would guess at 5pm) and want everyone out so if you want to walk both ways set off earlier so you have time and don’t have to rush! We walked one way in 2h 45 and then realised we had a time limit so had to rush to get back up and did the same time back up! However in total we stopped for 15 minutes in 6h and there were no nice photo breaks or sitting about! When we asked the guard at the bottom if we could walk back up after hearing it closes he looked us up and down and said “are you keen walkers?” Don’t think that many people do both ways but who knows! If we realised we would’ve set off a few hours earlier (e.g. 9am instead). Loads of water stops and toilets for free which is good. The first 6 miles is forest, very easy paths (if you’re wearing walking shoes and not flip flops/sliders!) and the last few miles are the nicest being in the gorge base with the impressive gorge around you.

The advantage of doing it how we did was that nobody else walked back up at the time we did (approx 14:30) so we had the trail then to ourselves rather than battling past the slowest of walkers the entire time like we did on the way down! If we did it again…would probably either set off early so you had all day to mosey down and back up or set off at 1400 knowing we could get to the boat in time and missing most of the coach loads stumbling their way down with their handbags and bikinis on…

Annoyingly if you stumbled across this gorge and though Oo that looks nice it would be much more impressive but because it’s been set up as a tourist trap and is an ant trail it’s lost it’s beauty a bit for us. Still nice but nothing wow! I imagine there are more impressive gorges within Crete.

If you do the one way route there is a boat the other end, once a day at 17:30 and costs €15 each, this takes you to land where your tour bus will either pick you up or you can get a bus back to the top if your hire car is there (think that was €4.6...

Great 10 mile hike down the mountain and gorge, not technical or tough, but exhausting from the heat and rocky path...well trail marked. Took us 6.5hrs, with lots of picture stops. There's plenty of spring water fountains every 1-2km along the path so bring a water bottle to fill, in addition to bathrooms(water closets). They say the water is safe to drink without filtering...I filtered anyway and got a bunch of crazy looks, and my wife did not filter...we're both fine and no issues. Bring food for lunch and snacks. We brought trail mix, but wished we packed some other food. There are a few restaurants in the town at the end, before the ferry ride out. The park rangers with mules walk the trail all day long to help people in trouble, and half way down is an out post with ranger station and physician if needed. Wear good hiking shoes you'll thank me later, not flip flops. Saw quite a few in flip flops struggling and complaining of painful feet and sore ankles. Remember once your on the trail there's no easy way out...either climb up the mountain or down the gorge. Bring camera...it's beautiful! Definitely a must do on Crete!

Getting there from Eastern Crete is a very long a day, we were staying in Elounda. Woke up at 3am, on the road at 03:45 to drive 3+ hours to Chania to the E-TEL bus station, for the 07:45 bus to Omalos...round trip is €15.70 there's only 3 buses out a day(6:15, 7:45, 8:45) arrived at 9:45. Got our trail tickets at the office,entrance fee is €5...just before the little snack shop at the trail head. At the end of the hike is Agia Roumeli, a village with restaurants and accommodation, and boats to Chora Sfakion or Sougia. To return to Chania the same day, take the 17:30 boat (€12,70) to Chora Sfakion, then the E-TEL bus to Chania, arrived at 21:30. Then we drove back to Elounda, arrived 01:00. Exhausting but great experience. I would recommend staying in Chania or Omalos. If staying Omalos take the ferry to Sougia then E-TEL bus to...