Richtis Gorge — Attraction in Municipality of Sitia

First of all don't park at the top of the main road , go down the track to the starting point at the bridge , the road is narrow but passable I have drove down worse roads on Crete, the road track is about a mile long so your cutting out a fair walk for nothing and it's steep on the way back up , stating from the bridge make sure you go under not over but it is clearly marked with red and yellow marking every 50 metres, the first 20 minutes is fairly easy just a small stream with stepping stones to negotiate and a small track, it is a bit damp in places but I did it with no problems in trainers , I would not recommend flip flops , as you come to 2 old houses it's starts getting a bit trickier with a little bit of rock climbing and further distances to jump across the streams , some places you will have to slide on to your bum to slide down the rocks , there is many beautiful places with nature and mini waterfalls and deep fresh water pools , there are metal staircases on the highest points to help your decent , after the steps there are a few challenging large boulders you need to take you time getting over , continue like this until you reach the wooden balcony with the steep stairway leading you down to the waterfall , you can see the waterfall from the wooden staircase , at the bottom of the stairs it's about a minute walk to the magnificent waterfall , it's beautiful to look at , there is a picnic bench there for you to enjoy a snack , we got to waterfall about 11am there were about 6 people there sat at the bench resting , there is a fresh water pool under the cascading waterfall , my wife went straight into the pool to cool down under the waterfall and she did see a eel about 4ft long off to the right hand side of the pool but it did not attemot to go any where near her and stayed under the rock , apparently there are 2 in there , I got in shortjy after stayed in the pool for a good 10 mins and had no problems , we also did the extra 30 mins extra hike to the beach , it's not as challenging but there are some tricky bits however I'm not going to judge as we bumped into alot of older people doing to beach to the waterfall route , the beach is just rocks with a shaded tree picnic area , and there is also drinking water , we did not swim in the sea on this day as it were quite rough , we also had the beach to ourselves , it were nice to reach the waterfall for a second time on our way back up from the beach to have a final soak and cool down before the return trip back to the car , it were 28 degrees on the day we did it , there are shaded areas on the hike but when it opens up you do feel the heat , I cooled down in rock pools on the way back up , just take plevty of water and you will have a fantastic time , I would recommend this gorge it's amazing , it took us 1 hr 20 mins from the main road to the waterfall , the whole day took us 5.5 hrs but it's worth it , you can do it quicker by stoping at the waterfall and not going...

One of the easiest gorges to walk in Crete, protected for its outstanding natural beauty, this hike will take you over a centuries-old arched stone bridge, past several old watermills hidden in vegetation, swimming in a pond under a waterfall and relaxing under a tamarisk tree on the beach at the end.

Unlike most other gorges in Crete, Richtis gorge has water all year which maintains the thousands of plane trees along the gorge (in fact only small parts of the route are not fully covered by vegetation) and feeds the fairy-tale-like waterfall.

The entrance of the gorge is just on the east of the village Exo Mouliana in Sitia right on the Ag. Nikolaos - Sitia national road and it will take you about 2.5h to walk all the way to the beach. This is a relatively easy walk but do wear appropriate hiking shoes or boots and you should not attempt to walk it if you have mobility problems or are with children under 10 years old. Also, you should bring some food and water with you since there are no shops along the way or the beach (you can buy food and water/drinks at Exo Mouliana village). There is, however, a fresh water facility at the beach that is fed from a spring in the mountains.

For your way back you should avoid taking the road that starts at the beach and will take you to Exo Mouliana village (about 5.5 km uphill walk on a concrete and unshaded paved road), instead walk back through the gorge to the entrance. You could also drive to the beach and walk to the waterfall from there (about 1.5h to the waterfall and back) but keep in mind that this is a not so wide, twisty farm road with no protective barriers. However, the road is concrete paved (no 4WD necessary) and the views are beautiful. Update: I've found that most people feel that walking up the road on a warm day can be a bit strenuous and they prefer either walking the gorge down and then back up or walk down the road and then the gorge up to return to the village.

Overall, this is an unforgettable experience for the vast majority of visitors, even the ones that visit Crete regularly (in fact, especially for regulars since it's so different from everything else) and if you find yourself in Lassithi or Heraklion you should not miss it!

Note: All the photos in this review were taken in August 2011, August 2012 and...

The main car park for the start of the walk is at the top of a hill. It's free to park here. You can take any sized car down the track next to the car park all the way to the stone bridge and park there. It is not steep or dangerous and it will save 20 minutes of walking each way. We started at the very top for fun but in hindsight the road from the bridge to the car park wasn't that fun to walk on the way back. I am a 30 something year old man that doesn't exercise and from the stone bridge I got to the waterfall in just over an hour. Not sure what took other reviewers so long. If you go in the scorching heat it will take you longer but I'd recommend going early or late (in September the latest you should go from the bridge is about 5pm or the sun will set and you'll not be able to see the markings). The walk is fun, has a bit of climbing across rocks and sliding on your bum. Some places can be slippy and some parts take you to the edge of large drops so you need to be steady on your feet. Don't go if it's been raining.

It's easy to navigate the trail, there's red white and yellow markings everywhere showing you where to go in both directions. At the waterfall is a single picnic bench to rest at. When we went in mid September there was loads of water coming down the fall and was a nice place to cool off.

If you choose to go to the beach and park there, that road is a bit trickier and you'll need a 4x4 but it only takes 30 minutes to get to the waterfall. Personally the walk from the bridge was really fun and worth doing rather than skipping it out by driving...