Best trails in Samaria National Park
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Visitor info
The ticket to be issued is mandatory for your entry into the National Park of Samaria. With the ticket, you contribute significantly to the implementation of basic works in the Gorge of Samaria, such as the cleaning-maintenance of the main path, the maintenance & improvement of infrastructure, and the supervision of the area along the main path.
Trail reviews for Samaria National Park
This was a highħight of our trip to Crete! Moderate difficulty mainly due to distance and some slipperiness on the downhill paths and gravel. Prepare - water (but my too much as there are regular stops with watering fountains and the stream water is drinkable and delicious), snacks/fruit, preferably hiking shoes to reduce slipping (we only had normal trainers on holiday), cash (€5 parking, the rest we paid by card, although had cash as wasn't sure). We drove to Xyloskalo from Chania (1 hr), parked, bought our return bus ticket (€7 each), bought entry tickets for the Samaria National Park (€10 each), did the trail until Agia Roumeli beach (total 18km in 5h30 according to my FitBit tracking). The km markings along the trail were showing less from my tracking. At the destination we had a fresh dip in the sea, bought the ferry tickets to Sougia beach (€16 each) and had lunch. The ferry leaves at 17:30 and lasts 40 mins. Then you get the return bus to Xyloskalo to get back to the car. Have fun!
Hiking Samaria gorge to celebrate my birthday. It was a pretty busy trail in the national park at beginning of June, packed with tourists from all around the world. We went there in our rented car. The roads to get to the top were pretty windy and small hairpins. We paid €5 (only accept cash) for parking the car, €10 each for the entrance of the trail, €2 (cash) for bus to take you to Agia Roumeli village if you don’t want to walk the last 2km to the ferry port, €16 euro to catch the boat back to Sougia and €7 bus from Sougia to Samaria car park entrance. Total PP around £32. It is a beautiful and arduous trail. Though it may be easy people who have a good level of fitness and a pair of 'solid knees'. You will be going mostly downhill hence the use of hiking poles will be helpful. There are Plenty of natural springs to refill your water bottles. There are some toilet facilities along the trail (bringing hand sanitisers are a must). Also bring foods and treats to snack on. I used alltrail app to record our journey but we didn’t really need it as there were markings on the trail. Unfortunately for me, my husband had injured his knee while going downhill. Hence we were going at snail pace most of the time (I can assure you no one didn’t let him out of a nursing home) lol. We had help from the rangers who applied heat spray and bandaged his left knee. So thank you Samaria rangers. My husband is a fit hiker and accident do happen when hiking so take great care with footing etc. overall it was a great hike with beautiful views. I would definitely do it again despite all the transport logistics.
Difficult hike because of lots of rocks and the return is all uphill. However, there is a small tavern at the end of the outward journey where you can eat something very nice. Plan the whole uphill return trip. Landscapes similar to Samaria, but less grandiose! I recommend this beautiful hike.
The path is interrupted at the bottom when it rejoins the path leading to the samaria gorges