Samaria Gorge

Samaria Gorge … A hikers dream…

The Samariá Gorge is a National Park of Greece since 1962 – a major tourist attraction of the island – and a World’s Biosphere Reserve.
The gorge is the longest in Greece and one of the largest in Europe.
The gorge is 16 km long, starting at an altitude of 1,250 m at the northern entrance, and ending at the shores of the Libyan Sea in Agia Roumeli. The walk through Samaria National Park is 13 km long and then there are another 3 km to Agia Roumeli from the park exit.
The most famous part of the gorge is the stretch known as the “Iron Gates”, where the sides of the gorge close in to a width of only 4 meters and soar up to a height of almost 300 meters, the perfect place to take amazing photos.
Inside the gorge you may even meet its famous inhabitants, the wild goats of Crete, Kri-Kri.

A must for visitors to Crete is to complete the walk down from the Omalos plateau to Agia Roumeli on the Libyan Sea and sail to the nearby village of Sougia or Hora Sfakion.