Lissos: the walk, the theatre, the boat back

People used to walk to Lissos because they were ill. They came from all over Crete to its sanctuary of Asklepios, the god of healing, and to the baths by its spring, hoping for a cure. Today you walk there for the view, but the path is much the same.

Stay where this walk begins: AVYSSOS plans to open in Sougia in 2027 →

The walk

The path starts at Sougia’s small harbour. First it runs through a narrow gorge, mostly in shade, under walls of orange rock, past the signpost among the boulders.

Then it climbs onto the open headland: red earth, low scrub, almost no shade. After the top it drops into a small green valley above a bay. That valley is Lissos.

A harbour of Elyros

Lissos was one of the two harbours of Elyros, the city on the hill above Sougia. The other was Syia, today’s Sougia. Lissos flourished from the Classical period into late antiquity. It minted its own coins, with Artemis or Dictynna on one side and a dolphin on the other, and it later became the seat of a bishop.

Its heart was the Asklepieion. The mosaic floor of the temple, with animals and geometric patterns, is still in place. Around twenty statues found on the site in 1957, among them Asklepios and his daughter Hygieia, goddess of health, are now in the Archaeological Museum of Chania. Look also for the small theatre and, on the slopes, the vaulted Roman tombs.

The other harbour of Elyros was Sougia itself: the old cities under the pebbles →

Churches built from older stones

When the old town faded, its stones did not go far. Christians built churches on the ruins of the earlier basilicas, and in the walls you can still see pieces of ancient marble set among the rough stone. The chapel of Agios Kirykos stands among the ruins and celebrates its feast on 15 July. For the feast, people come out on foot and by boat, bringing wine and food. Locals call it the panigiri, and it often goes on late into the night, sometimes until morning. Several villages around Sougia hold one like it in summer.

The coastal path goes on to the west: a day in Paleochora →

The way back

Walk back the same way, or continue west along the E4 towards Paleochora. In summer, boats from Sougia harbour make the trip to Lissos, so you can walk one way and sail the other. Ask at the harbour for the day’s times. Before you leave, swim from the pebble beach below the sanctuary.

In October 2026 the Sougia Cruises board at the harbour listed the taxi boat to Lissos at 10:00 and back from Lissos at 15:30, when at least five people go.

Another walk with a legend: the Cyclops cave above Sougia →

There is little shade on the headland. Go early in summer, take water, and wear shoes, not sandals.