Can you walk the Samaria gorge from Sougia? Two ways

The Samaria gorge runs from the Omalos plateau, high in the White Mountains, down to the Libyan Sea. At its southern end lies Agia Roumeli, a village you can reach only on foot or by boat. That boat also calls at Sougia. It makes our village one of the easiest places on the south coast to walk Samaria from, in either direction.

For experienced walkers, there is also a way on foot: the E4 along the wild coast →

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

Before the walk, a little about the place. The gorge takes its name from the old village of Samaria, halfway down, and the village from its church of Ossia Maria. People lived and farmed down here until 1962. That year the gorge became a national park and the last families moved out. Their stone houses are still there. So is the kri-kri, the wild goat of Crete, and protecting it was one of the reasons the park was created.

The wild goat at our door: Kri-kri →

From the top: the classic crossing

Take the early morning bus from Sougia up towards Omalos and start at Xyloskalo, at more than 1,200 metres. The name means “wooden stairs”, and the first hour is exactly that: a steep path of steps and switchbacks down through pine and cypress. From there it is around 13 kilometres through the park and about 2 more to Agia Roumeli, on foot or by the small bus that runs that last stretch. Almost all of it is downhill, which is easy on the lungs and hard on the knees. Most people need five to seven hours.

After the abandoned village the walls start to close in. At the Portes, the Iron Gates, the gorge narrows to about four metres, with rock rising almost 300 metres on both sides. It is the picture everyone knows, and it is better in real life.

In Agia Roumeli, swim, eat, and take the afternoon ferry back. It reaches Sougia in the late afternoon, carrying everyone who walked the gorge that day.

From the bottom: the quiet way

Or do it the other way round. Take the morning boat to Agia Roumeli, about 40 to 50 minutes along the coast, and walk up into the gorge from below, as far as the Iron Gates or further. Then walk back down the same path and catch the afternoon ferry home. The fee is the same, you walk against the stream of people instead of in it, and by mid-morning the narrow part can be almost yours.

No car? The bus and the boat are all you need: Sougia without a car →

A king on the same path

In May 1941, during the Battle of Crete, King George II of Greece left the north coast on foot with a small party and a platoon of New Zealand soldiers. They crossed the White Mountains, slept a night above the snowline, reached Samaria on 22 May and went on to Agia Roumeli. There a British destroyer, HMS Decoy, took them off the beach to Alexandria. Every year thousands of walkers end their day on that same beach.

Samaria is a national park, open roughly from May to October and only when the weather allows. It can close at short notice after storms. Check the official NECCA ticket site before you go, start early, and bring water and proper shoes.

If the gorge is closed on your day: a plan B for Sougia →

Samaria has been a national park since 1962 and a UNESCO biosphere reserve since 1981. It is busy in summer. The bottom-up walk and the shoulder months of May and October are the quietest ways to see it.