UKC

Off to Crete in early May and never been there before so am looking for ideas of what places to walk. Will have a car for a few days apart from that will have to be by bus. Staying in Malia will be on my own but can nav and use map so remote and rugged dose not bother me. Already plan to visit the Sam Gorge. Also apart from walks in the high mountain ( I know thete will snow there) what other places should I concider that are realy good but might not be so well known and in the touristy books.

In reply to Russell Lovett:

Don't miss the Minoan palace in Heraklion!
Hire a scooter and zoom about! The Samaria gorge needs a v/early start from Malia, ( I didn't manage it!)
Use the good bus service, to visit the interesting old villages.
Have a boat trip from Ag Nik for the day, and dinner by the harbour.
Take earplugs if your hotel is in Malia!
Avoid the mingling kebabs at all costs!

In reply to Russell Lovett:
Sam gorge is good, but make a really early start because it gets crowded, people walk too slowly and it can be difficult to overtake in places.

Best to get the bus from Chania to the start, otherwise you've got the problem of getting back to it at the end of the day - you go out by boat, then bus back to Chania. The decent of the gorge was about 3 1/2 hours, but we were held up by slower parties in places.

IMHO Imbros Gorge is even more spectacular and a lot less crowded. Very narrow canyon walls in places. You should be able to go down and back up in about 4 to 5 hours.

The gorge from Katohori to Stilos is also well worth doing with some interesting huge boulders to negotiate in the gorge itself. We took about 6 hours down and back up, but it was an exeedingly hot day.

The ascent of Gingilos(2080m) from Xiloska (same start as Samaria Gorge) is fantastic and quite exposed in places with great views down into the Samaria Gorge from the summit (which is about 10 mins on scrambling over boulders from the top of the path). About 5 hours.

Take loads and loads of water, there isn't any en route and we were drinking between 3 and 4 litres a day each in the heat.

If you visit Chania take time to visit the British War Cemetery at Suda Bay

http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/69004/Suda%20Bay%20War%20Cemet...

It's a really beautiful and peaceful, but poignant spot

Enjoy!

In reply to Russell Lovett:

ag nik is worth a visit as Dek said.

We stayed up the road from Malia and climbed a few craggy out crops around the resort(10-15m in height). We went on a land rover tour via some mountains passes to small villages, olive groves and vine yards (worth doing) and the guide said most if not all the land is private and they would take kindly to hikers. not sure if it was true but just so your aware.

In reply to Russell Lovett:

if you've time to kill the old leper colony on spinalonga is an interesting place to visit

In reply to Trangia:




Souda bay is awesome, my girls cried when we walked around the cementry, it must be the best place in europe to be The western end of the island has to be one of the most beautiful parts of europe.

In reply to Russell Lovett:

What kind of things would you be interested in doing , and how many days do you have?

In reply to Mudflap:

In Crete for 1 week on my own, will be going diving a couple of days and plan on the Sam Gorge aswell so thats 3 days taken care of. Into photography so like the idea of hiringa scooter and visiting a few old villages up inland as well. Orchids are another pasion of mine and is the main reason I choose Crete and this time of year to visit. Will also be taking my climbing boots and chalkbag so any surgestions for bouldering sites near malia would be appreciated also surgestions for high mountain summits you can get up and down in about 6/8 hours with grrat views wold be good. Cheers Russell.

In reply to Russell Lovett:

There is a lot of great multi-day mountain scrambling and gorges in the Lefka Ori mountains, close to the Samaria gorge - but you probably won't have time for them...

Crete's highest mountain, Psiloritis, would make a good day trip from Malia if you have motorised transport. Climb it from the Nida plateau, on the south-eastern side of the mountain, to have less snow to cross.

A circumnavigation of Psiloritis by scooter would be fun. Remember that for every tarmac road marked on the maps there are an equal number of dirt roads to crash your scooter off. The north coast is very developed but inland, the mountains and the south coast are wonderful in May.

Close to Malia the hills above Plaka, north of Elounda are known for Orchids. I have heard tales of a rare orchid that grows in the marshes 2km east of Malia. These people would know:
http://www.flowersofcrete.info

In reply to Russell Lovett:

Try http://thepaleochorasite.com/bobsblog/

I believe Bob Tait has written a guidebook of walks in the Paleochora area