Nature And Outdoors in Crete

The outdoors in Crete is dominated by one walk. The Samaria Gorge runs sixteen kilometres from the Omalos plateau down to the Libyan Sea, takes five to seven hours, and narrows at the Iron Gates to three metres between walls three hundred metres high. It is a one-way route — you finish at Agia Roumeli and leave by boat — and it opens roughly May to October depending on the water. Hiking in Crete for most visitors means this, once, and it earns the reputation.

The alternatives are quieter and shorter. Imbros Gorge is eight kilometres and half the effort; Agia Irini is shaded most of the way; and the Aradena gorge has the bridge that bungee jumpers use. Above them all sit the Lefka Ori — the White Mountains — with twenty peaks over 2,000 metres and the E4 trail crossing the island end to end for anyone with a week.

The coast carries the rest. Balos and Elafonissi are the pink-sand lagoons everyone photographs; Preveli has a palm forest along a river running to the sea; Seitan Limania is a cove reached by a steep scramble that puts off exactly the right number of people. Nature tours in Crete run best in spring, when the island holds around 2,000 plant species and roughly a tenth of them grow nowhere else. In July and August, start early — the gorges close their entry gates by mid-afternoon and the heat on the plateau is serious.