The Unique Tour of Samaria Gorge

*Choose between a shared or private option

Why hike with us?

Value for money

Either you book the shared or the private option the endless beauty of Samaria Gorge will surprise you without breaking your bank.

A unique experience

The breathtaking view Sfakia & the turquoise crystal waters of Lybian Sea proves that paradise exists… You just can’t miss this place!

You can't miss this place

A must-do of a visitor of Chania is the Samaria hiking tour. The unique beauty of the gorge and the spectacular sourounding nature cannot be described with words.

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SANTORINI DAVE

Hundreds of satisfied customers

Mark J

16 July 2023

Take this cooking tour! Great experience in every way. Great food, stories, and camaraderie. Food and alcohol included. Great experience for our adult son and his wife, my wife and me.

Saskia Z

16 July 2023

Super schöner Kochabend Tolle Orga, sehr erfahrener und freundlicher Guide, ganz liebenswerte Menschen vor Ort und sehr leckeres Essen. On Top gab es Infos zu Land und Kultur. Absolut empfehlenswert!

Robert B

15 July 2023

Maria’s fabulous 7 villages tour A thoroughly enjoyable full day tour, Maria was an exceptionally knowledgeable guide and she gave us a full authentic tour of the 7 villages, she answered all our questions with confidence and patience. We had great food with good company, we would highly recommend this tour with Attios Travel Agency.

elenapU4896NC

11 July 2023

Great food and history tour Absolutely terrific tour from beginning to end. Our guide, Kostas, was well informed, personable, and helpful. The house we visited was situated in an unbelievably picturesque location. The cooks were delightful, and the food was delicious! Highly recommend this venture.

jpsadler123

10 July 2023

Excellent Fantastic tour , very interesting and enjoyable. Yannis was an excellent guide and driver, very knowledgable about the Battle of Crete and also Crete in general. Visited all the relevant sites in this part of the island. Would thoroughly recommend

Florin P

8 July 2023

A must for your trip in Crete You learn how to cook awesome recipies, you get to learn history and enjoy the tranquility of the countryside. A really great experience that was one of the highlights of our vacation in Crete

Reeen

4 July 2023

It made our trip! We had the best time on this tour! We were a small group of 8 people from England, Australia and Malta and thankfully we got along so well! We were picked up in convenient locations and driven to a serene house in the hills where we cooked multiple dishes, fed goats and sheep, did wine tasting with some cheese, had a tour of the family relics and learnt the history of Crete sitting on a gorgeous balcony as it was getting darker. We then all sat together outside to enjoy our meal with some more wine and a yummy dessert. It was such good value, and a fantastic experience.

Michelle J

1 July 2023

Lovely. Wonderful. I just made the tzaziki sauce now that I am at home in US, its great! Please send recipe in email! Ok. Wonderful. Nice ride. Docent was amazing. Learned so much about Crete. Such a wonderful island. Such a healthy plant based cuisine. We fed goats, and sheep! I loved it all. So much history. We cooked an amazing plant based meal. Bravo!!!! This was the highlight of my trip.

ergyd

28 June 2023

A sok választható kirándulás közül, ezt mindenképp érdemes megnézni. Érdekes, látványos dotto utazás a hegyek között. Aranyos autentikus települések, kedves emberek, narancs-, citrom és olajfák, hangos kabóca 'zene' mindenütt.

Debra

28 June 2023

Great way to meet and share a meal I love to cook & try the flavours of places I visit. As I'm travelling solo I thought this would be a great way to learn something about the food culture of the area and meet people at the same time. The hosts were so gracious and much thought went into giving the group a wonderful time, keeping things running smoothly. Andreas the driver was very knowledgable (on all subjects!) and attentive to the group - on full time translation duties, keeping everyone engaged. The group was a mix of adults, children, teens. Taking account of the mix of ages, food preferences etc the experience is more about preparing food rather than cooking as such. The food we prepared and ate together was fun to do and delicious to eat, all vegetarian, which reflects the predominant way of eating here, using mainly local seasonal, fruit and vegetables. There was also a touch of wine history & tasting, a brief history of Crete, rural cultural artefacts & feeding goats all included. I met some really nice people and had a wonderful time. Really appreciated all the effort and thought from the hosts and Andreas that went into making it all happen. A delightful way to spend an afternoon and evening. Thank you

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Choose an option:

Dummytab

Private Hiking Tour

Shared Hiking Tour

Dummytab

Private Hiking Tour

Shared Hiking Tour

Private tour overview

Tour Highlights

Visit the wild south Chania.
Once in a life-time experience
Discover the largest gorge in Europe
Explore the fantastic nature inside the gorge
Learn everything from a local mountain guide
Swim at the beautiful beach of Agia Roumeli
Learn about the plants, herbs and Cretan wildlife
Experience a unique hike with beautiful surroundings
Chauffeured private tour ensures a more relaxing and personal experience.

Description

The gorge of Samaria is the gem of the White Mountains! Hidden in the south part of the Chania district, it is the biggest gorge in Europe, covering an area of 18 kilometres in length. The nature park of Samaria was added to the World Network of Biosphere Reserves by UNESCO in 1981, with the aim to give prominence to and to protect valuable habitats for man and the rest of the biosphere.

The gorge of Samaria is counted among the top destinations of the Chania district, and a journey to Chania can never be considered complete unless you visit the gorge. You should therefore attempt a visit there, and its beauty will definitely not disappoint you.

The gorge’s path starts at Xyloskalo (Omalos plateau, 1.227 meters altitude), and after following the river bed, it ends up at the littoral village of Agia Roumeli. The trail of Samaria is the most visited trail in the country. It is perfectly equipped with signals and signs which eliminate the danger of getting lost, it is comfortable and very well cared for, mostly with stones and soil. It is not considered a challenging hike, vivid proof that hundreds of people cross it daily from the opening (in May) till the closing of its visiting season (in October). It is an enjoyable hike, not a strenuous one, with many landscape alternations and a multifaceted environment. However, one should always keep in mind that though the trail as a whole is not tricky, one should be more careful during some parts of the trek.

Trip Itinerary:

Your escort will pick you up from your hotel’s lobby with one of our comfortable & luxury vans we drive to Omalos plateau. We can have a short stop for breakfast & coffee (optional) before you enter Samaria. Then we start hiking. Inside the gorge, you can walk on your pace-however, your escort follows in a close distance for safety reasons. The gorge ends up at the village of Agia Roumeli. There, you have free time to swim in Agia Roumeli or lunch (optional). At 17:30, the ferry will get you to Sougia or Sfakia (usually Sougia) & the driver will be waiting at the port to drop you off again at your hotel.

Inclusions

Hotel pick up and drop off
English speaking driver
English speaking mountain guide
Bottled water per person
Gorge’s entrance fee
Boat tickets
All taxes, fees and handling charges
Transport by air-conditioned minibus/minivan
Private tour

Exclusions

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR PICKUPS

In our small-group and group tours we are picking up our guests from selected meeting points in Chania area and accecible by our vehicles hotels. Please select your pick up point according to your hotel’s location and don’t hesitate to contact us for any further clarification

Shared tour overview

Tour Highlights

Hike the largest gorge in Europe
Learn about Crete’s flora & fauna
Once in a life-time experience
Explore the amazing nature inside the gorge
Guaranteed safety inside the gorge by our mountain guide
Discover the South shores of the Chania region & swim at the Lybian sea

Description

The gorge of Samaria is the gem of the White Mountains! Hidden in the south part of the Chania district, it is the biggest gorge in Europe, covering an area of 18 kilometres in length. The nature park of Samaria was added to the World Network of Biosphere Reserves by UNESCO in 1981, with the aim to give prominence to and to protect valuable habitats for man and the rest of the biosphere. The gorge of Samaria is counted among the top destinations of the Chania district, and a journey to Chania can never be considered complete unless you visit the gorge. You should therefore attempt a visit there, and its beauty will definitely not disappoint you.

The gorge’s path starts at Xyloskalo (Omalos plateau, 1.227 meters altitude), and after following the river bed, it ends up at the littoral village of Agia Roumeli. The trail of Samaria is the most visited trail in the country. It is perfectly equipped with signals and signs which eliminate the danger of getting lost, it is comfortable and very well maintained, mostly with stones and soil. It is not considered a very difficult hike, vivid proof of which is the fact that hundreds of people cross it daily from the opening (in May) till the closing of its visiting season (in October). It is a very pleasant hike, not a strenuous one, with many landscape alternations and a multifaceted environment. One should always keep in mind, however, that though the trail as a whole is not tricky, one should be more careful during some parts of the trek.

Trip Itinerary:

We pick you up from your hotel or a near location early in the morning, and we drive to Omalos plateau. The mountain guide who escorts the trip will collect the money for the entrance fee and the ferry fare on the bus, in order to give you your tickets later. After reaching Omalos, we have a short stop for breakfast & coffee (optional) before you enter Samaria. Then we start hiking. Inside the gorge, you can walk at your own pace. Our escort follows the group at the end, so if anyone needs any sort of help during the hike, he will be there. The gorge ends up at the village of Agia Roumeli. Our escort will have already stipulated a meeting point there to give you the ferry tickets. You have free time to swim in Agia Roumeli or have lunch (optional). At 17:30, the group gets the ferry to Sougia or Sfakia (usually Sougia). The bus will be waiting at the port to drop you off at your hotel or the location you have been picked up from.