Samaria Gorge

August 2024. I don't know why the trail is described as difficult. It took us 5 hours to complete it from the entrance to the beach lounger at a normal walking pace. My sports band described the workout as very easy - 95% of the time my heart rate did not exceed 120bpm. So what difficulty are we talking about? Unless you can't walk downhill for 5 hours... The route is easy. No big gradients or technical difficulties. The route on AllTrials is incorrect - it indicates 700m of elevation gain, which is nonsense, because there are no significant climbs there, as the diagram suggests in red. This is misleading and should be corrected. The most interesting part of the trip starts around 10 km when we actually reach the bottom of the gorge and giant rock walls surround us. That's why many people choose to explore this part of the gorge by going "against the flow". I strongly advise against arriving late. Starting before 8 gives you a chance for a parking space, shade for 90% of the route and a pleasant temperature. Additionally, the trail was practically empty. We overtook maybe 30 people in total. The last 2-3 km were already in the sun but not as hot as in the afternoon. People who arrived at the beach after 14:00 looked like they were dying of exhaustion from the heat ;), while we were cooling down under the sunbeds (10 euros for 2 sunbeds and 2 drinks - a very nice change after sunbeds for 40 euros on Vai beach...) and enjoying the very pleasant sea and ultra hot dark sand on the beach. At 17:30 the ferries will take you to the chosen port, where buses are already waiting. Just don't confuse the ferry or the bus ;) Take comfortable shoes for a long walk through the forest and stones - this is the only condition for a successful route. There are water and toilets on the trail every few km. 1.5 l of water that I had with me was enough for me. To sum up - anyone who is able to cover a distance of 17km is able to cross the Samaria Gorge, as it does not pose any effort or technical problem.