samaria - Artemis Apartments

Samaria gorge

Bus pick you up from Artemis Apartments early in the morning and drives you with an escort – mountain guide – to the Omalos plateau. The escort collects the money for the gorge entrance fee and the ferry fare (Agia Roumeli – Sougia) in the bus, in order to give you your tickets later. After reaching Omalos, there will be a stop at a traditional tavern, giving you the chance to have breakfast or drink coffee (optional) before you enter the gorge. Subsequently, you pass through the entrance to the gorge and start your hike. In the gorge you walk at your own pace. Our escort comes in an hour after you for safety reasons, so as to follow after you. Should you need any sort of help during the hike, you can ask for their help. The gorge ends up at the village of Agia Roumeli, escort will have already stipulated a meeting point there, in order to give you the tickets to the ferry, which will take you from Agia Roumeli.You have free time to swim in Agia Roumeli and lunch (optional) in one of the village’s taverns.At 17:30 you go aboard the ferry, Sougia or Sfakia (usually Sougia) being your destination.When you reach the port, the bus will be waiting to return you to at Artemis Apartments. The bus returns you to the location you have been picked up from (Artemis Apartments). Your trip has come to an end… get some rest!!!

06:05 pick up from the hotel
07:40 arrival to Omalos plateau( optional breakfast)
08:15 arrival to Xyloskalo ( entrance of the gorge) - start hiking
14:00-15:00 reccomended exit time from the gorge
16:00 meeting time with the guide to give you the boat ticket
17:30 departure time from Agia Roumeli by boat to Sougia or Sfakia (the guide will inform you)
18:30 arrival to Sougia or Sfakia - boarding to the bus for the returning
20:30 estimated return to the hotel

If you don’t wish to cross the whole of the gorge, you are able to follow an easier itinerary. For starters, you follow the same itinerary as the rest of the group until Ksyloskalo and you get to see the entrance to the gorge. You then return to the bus and continue to Sougia, where from you take the ferry to Agia Roumeli. After you reach Agia Roumeli you can walk for as long as you like, until the doors located 2 kilometers further in on the trail, after you have, of course, paid the 5€ entrance fee, or you can stay in Agia Roumeli, swim and later depart with the rest of the party, taking the same ferry back.g.

General information The duration of the hike is at least 5 hours and that’s why you must wear proper footwear with socks, a hat, light-colored clothing and sunscreen. You must have a bottle of water with you (there is drinking spring water along the trail), a light snack, if you wish, and of course a walking mood. Camping is not allowed in the gorge, you can’t spend the night there, light a fire, smoke (you can only do so at the special milestones on the trail), you can’t hunt, set traps, bring guns or animals along, you can’t uproot plants and you are of course not allowed to bathe in the river. We must keep the lavatories clean for the sake of our own health and we mustn’t throw paper inside the toilets. You must hold on to the ticket issued at the entrance of the gorge until the end of the hike, in order to go through control at the exit gate.

WE KINDLY ASK ALL VISITORS TO COMPLY WITH THE RULES OF THE STATE PARK IN ORDER TO ENSURE A SAFER HIKE, AS WELL AS TO HELP PRESERVE THE UNIQUELY RICH FLAURA AND FAUNA OF OUR COUNTRY.

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