Agia Irini gorge walk

The Agia Irini gorge is still in its original state although a lot of efforts have been made to make it more accessible. Maybe to relieve the Samaria gorge from the touristic pressure in the future? I hope not, this gorge is maybe not so impressive and accessible as the Samaria gorge but much less crowded and more appealing and fun to walk. 

The gorge itself is about 7km long but the whole way down to Sougia is about 12km. The early morning bus from Paleohora to the Samaria gorge stops at the entrance of the Agia Irini gorge. It's not so fashionable counting the people getting off at this stop but don't be discouraged: the gorge is really fabulous!

The route is straight forward and follows a dried-up riverbed. 

Although a lot of efforts have been made to make the Irini gorge more accessible, there are still some difficult parts which makes walking the gorge much more fun for the adventurous hiker than the "paved" Samaria gorge.

We arrive almost dehydrated at the very small village of Sougia. No mass tourism here, a typical place to laze. While waiting for the ferry back to Paleohora we drink a frappé (a chilled Nescafé - instant coffee - with or without milk and sugar) with the obligatory glass of water at one of the waterfront tavernas and fill our stomach with a delicious souvlaki at taverna Rebetiko on the road to Hania.

The ferry leaves Sougia in the late afternoon and offers a splendid view of the rocky south coast between Sougia and Paleohora on its way. 

Description by previous walkers