Our 10 hikes in Crete with the children

I told you about our trip to Crete with the children. I gave you our itinerary and showed you all the beautiful places we discovered in the west of the island. All that’s left is for me to explain our choice of family hikes for these Easter holidays that we wanted to be sporty!

Hikes in the gorges of western Crete

Crete is known for its very beautiful beaches but also for its magnificent gorges that cut through the landscape and offer hiking possibilities in natural scenery that is jagged and sometimes very vertiginous! Here are the gorges where we hiked with the children:

1/ Imbros Gorge – 8 km – 2 hrs 15 from north to south.
A lovely, easy hike. We particularly liked the narrow sections that let you really appreciate the “gorge” feel. Squeezing between big rocks really appealed to the children! The first half of the hike is prettier than the second half, so you can consider turning back halfway to return to your car. That said, there’s a nice little stone arch about three-quarters of the way; you’ll miss it if you turn back halfway, but I don’t think it’s unmissable. How did we organise the car pick-up? “Papa Voyage” turned back at the arch and quickly walked the whole way back to the car, then came to pick us up at the end of the gorge. With the children, we walked calmly to the end of the gorge and sat down on the terrace of a café by the roadside while waiting for “Papa Voyage”. You can also call a taxi and each bar/restaurant can arrange that for you, but it’s an extra cost to plan for.

Imbros Gorge

2/ Aradena Gorge – 4 hrs 30 – hike done from south to north, so uphill through the gorge.
The most beautiful, but also the most difficult and the longest hike of our stay. I wouldn’t recommend it to families who are new to hiking. We’re used to walking, and so are our children.
Endurance isn’t enough: you mustn’t be afraid of heights and you have to like climbing. In fact, along the way you’ll come across ladders and ropes. It isn’t suitable for children younger than ours, as they would probably struggle to get past these obstacles. In short, it isn’t a “for everyone” hike, but one for experienced walkers. Note that there’s a way to bypass the most difficult section where the two ladders are, but that means taking a narrow path along the cliffside; it may be easier, but it also means moving forward carefully, without being afraid of heights. The ladders aren’t difficult, it’s just that it’s impressive because you can’t help thinking: what would happen if I let go of the ladder?? But why let go, eh? I still positioned myself just behind Titpuce to reassure myself… Once the ladders are behind you, that’s where it’s hardest, because right after the second ladder, the terrain slopes down and is made up of small scree: you have to move forward carefully because clearly you don’t want to slip backwards… That scree is what bothered me most and made me a bit worried. Also, it isn’t very well signposted there, so above all, don’t head upwards through the scree; quickly take the path to the left because the trail isn’t far – it’s just that you can’t see it yet when you’re at the top of the ladder.
We started this hike in Loutro, then went up towards Livaniana (do it fairly early in the morning because the climb is a bit tough and in full sun); then we picked up the Aradena Gorge and hiked up it towards the north. Note that it’s possible to make a detour to Marmara beach to start the gorge from the beginning, but that would have made this already long hike even longer, and we wanted to focus more on the gorge than the beach, especially as we were there in April. Also note that to get to Loutro, the children and I took a boat from Hora Sfakion, while “Papa Voyage” went to park the car in Anapoli and walked down to Loutro (see below).

setting off from Loutro

Aradena Gorge the ladder section!

3/ Irini Gorge – easy – about 2 hrs 30
There are even some set-up areas for breaks or picnics. You follow a stream: it’s normally a straightforward hike and one of families’ favourites BUT because of the heavy rain a few days earlier, the stream had widened and we were blocked by the river after an hour’s walk. So we did an out-and-back in this gorge instead of walking it end to end. We only regret that there wasn’t any info at the entrance to the gorge. That said, our 2-hour out-and-back was worth it: it was a lovely walk, even though it was a bit grey that day.

Irini Gorge

Note: the most famous gorge is Samaria Gorge, but it isn’t accessible before May because of the water level in the gorge during the snowmelt. What’s more, when this gorge is open, apparently it’s extremely busy, and to avoid the crowds, the best choice would be Aradena Gorge, which I mentioned above.

Our beach hikes in Crete:

Here are a few easy walks that took us to very beautiful beaches:

4/ Limini Beach: 1 hour return – easy
An easy, short walk to reach a very beautiful cove. It was mainly for the pleasure of the eyes because swimming looked dangerous (currents and waves). I don’t know if it’s possible to swim there, but the place is well worth the detour. It’s not far from Chania airport, on the Akrotiri peninsula.

5/ Balos Peninsula: 1 hr 30 return – easy
Note that to reach the start of this walk, you have to drive along an 8 km track, so drive very carefully and slowly. Many tourists go to Balos by boat. As the aim of our trip was hiking, we preferred the land version. The walk is very easy and normally you can swim when you arrive. Sadly for us, it was the only day when it drizzled!

Balos

6/ Elafonisi: 2 hours return – very easy
The place is sublime! Our favourite spot of this trip to Crete, and you can walk more or less depending on what you feel like. We chose to go all the way to the tip of this beach because we loved it so much, and every viewpoint was superb! A perfect place for swimming if the water temperature allows (still a bit cool in April but doable).

7/ The “Two Monasteries” hike, down to the sea – 3 hours return – easy
If you don’t especially want to go all the way to the sea, you can reduce this hike to a 2-hour return, and you’ll still get to enjoy the two beautiful monasteries you’ll pass along the way. It’s especially the second monastery (Katholiko Monastery), in ruins, that is particularly beautiful.

Other short Cretan hikes:

8/ Anapoli–Loutro: 1 hr 15, downhill – “Papa Voyage” did this hike without me and the children, but it’s perfectly doable as a family. In this direction, it’s downhill, so it’s mostly a bit demanding on the knees. During the descent, there are some very pretty views towards the sea and over the adorable village of Loutro. As I said above, with the children we went to Loutro by boat because our hike the next day was Aradena Gorge, which is very long, so I didn’t want to tire the children too much the day before. “Papa Voyage”, for his part, drove up to Anapoli so that we would have our vehicle the next day when we arrived after Aradena Gorge.

9/ The Balcony: 2 hours return – easy
It’s a hike we chose to do because after sleeping in Anapoli, we had time in the area. It was nice but not unmissable. At the end, there’s a viewpoint with a steep drop down to the sea. This hike starts in Agios Ioannis.

10/ Small ruined fortress on the Askifou plateau – very easy 1 hr 30 return
Not an unmissable hike, but pleasant, and it was just a stone’s throw from our inn, Panorama Askyfou. This short hike was perfect for whetting our appetite before dinner, and a good warm-up before the Imbros Gorge hike, which was on our programme the next morning.

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If you’d like more information on our itinerary in Crete, to see in which order we did these hikes and what other activities we had planned for our Cretan week, I recommend reading my full article on our holiday in Crete.

Finally, I’ll finish with a few tips for your hikes in Crete:

Along the way, you’ll come across lots of goats, especially in the gorges.

It’s quite nice, but be aware that you could potentially come across a dead goat that has fallen from the heights of the gorge!!!… We came across two, and I told the children not to look!
Bring caps, water, a small snack, sun cream and of course good shoes.
Pack your swimsuit and a towel too if you’re doing a hike to reach a beach. In April, the water is very cold. We only swam once in Loutro because the water was so beautiful!
For hiking, I’d say the season runs from April to the end of October. But always check accessibility of the trails.

In April, you can still see snow-capped peaks. It’s very beautiful!