It's a big walk though so be prepared as it's about 16km from the start to finish - all downhill.
You can do this as an organised day excursion from Chania and Rethymno. From Chania it took about 60 mins for the coach to get us there so if doing this from Rethymno expect it to take maybe 2 hours (that's a long time to be stuck on a coach).
To book on the same organised tour that we did use the following link...
http://www.dianas-travel.com/samaria-gorge.html
The day generally breaks down like this...
- The coach drops you at Omalos for the start of the walk
- You then make your own way down the Gorge - the path is easy to follow but steep and all downhill. The walk takes between 5-7 hours.
- You will finally come out in the small seaside village of Agia Romeli. This is a nice village with no roads and some good tavernas for food and drink. There is also a pebble beach if you want to take a refreshing dip.
- At around 5pm you will catch a ferry West or East depending on what tour you are on. Some go to Hora Sfakia and others to Sougia. NOTE if you are doing a non-organised tour then get the ferry to Hora Sfakia as that is for any non-organised returns.
- Wherever you get dropped off that is where you will board your bus for the slightly longer drive home. Generally expect to get back to Chania for about 8pm
The one big tip that I would give is to get there as early as possible. The problem with the Samaria Gorge is that it is VERY popular with around 200,000 people per year completing it. If you get there early enough you will avoid the crowds. We got the first coach which left Chania at 6:15am and had the Gorge to ourselves for most of the trek.
