Samaria Gorge: season, closures and access from both ends

The short answer

The Samaria Gorge is open only on the days its park authority allows, and that changes during the season. NECCA's ticket site says the park's rules allow the main path to be open from 10 April to 31 October, but that the exact opening date is decided each year by NECCA once the annual maintenance of the path and facilities is complete.[1] In 2026 NECCA announced the opening for Tuesday 19 May, from both entrances.[2]

On 9 October 2026, the ticket site carried a notice that the gorge "remains closed from both entrances until further notice" and will reopen after the required inspections, with a further announcement to follow. The site's booking data marks 5 to 31 October 2026 as closed, up to the last day of the regulated season, and online orders were switched off.[1] When XTOUR read it on 11 October 2026, the ticket site's booking data marked every remaining day of the 2026 season, to 31 October, as closed. Check the ticket site before you plan around it. Check the ticket site before you plan around it.

Who runs the gorge

The gorge lies in the Samaria National Park, which NECCA's ticket site also calls the Samaria (Lefka Ori) National Park.[1] It is managed by NECCA's Management Unit of the Samaria National Park and the Protected Areas of Western Crete, which NECCA says is based in Chania.[5]

Older pages can mislead. The former management body's website, samaria.gr, says that body was merged into NECCA in 2022, that the site is no longer updated and stays online only as an archive, and that emergency notices, hours, tickets, route and safety information are on samaria-tickets.necca.gov.gr.[6] XTOUR's reading is that any date or rule found on samaria.gr should be treated as history.

Season and closures

NECCA separates two things a traveller might confuse: the period the rules allow, and the days the gorge is actually open.

• The regulated season. The ticket site says the main path may be open from 10 April to 31 October each year.[1]
• The opening date. It is set each year by a NECCA decision confirming that maintenance is done and the conditions for orderly operation are met.[1] The 2026 opening on 19 May came more than five weeks after the earliest date the rules allow.[2]
• Unplanned closures. The ticket site says that on some days visitor movement will be banned or restricted, that the decision is usually taken the previous afternoon, and that in very urgent cases it can be taken on the same day, by NECCA and/or the civil protection services.[1] One example: in August 2024 NECCA closed the park from both entrances for a day, citing a Region of Crete decision and the civil protection fire-risk map.[3]

NECCA's 2026 opening release adds that a nowcasting application warns of severe weather up to two hours ahead at critical points in the gorge, and that operation can be suspended under the park's emergency plan.[2] XTOUR does not know what caused the October 2026 closure; the notice gives inspections as the condition for reopening and names no cause.[1]

The two entrances and the route

NECCA's ticket site says visitors may enter only at two points: Xyloskalo, on the Omalos plateau at the north end, and Agia Roumeli, a seaside settlement at the south end. Only the main path is open to visitors, and vehicles cannot use it.[1]

The same page describes the route: the main path is about 13 km, with about another 2 km from the southern entrance to Agia Roumeli village; it falls from 1,227 m at Xyloskalo to sea level; the first 7 km run through forest; after the old settlement of Samaria the path follows the riverbed, is mainly rocky, and crosses the river on small wooden bridges or stepping stones. The page says "an average walk takes ~ 6 - 7 hours" with stops; that is NECCA's estimate, not one XTOUR has checked.[1]

The ticket site says the entry fee is the same whether you walk the whole route or a few kilometres. It also sets entry windows by route: entry for a full or partial crossing only in the first window of the day, later entry only for walks within the first 2 km from either end (to the Neroutsiko rest area from Xyloskalo, to the "Christos" rest area from Agia Roumeli), and a time by which every visitor must have left the park.[1] The times are on that page; XTOUR does not restate them because they are set by regulation and can change.

Getting to each end

XTOUR treats Chania as a base for the gorge, not as the place that contains it: NECCA's page describes the bus to Omalos as starting in Chania.[1] What follows is what NECCA's ticket site says; XTOUR publishes no travel times.

• Xyloskalo. The page says it can be reached by car, by the KTEL public bus from Chania's central bus station to Omalos, or with a tour organised by a travel agency. It warns that parking at Xyloskalo may carry a charge from the local company that runs the car park.[1]
• Agia Roumeli. The page says the village is reachable only by boat, from Chora Sfakion, Sougia or Paleochora, which can themselves be reached by road.[1] The ferry operator ANENDYK lists Agia Roumeli among its ports and describes it as built at the end of the national park, with no road connection.[7]

A one-way crossing therefore ends somewhere you cannot drive away from. NECCA's page says a walker who leaves a car at Xyloskalo and wants it back the same day must take the boat from Agia Roumeli to Sougia and then the KTEL bus from Sougia to Omalos. It also warns that the gorge can be open on days when strong winds stop boats sailing to or from Agia Roumeli, and tells visitors to check the shipping company's timetables in advance. NECCA says it is not responsible for changes to transport routes or prices.[1]

Tickets

NECCA's ticket site says the ticket is mandatory for entry into the National Park and, citing a 2025 Joint Ministerial Decision, that ticket revenue goes to NECCA and the neighbouring municipalities. It can be bought on that site or at either entrance on arrival. At the entrance you are given an additional slip that is checked at the exit, which the page says is how the authority counts how many people have entered and left the gorge each day.[1]

The same page lists free-admission days and categories exempt from payment, among them children under 18 and adults over 65, and warns that anyone holding a reduced ticket must carry the supporting documents.[1] XTOUR does not publish the price.

Safety and who it suits

NECCA's pages place responsibility on the walker. The ticket site says visitors assume full personal responsibility for their safety on entering the park and must take the measures they judge necessary, such as suitable footwear.[1] NECCA's 2026 release says free helmets are provided at both entrances and that wearing one is optional but strongly recommended.[2] The ticket site says there are rockfall warning signs along the path where visitors should not stop.[1]

On families, the ticket site says there is no age limit, but that because the path is long and quite steep NECCA would not recommend taking small children, and that minors may enter only with an adult responsible for them. It lists prohibitions under the park's rules, among them camping or staying the night, alcohol, drones without a permit, bicycles and other vehicles, and swimming in the park's rivers and streams.[1]

On accessibility, the ticket site says there is at present no infrastructure in the gorge supporting access for people with disabilities.[1] A NECCA release from November 2024 announced works with the Municipality of Sfakia to create access for people with disabilities between the upper harbour of Agia Roumeli and the church of Agia Triada, which it said had not been technically feasible until then.[4] XTOUR does not know whether that work has been completed.

Where NECCA's own pages differ

NECCA's management-unit page cites Joint Ministerial Decision ΥΠΕΝ/ΓΔΠΠ/26828/406 for the rule that the entry ticket is a resource of NECCA and the neighbouring municipalities,[5] while the ticket site cites ΥΠΕΝ/ΔΔΦΠΒ/6396/146, published in February 2025, for the same point and for its ticket categories.[1] XTOUR's reading is that the ticket site, which sells the ticket, is the current reference, but it has not seen a NECCA statement that the older decision was replaced.

What XTOUR does not tell you

XTOUR does not publish the gorge's opening date, entry times, ticket price, boat or bus times, or how long the walk will take you, and it does not judge whether the walk suits a particular person. The Samaria Gorge has no XTOUR place page yet, because a linear walk between two access points is a route XTOUR cannot represent. For Crete and the rest of the country, see the Greece travel guide to mainland and island bases and Greece.