This is our best-selling kayak expedition and there are several reasons for this but the major one is the outstanding landscape. A big part of the route is protected from the strong north winds by the massive White mountains (48 summits above 2000 meters!) with plenty of remote beaches and of course sunshine! This eight days expedition is suitable for new paddlers as well but you will need to be able to travel with 6km/hour to join the trip. Will be great to have experience in winds as part of the trip is exposed to katabatic winds. Will try to avoid them by doing proper timing/planning but occasionally that is not possible. If you are in doubt about your skills contact us and will let you know if you will be fine to join the expedition.
The villages/towns of Palaiochora,Sougia,Loutro, Sfakia, Agia Roumeli,Rodakino,Plakias,Agia Galini, and Matala are just a few that we will pass during our trip. If we don’t paddle a day or so due to bad weather there are plenty of hiking options including the famous Samaria gorge which in most cases we are able to hike all or part of it.
EXPERIENCE NEEDED: INTERMEDIATE
The whole expedition is about 135km. Due to driving distance on the 1st day we won't be able to paddle more than 10k and the same for the last day.
That give us roughly 20km per day excluding those 2 days. Bad weather days will make it necessary to increase the daily kilometers up to 30 or more.
- Fit enough to paddle up to 25km/day
- Have experience in sea state 3 (~1.25-meter waves)
- Able to control the boat downwind & across the wind
Notes: Our trip officially begins in the morning at the Heraklion city where our staff will meet you. The exact meeting time will be determined depending on participants' flights. The best place to fly to is Heraklion airport as it is much easier from there to deal with transport. The second biggest airport in Crete is the one in Chania city. Plenty of charter flights going there as well and if you do find a much cheaper flight for that airport then go for it! Bear in mind that in this case, you will need to meet us at the starting point (roughly 10-15€ by bus - takes nearly 2 hours to get there). We will meet in a central place near Heraklio (will be sent you the exact spot by email). Once everybody is ready for departure we will enjoy a great drive across north and southwest Crete down to the Palaiochora village. This is about 4 hours driving. During the drive will make a stop for a coffee and we will review the itinerary for the week and answer whatever questions you may have.
