The first and most popular one starts from Odigitria Monastery and ends at the beach crossing the beautiful gorge. The second one starts from Kali Limenes and ends at the beach crossing a marvelous coastal path. We are going to describe the second route, as the first one has turned dangerous because of the dozens of car-parts robberies reported at the point where the cars are parked just before walking starts.

This area offers not only plenty of routes but also the chance to open a lot of new ones mainly in the gorge. A big advantage is that rock climbing is possible even during winter. There is also drinking water from a well just before the beach, next to the church of St Antonios, where some routes start from.

All the routes done up to this moment are described below and useful information is given. You can read the map of RoadEditionsto find out how to reach the entrance of the gorge. Nevertheless, Agiofarago is situated near Sivas village and Festos.

The gorge starts 3 km past Odigitria Monastery and ends at a beautiful beach. If you don't have your own means of trasport, the easiest way to reach the gorge is via Kali Limenes and then along the path for about an hour to Agiofarago. Road access: There are two choices from Heraklion.

The first and most inexpensive one is to get the KTEL bus to Mires (52 km) and then a taxi to Kali Limenes (about 25?). The second one is to get a taxi straight from Heraklion until Kali Limenes (about 50?). However, as it may prove difficult to find a taxi to take you down there, you'd better get to Mires and change there, where it's much easier to find a taxi. For more information see the map of this region.

Walking: The walking starts from the Coast Guard building following for some meters the only up going dirt road there. After about 700 m there is a crossroad where you have to turn into the road on your left. This dirt road stops after 500 m and becomes a path situated just after the end of the road on your left. The path follows the coastline offering the walker a majestic view. From the point where the path starts you need about 30 min until you reach the highest point of the route, from which you can see the gorge with the small church of St Antonios at the back. (See photo 1).

Most of the path is marked with stones or other signs, like red arrows etc. Choices Alternatives: After reaching the beach you have three choices: swimming, walking and rock climbing. There are dozens of climbing routes of various difficulty grades in Agiofarago. Apart from them, don't miss a visit to the gulf of Vourvoulitis (see photo 1) and the cave of St Antonios.

Stay: In tents or in just a sleeping bag on the beach or in the gorge.

Weather conditions: In summer the temperature can be quite high (30-40o C), so you'd better avoid moving in the afternoon. Start walking early in the morning or late in the afternoon. In winter things are quite better with much lower temperatures comparing to summer Necessary gear Almost half of the routes opened in Agiofarago require only some runners to be repeated. However, there are others without any bolts, so full climbing gear is demanded. At most of the routes a half 60 m rope is enough for the way back. Suggested routes per difficulty grade Indiana,40 m VII-, Danilou-Zani,25 m VII+, Zbynek, 60 m, one of the most beautiful routes with continuous difficulty grade VII-, O Dromos Gia Ta Asteria, 45 m V+ (VI-), I Ttsambou Tou Leprou, 30 m V-, I Kkopsi Tis Thalassas, 50m IV (V).

Stay, food and fun You can spend the night in the gorge or on the beach. Don't forget to look to your own food and water, as you can buy nothing there. About fun, well just wine, good mates and climbing!

Useful telephone numbers

Alpine Club of Heraklion: 2810-227609 (20.30-22.30)

Stelios Asmargianakis: 6946140777

Comments: In 2000 a local shepherd destroyed a big part of the gorge opening a road to have better access to his flock. As a result and apart from the natural destruction, piles of rubbish have been accumulated next to the church of St Antonios and at the seaside.

Unfortunately there are a lot of unscrupulous people, who manage to reach the beach easily through the opened road. Even motorcycles can reach the beach! It takes now only 15 min to walk to the beach. That resulted to a massive presence of people, especially from the nearby villages of Messara, who proved to respect nothing and helped filling the gorge with litter. There are already two spots full of gathered rubbish. The Alpine Club of Heraklion with the initiative of Climbincrete (Stelios Asmargianakis) gathered dozens of sacks of rubbish during the latest excursion there.

The work, however, was not completed, as we ran out of sacks! We hope that more people will follow our example keeping Agiofarago clean, as well as all visited places. Avoid going there on Sundays. it's really crowded, especially in July and August, as there is a boat carrying tourists to swim there.

Mind you with littering! Let's keep the place beautiful!

Move on to climbing routes of Agio Farago: