COASTAL CRETE WALK

This independent walking holiday explores the most remote south-west corner of Crete. There are often no roads within miles and most of the local commuting is done by boat! Often is no one else around. You follow secret mountain tracks and stoney coastal paths that meander above hidden coves, along virgin beaches and across pebbly promontories, often within metres of the appetisingly clear waters of the Med. You explore the lush Samaria gorge, the longest in Europe, home to golden eagles, lammergeiers and buzzards and blanketed with colourful Cretan rock lettuce and aubretia. And you walk past an extraordinary Saracen fortresses in the foothills of the White Mountains.

But we love this region most of all for the people and the hotels. Every visitor is still a novelty and everyone wants to talk to you; it often turns into charades! In Omalos you might well be shown around their cheese farm and get to sample some of their special jellied cheese (delicious served with honey!), and in Agia Roumeli the Pension Farangi is run by two brothers, both jolly Samarians with typical Sfakian beards; one catches the fish and tends to the sheep, the other looks after the guests! All the hotels have excellent private facilities and dinner is often served on a balmy terrace, beneath a spectacular Mediterranean sunset and to the gentle lapping of the shoreline below.

For more infomation about this holiday, including hotel descriptions, travel options and full holiday itinerary, please see our new 'further details' section.