Zakros – Ziros (E4)

One of the most spectacular hikes of eastern Crete is the route of extremely beauty between two traditional and historical villages of the area: Zakros and Ziros.

It’s so impressive because you walk along a path during the largest part of the route. Only just before you arrive Ziros, the route ends to a dirt road. This route is a part of the European path E4, which starts from the West Crete and goes by Ziros and Zakros and ends to the beautiful bay of Kato Zakros . The last meters of E4 pass the prodigious gorge of Zakros.

The walk starts from the highest spot of the village of Zakros , where the well-known spring of the village flows. At that very place there is a small church and right beside it you can see the path, while you go uphill.

The path goes by two water tanks and after you have walked uphill about 45 minutes, you arrive at the plateau of Mavros Kambos. In older times viniculture was practiced by the inhabitants there, but now the plateau is used only for grain growing.

You walk through that flat land. As soon as you shut the last door, just 50m further, on your left, you will meet a stream and the path goes on in it. You will find no problem, because the whole path is well signed (with E4 signs).

After you walk for about 30 minutes, you will find the church of Agios Georgios, the church of the isolated village Skalia. There you will see a natural spring which gushes out of the rocks . You can fill your bottles with fresh, clear, cold water. In summers the spring stops flowing. It starts again with the first rain in autumn.

By that point the last part of the route starts and continues to a wild, deserted landscape with sharp cliff and bushes. The view to the west is wondrous. From now on the walk to Ziros is easy . There is no uphill or downhill. 2kms before you arrive to Ziros, you enter a dirt road, which leads to the plateau of Ziros.