richtis gorge

Very nice and easy walking gorge. This is the greenest gorge from all the Lassithi - east Crete region. Small and hidden in the Sitia hills the hiker enjoys the area all the year around! The 2nd green gorge in Lassithi ia Pefki gorge close to Makrigialos.

Difficult to find and with a dangerous path of about 3 km towards the waterfall. Try to imagine what could happen if someone gets hurt. Having lived this nightmare due to an accident that broke my wife's ankle just few hundreds of meter before the goal, I would not encourage a visit.

Visited here whilst visiting friends who live in Elounda. We drove down the track to the bridge at the top of the gorge, something we were very grateful for by the end of the walk. the walk was very varied, green in parts, rocky in others, where we had to scramble down. The trail was signposted by small dots on trees. We went as far as the waterfall, were we sat for a while enjoying the calmness and the thought of the walk back. we wanted to go to the beach, but it was a further hour (there and back) and we were unsure of the amount of daylight we had left. The walk back up to the car was actually easier than we thought as the rocks were actually easier to climb up rather than down. We decided to drive down to the beach, which took about 20 minutes. the road was very steep and narrow and not much fun to drive. when we got to the beach, it was pretty, but probably would have been far more interesting had we walked to it from the gorge. I think this gorge is a great day out, but be warned that the gorge section can be quite challenging if you are not used to walking. Ensure you have water with you as well.

Absolutely fabulous! Difficult to find at first (sharp left off the main road when you reach Exo Mouliana; please make sure you have 4x4 if you want to drive there!), jaw dropping narrow windy mountain road leading to the parking and then beautiful path leading to the waterfall. We were the only people there (visited late afternoon early October), took lots of fab photos and swam in the waterfall (freezing water!). Wonderful experience!

We wanted to walk a gorge with water that was not too challenging. This was perfect. We took the entrance to richtis beach not the gorge parking lot . Very important point if you want an easier walk. There is a narrow paved road that takes you down to the municipal beach (with fresh drinking water from the spring) and the trail is marked up to the waterfalls. The trail is beautiful with wild raspberries and pomegranate that we picked along the way. We saw many birds and crabs as well. And lovely oleander blooming and fragrant along the way. From the bottom to the main waterfall and back it takes 1-2 hours and it was mainly in the shade.

Very good and beautiful place. You can walk by small river, hear voices of birds..... You must go and live it

Firstly it was beautiful! Made me feel like an explorer. Getting there was actually very easy. Getting back was the hard part, very hard part. Remember to take at least 1L of water each, and also some snacks for when you get to the bottom. The water was cold, but I swam anyway. Someone didn't want to, I told him to, or he'll regret it, and so he did. A little shallow, but fine altogether. At first I thought the walk back was terrible, very little sign posts and literally ALL up hill, especially the last/worst 200-300m. But actually was not too bad. Hard, not dangerous at all, I did it in flip flops mostly and bare foot. I was fine,absolutely. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy, I am. Next one I will wear shoes.4 stars as it was amazing... But the pathways could use some tidying up, I know it's a wildlife reserve but still. Just the edges of the paths and one or 2 more sign posting for the way back, for example where there is a little house/villa thing, about half way through, we took a wrong turn, and ended up climbing a massive hill where we nearly fainted. Otherwise great. Not dangerous at all

A great walk through the Cretan 'jungle'. Many (edible) plants (grapes, figs, sage etc.) and there are crabs living in the water. The gorge is not a real gorge, but more of a very small valley. It consists of 3 major parts: - first a jungle like and ‘flat’ part- second a covered but steep, (downwards) climbing part - third an open area with lots of rock, which will end at a quit rocky beach. Here is a pick nick accommodation with drinking water.Somewhere in the second part is a beautiful small, but high waterfall with a little basin where you can (and actually must) have a swim and have lunch in the shadow. The water is so cold and refreshing after a walk! If you do not have a lift to get up to the cars again, this might be the best place to turn around again and climb up. We were lucky to be picked up by the hotel at the end of the walk, but the road up from the seaside is steep, all the way in the sun and by car it will take you somewhat like 20 minutes. There is no life at all at the seaside, there are only Greeks visiting to have a picnic. I won’t gamble on arranging a ride.

We decided to drive down to the beach from Exo Mouliana and then take the short (approximately 30 min) hike to the waterfall. The hike was nice, pretty easy, and the waterfall was beautiful. However, the ride down the road to the beach and up from the beach was very scary. The path was very narrow and most of the time there wouldn't even have been enough space if another car had come in the opposite direction!

Richtis Gorge - a small- and unique paradise in the north east of CreteIn preparation of our Crete - vacation this year (Elounda), we checked in advance for all recommendable Tracks and trips which are still a little bit our of the main-stream. Beside the Gorge's of Kritsa and Pefki we found the Gorge of Richtis as one of the most attractive places which we explored during our vacation. We started our trip in Exo Mouliana", a small town at the upper end of the gorge. The way started with a simple but nice way along fruit field and typical Crete vegetation. After about 1,5 kilometer we received a bridge (where we found our first Geocache) which is a kind of starting point of the gauge. From there the trail does change to a different vegetation to a kind of a defile under a tight roof of leaves. The way is going along the small steam bypasing palms and you need to claim up and down on rocks which makes the way very interesting, challenging and funny also for teenager :-). Further the way is passing several ruined cottages where you can explore very interesting buildings like "old stone baking oven (see picture) and other historical equipment ..The second part of the trail ends at the Waterfall, which was not very large in size but a wonderful silent, attractive and harmonic place to linger. If you are not shy, you can use the small lake to have a refrehing bath there like we did. From there and after a relaxing -break we started for the last section down to the picnic -area right in front of the see. For the whole trip trip we needed about 2,5 hours included several breaks and stops. It's very important that you are prepared fur such a trip in the way to have enough drinks with you, wearing good shoes and you should be in a good conditional shape. If this is given, this will be a very enjoyable trip.A futher thing which need to be considered is the way back. I had the luck to met a couple from Israel at the picnic area who brought me up the very exiting way the by car (15 minutes by car) to my starting point. From there I went down again to pick up my family which still enjoyed the great ocean view and the bay. Unfortunately the see was very wild the day, so bathing was not possible, but anyhow, a great place to be.I fully support the idea to protect and maintain such incredible areas sin order to avoid a commercial use and along going neglect, like you can see on lot of other place around the island. Thanks to anyone who supports the preservation of such unique places.Regards,Oliver (50) Synke 43), Imke (16) & Charlotte (13) from Germany

we loved to explore greece's nature during this walk - including the almost tropical waterfall bath :-)

We walked this beautiful path with our 1 year old in a baby carrier. The first 5-10 mins were a bit hot &sunny but after that it was a nice, easy shaded walk for another +/- 30 mins till we reached the fall.Water was super refreshing (too cold for the little one) but the adults enjoyed it a lot.Fall must be even more spectacular in the spring.We drive through the village of exo Moulian till we saw the blue sign towards Richtis beach & drove the paved but very narrow snake-like path all the way to the entrance sign to the gorge.The path is marked by red/ orange dots on the stones & trees & is very easy to followLovely place highly recommended!

We've just completed this wonderful walk, from the top to the beach and back. You don't have to park on the road, you can take the car down a little way. Drive down to a fork in the cement road and take the left road and you can drive down even further and park at the stone bridge. This will save at least 20 mins walk uphill at the end of your adventure. We walked briskly and did the trip down to the beach in 2 hours. Back up was a little longer, but not much. This time of year the river was mostly dried up and the waterfalls not as spectacular as they must be after rain. We wondered how you can actually pass in some places when the river is in full flow as a lot of the walk was in the river bed? ? Circadas deafened us for all the journey. The beach is lovely and you can fill up your water bottles from a tap there. Highly recommended and off the beaten track.

Hey, if you want to do hours and hours of stony landscape - go to some other gorge and don't do the Richtis in its full length. This gorge is not one you go for hiking. It is one of the few on this rocky island that have water all year around and the pond by the waterfall is the actual thing that makes Richtis gorge special. Go there, throw your clothes and jump in the cool water. Enjoy!So, to avoid losing hours in pointless descent and climbing you should drive to the beach and take the easy walk up to the waterfall (30-40 min). The road to the beach starts in the eastern part of Exo Mouliana (there is a sign). Be advised that it is a very narrow and wavy one, but definitely not the worst on Crete :)

Very risky and uncomfortable path! Dangerous!!3,5 km way on the rocks....Not worth it- really...We thought that we would not come back home- we have lost the way or our way back to the car due to sings absence... Don't ever go to this place!! The so-called waterfall is very small and there is nothing unusual in it - it's not worth risking your life