Samaria Gorge closed on Saturday

The body that manages the protected area decided to close the Samaria Gorge for Saturday 26 September 2026, because of a forecast for rainfall in the wider area. The decision applies solely to today and was taken as a precaution, aimed at the safety of visitors who cross the route from Xyloskalo to Agia Roumeli every day.

The Samaria Gorge is located in the Regional Unit of Chania and is one of the most popular hiking spots in Crete, with its route ending at the coastal village of Agia Roumeli, in the Sfakia area. Access to the gorge is checked daily by the managing body, which decides whether to open or close it depending on weather conditions, since the narrow route, isolated in many places, makes crossing on foot particularly dangerous in case of heavy rainfall, because of the risk of a sudden rise in the water level in the gorge’s bed. The lack of easy escape routes along several stretches of the trail is the main reason the management prefers to suspend access as a precaution whenever bad weather is forecast, rather than leave hikers exposed inside the route.

For residents and tourism businesses in Chania and Sfakia, a closure of the gorge at this point in the autumn means rearranging plans for anyone who had scheduled a hike or a trip to Agia Roumeli. The area remains a reference point for hiking tourism in western Crete, and the management’s announcements are closely followed by visitors, guides and local businesses that depend on the flow of visitors to the gorge, such as accommodation owners in Agia Roumeli and transport operators serving the route. EMY had placed Crete under an orange warning for worsening weather on Saturday 26 September, a factor linked to the precautionary logic behind this kind of decision for mountainous and hard-to-access routes.

Closure decisions of this kind are not rare during the transitional autumn period, when weather conditions in Crete can change abruptly within a few hours, shifting from summer temperatures to heavy rain. The next update on the state of the gorge is expected from the managing body, which will reassess weather conditions before deciding whether to reopen the route in the coming days. Visitors planning a trip to Samaria are urged to check official announcements before heading to Xyloskalo, to avoid an unnecessary trip in case the closure is extended. For more news from the area, see the news from Chania and the rest of the stories from Crete.