Route E4 between Paleochora and Sougia—are you up for this coastal trek?

Do you like hiking trails that combine semi-deserted beaches, turquoise waters and breathtaking views?

Here is the E4 route between Paleocochora and Sougia.

I'd say it's tailor-made for you 😉.

Technical specifications

Coastal trekking between Paleochora and Sougia

Difficulty: medium.
Length: 14.5 km (one way).
Elevation gain: 250 m (steep slopes).
Travel time: 5-7 hours.
Beginning: Paleochora.
End: Sougia (end - ferry).
Fecha de realización (fotografías): Octubre, 2013.

From Paleochora to Sougia, step by step

The hardest part of this route is the little shade you will find along the way, so I recommend starting as early as possible, especially in summer.

1. From Paleochora to Anidri Beach

If you leave from the center of Paleochora, follow the signs to Anidri or Sandy Beach. Sandy Beach.

For an hour you will walk along the road that runs along the coast until you reach this charming cove, half sandy, half pebble.

We liked it so much that we came back the next day to spend the day mixing reading with sunbathing and sea bathing (2 sun loungers for 5€).

What a hard life 😉

2. From Anidri to the ruins of Lissos

Thick bushes and little shade on trail E4

As you leave the beach, the E4 trail begins to gain altitude and diverges from the coast until it reaches the top of a plateau.

Continue along it following the signs marked on logs and stones. You can't get lost.

In about 3 more hours you arrive at ancient Lissos, a Bronze Age Minoan settlement.

Views of Lissos beach from the E4 trekking.

The remaining remains of this civilization are scarce, but you can tell that they had good taste in choosing locations.... what a view!

In addition, you can go to the cove just in front to cool off.

3. From Lissos to Sougia

From here the road runs through a pine forest, whose shade you will appreciate (for sure).

Shortly after it enters the Lissos canyon (much smaller than the impressive Samaria g orge that we traveled a few days later) which flows right into the port of Sougia.

Here you will find some bars and a beautiful beach where you can have a last swim before taking the boat back to Paleochora (we took the 18:15 boat, sunset included).

What to bring

Food: Pack whatever you feel like eating during the trip. Need some inspiration? Sandwiches, fruit, nuts, cookies...
Water: except for the beach huts at the beginning and end of the route, you will not find drinking water along the way, so I recommend you to bring at least 1.5 liters per person (better if there are 2) 😉.
Sun protection: remember that the tour runs in the open air most of the time, so bring sunglasses, hat, sunscreen...
Clothing: light clothing, hiking shoes and swimsuit. There are several (and very attractive) options to take a dip in the sea.
Seguro de viaje: si quieres viajar sin preocupaciones, reserva tu seguro de viajes IATI a través de este link y consigue un 5% de descuento. Ofrecen coberturas personalizables según tus necesidades y se encargan de pagar todos los gastos médicos por adelantado si los avisas antes. Yo ya no viajo sin ellos.

Where to stay

For this route, you should ideally stay in Paleochora or Sougia.

In our case, we did the route from Paleochora, where we spent 5 nights in total.

As we traveled in October, we did not book in advance. However, the most popular places were either full (like Lito Apartments) or only had the worst rooms free (as happened to us at Corali Studios).

Así que nos paseamos un rato hasta que encontramos Ton Mari Apartments, un edificio de apartamentos relativamente nuevo con muy buena pinta desde fuera.

Llamamos al número que aparecía en el cartel publicitario y ¡bingo!

Conseguimos 5 noches, pero tuvimos que cambiarnos de apartamento en una ocasión por temas de reservas previas.

Eso sí, la relación calidad/precio fue excelente: 135€ en total, es decir, 27€/noche para 2 personas.

La única queja es que resultaba difícil contactar con Mari (quien nos atendió) después de la primera interacción (nada grave si tienes paciencia y sigues insistiendo).

And one early morning the neighbors (also tourists) went out of their way to make sure we slept very little 😉.

El resto, perfecto.

Where to eat in Paleochora

Some of the restaurants we tried during the 5 days we spent in Paleochora were:

Atoli Café: our favorite breakfast bar (we repeated up to 3 times).
ThirdEye: a varied vegetarian, where I advise you to try only the typical dishes of Crete (the Asian offer was not so tasty).
Pizzeria Odyssey: good pizzas even if you have a palate accustomed to Italian pizzas.
Kiparaki, Small Garden: a very good Asian with a small indoor garden, perfect for a romantic dinner.
Maria's Restaurant: our favorite (we repeated a couple of times). The eggplant magnet, the sea bass or sea bream dishes and that honey cheesecake for dessert... Everything was delicious.