Walking on one of the most beautiful paths of eastern Crete, through black pine forests.…
Vai-Palekastro
At the coastal region south of Palm Beach Vai, the nature hides some treasures almost totally unknown to the visitors who are interested only to well known places like Vai or Kouremenos.
This area, untouched by modern interventions still retains many of the elements that make East Crete an endless open nature museum. The colorful rocks with many formations are truly impressive all the way and you will even find several unknown small beaches, steep cliffs, small gorges and rare plants.
The route from Vai beach to Palekastro takes about four hours and there are no particular difficulties to walk. We recommend you to follow the direction from Vai to Palekastro because the signs of the trail (small red marks on rocks and stones) are more visible. You can walk it and vice versa, ie from Palekastro to Vai, but it is not very helpful with the finding the path signs. Starting from Vai, after ten minutes, you will meet the “Psili Ammos” beach (Fine Sand) and after fifteen minutes walking you will encounter a smaller pebble beach, Petrolakas within a beautiful cove.
We pass next to it, and after 40 minutes of walking we come to the third secluded and most appealing beach of this route, of Kefalas Beach. The trail passes about a hundred meters away from this beach and continues uphill and after 1 hour you arrive at a fourth beach, which name is Kavos. From this point until Maridati valley and beach you need about forty minutes of walking. The last part of the route we can walk it by the seaside, which is the most beautiful way.
We estimate that from Maridati beach to the Kouremenos beach we walk about 40 min. Although it is a relatively easy route, we should pay attention to the red markings of the trail, because in many cases they are not easily distinguishable and someone can get easily off course.
The rocks in the area are very beautiful and are characterized by colourfulness. The geological grandeur of the area is best observed if you try to walk close to the steep coast looking to east and not far from the path..
Palm Beach Vai – Psili Ammos Beach 10min
Psili Ammos Beach – Petrolakas cove 15 min
Petrolakas – Kafala beach 40 min
Kafala Beach – Kavos Beach 60min
Kavos Beach – Maridati Beach 40 min
Maridati Beach – Kouremenos Beach 30 min
Kouremenos – Palekastro village 30 min
Additional Info
Altitude: 0 – 80 m
Starting Point: Vai Beach – 25km from Sitia
Path Type: Red Marked path (by some points does not distinguish clearly)
Difficulty: Moderate
Walk distance: 9 kms : 4-5 hours (Vai – Palekastro)
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