kourtaliotiko gorge

visit this amazing place, your heart will smile, emotions will overflow you...But walk down till the end, cuz every turn shows amazing views, walk to the right side and to the left. If there will be the very windy weather, just be careful but walk down.

It is not among the most famous Cretan gorges,and we had a quick stop only to admiring the great vultures flying over the canyon.

By around 50kms Do not believe this map. Planning on finding gorge following directions in reviews. Have tried twice with TA map.

It can be windy at times but the views are spectacular. There are some walks in the gorge to a couple of churchs

We drive through the gorge and stopped at the church as the others described. The walk down (both paths is great) only spoiled by the man made pipes!

It's amazing place with wonderful views and a small church around the rocks! It's a must-see in Crete.

We visited only the Church of St. Nicolas the Kourtaliotis of Asomatos and near small waterfalls in this gorge. It was a very nice stop during our way to Moni Preveli from Rethymno. I recommend to stop on the parking place on the main road near the church to take some impressive pictures of the gorge and go down to the church and small waterfalls - it is a nice short walk (with many stairs) to the bottom of the gorge and back.

It can be very windy, it nearly took the car door off the day we stopped going through the gorge.excellent views also a small church has been built around the rocks.

We drove through this gorge, stopping at all the various places on the way through. We walked part of the way down to St Peter's Church but as it was very hot, we did not go the whole way down - the people who did make it were struggling on the way back up!We were privileged to see eagles flying overhead during our visit. The oleander in bloom on the ridges was beautiful and added to the whole experience. We were on our way to the Plakias Monastery but the journey was definitely more impressive than the destination.

It was probably the most windy place I've ever been in my life, but the gorge is like no other - isolated, magical, quiet, and a surprising waterfall awaits you at the end of the long walk. It's that kind of place that seems like a fantasy and the experience is richly rewarding.

Absolutely amazing scenery and views to be had here. Wonderful road carries on straight through and to a headland. Below is a very pretty beach, but be warned, it's a long way down and the walk back up to the car park is a killer. Worth visiting for the stunning views - and if you can stand the walk down the gorge from the first car park, you'll find a beautiful little church below which is a waterfall. It's stunningly beautiful - and offers some respite from the heat.

Went to the bottom of the gorge with a guide from dive2gether diving school, put on a wet suite and swam to the water falls! Amazing amount of water coming down the falls. Saw an eel in the river and a few vultures flying over the gorge! A memorable experience!

Walked the gorge with a small party of people, led by a guide called Christian, who was incredibly knowledgeable, with a great sense of humour.

Kourtaliotiko Gorge has a wonderful view of the river waterfall with smaller waterfalls next to it from springs high up on the canyon walls. There are two main lookout points and you should visit both, the second one is an old pumping station with a view of a point where the river widens out into a small lagoon and the view is of many small waterfalls from more springs out of the valley wall.Reaching this point is easy but almost all the locals who know that it exists, do not know where it is.Take the road from Asomatos to Koxare, about 1.5 km beyond Asomatos the road takes a sharp left curve northwards and becomes parallel to the Kourtaliotis river and about 1 km after the curve you will find two semicircular parking lots adjacent to the road on your right, park at the second one and walk along the side of the road another 50 meters north and you will see a sign, the English part will read "Church of St. Nicolas the Kourtaliotis of Asomatos" (I believe they were trying to say "Church of St. Nicolas & the Kourtaliotis of Asomatos"). This will be the entrance to the starred walkway down to the gorge. About halfway down you will have a choice of steps going left (North) or right (South). We went left and soon arrived at the Church of Saint Nicolas, well kept and clean, so please close the door after you have visited. By know you can hear the roar of the river through this narrow gorge. Continue after the church and you will reach a bridge that goes over the river without an exit on the other side, it is there as a look out point onto the river waterfall. At this point you can see the unusual sight of small waterfalls pouring out of one side of the gorge, these are springs adding their water to the river. We continued to the end of the path just 50 meters more and turned back climbing back up to the point where the path split and took the second path down. We arrived at an old pumping station from which we looked at a small lagoon formed by a widening of the river, here we again saw small waterfalls as a result of springs coming out of the wall of the gorge. We returned back up to the point where the staired path split. Here you can go back up the stairs and return the same way you came down. We chose not to continue climbing stairs and turned left - south - to reach a dirt road that eventually led back up to the road where we left the car at a point about 500 meters south of the parking space. This way back is longer but a gradual and easy climb.Lots of flowers along the path, I can't imagine what it looked like if I had arrived two weeks earlier earlier

Near Plakias, dramatic ravine with a chapel in the ravine, fine flora. It´s easy to park here and steps down to the river. But avoid the area during severe fire and immediately after rain, in view of falling pebbles