Small and personal, quiet and well - it's somewhere you feel a sense of ownership about the moment you arrive. At the end of a dazzling, exciting narrow winding road, descending from the plain around Zakros itself. The journey to Zakros builds and improves the experience that "you've really traveled" to get there. You are in the East. You've reached this wonderful coast and there is nowhere further to go! You are by the sea with a large pebble beach and often-dazzling waters. It's quiet, feels as "real" as a beachside place can, there is a little tourism as such and what there is mostly consists of daytime visitors to the Palace of Zakros archaeological site. The site is a prized destination for many and we've heard numbers of people call it the site that has most impressed them in Crete. There is a lack of mobile phone reception which delights some and will require adjustment from others!
 

How to get there - Kato Zakros

Sitia is the likely starting point by car, motorcycle or bus (bus info). From Sitia a bus to Kato Zakros exists and otherwise a wonderful car drive (about 1 - 1.1/2 hours). For the adventurous there are some wonderful and most indirect routes along unpaved roads - including an easily traveled (with slow pace and great care) one from Xerokambos. Or for stunning mountaintop views of the sea, gorges and mountainscapes, a journey made via Roussa Eklissia, Mitato to Adravasti is hard to match and most memorable - what a sense of achievement you feel after that journey! Another most enjoyable transition from any time spent in Sitia would be to travel to the beach at Vai (try to be there close to dawn or dusk to avoid crowds), perhaps including a visit to the fascinating Toplou Monastery (recommended-see more about it in Sitia) on the way and stop at Palekastro (many places to stay) and/or Zakros for refreshments or more solid food intake!