Why this ride
351 km from Palekastro to Palekastro, about 6 h 32 of riding. It goes by way of Malia, Knossos and back through Malia. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Zakros and Knossos
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 351 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 32
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Zakros
The far east of Crete runs out of road at Zakros, and that is exactly its charm. The village sits on the very edge of the island, below the Sitia mountains, and the way here from Sitia, about nineteen kilometres, leaves the tourist belt behind and climbs through olive terraces and rocky hills that smell of thyme and dust.
Read the complete Zakros write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Zakros is where the day begins. Next is Malia.
2. Mália
Mália is two things in Crete at once: a beach resort known for loud nights, and the site of a Minoan palace that is nearly four thousand years old. The first palace was built around 1900 BC, destroyed by an earthquake or invaders, rebuilt about 1650 BC and then destroyed again around 1450 BC, the same wave of disasters that ended Minoan power across the island. It was excavated by French archaeologists from the 1920s, after a local scholar, Joseph Hatzidakis, had begun work in 1915. It is the third in size of Crete's great palaces, after Knossos and Phaistos.
Read the complete Malia write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mália comes up about 135 km into the recorded legs. Next is Knossos.
3. Knossos
Five kilometres south of Heraklion, on a low hill above the Kairatos stream, lie the ruins that gave Europe its oldest legend of a labyrinth. Knossos was the greatest centre of Minoan Crete, a sprawling palace complex of courtyards, storerooms, staircases and shrines that flourished in the second millennium BC. Its confusing plan, with hundreds of interlocking rooms on several levels, may well have inspired the Greek myth of King Minos, the craftsman Daedalus and the Minotaur imprisoned in the maze, waiting for Theseus.
Read the complete Knossos write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 176 km into the recorded legs you reach Knossos. Next is back through Malia.
4. back through Malia
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Malia write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Malia, late in the day. Next is Zakros.
5. Zakros
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Zakros write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Zakros. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Zakros to Malia
Zakros → Malia is 135 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Mália to Knossos
Mália → Knossos is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Knossos to back through Malia
Knossos → back through Malia is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Malia to Zakros
back through Malia → Zakros is 134 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Mália and Minoan Palatial Centres · 181 km