Day trip from Chania to Sougia, Agia Roumeli, Loutro, and Hora Sfakion and back to Chania

The KTEL bus from Chania departs at 5AM. It is timed to get to Sougia in time to take the ferry to Agia Roumelli.
You will have time to do the hike from the bottom of the gorge. We made it all the way to the last rest stop at Christos. We spent a half hour there until the first group of hikers from the top arrived. We returned to Agia Roumelli and spent an hour at the beach then took the second ferry to Chora Sfakion.

There will be lots of buses there to take you back to Chania.

I was unable to find a bus from Chora Sfakion after 6pm on the schedule. Thats not to say there will not be one I just can not find it on the KTEL schedule. If there is no later bus, you will need to consider spending a night in Loutro or just stay on the ferry and get off at Chora Sfakion.
Here is what that day will look like.
Ferry trip Libyan Sea https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72157653434073393
Samaria Gorge from the bottom https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72157670610409530
Crete Libyan Sea villages https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72157645487373222
Its a long day but its going to be fun.

I forgot to add that its about a 3km walk from Roumelli to the gate at the bottom of the gorge. By the time we got to Christos and then the hike back to Roumelli we had done about 12 kilometers. We plan to do this trip again however we will find transportation up to the gate which will save 3KM uphill hike.

Thank you! Pictures are gorgeous! Is there a ferry schedule link that I can access

https://anendyk.gr/routes/

Thank you so much Stanbr! Will check it out to see if we can make it work!

Unfortunately your stops in Sougia and Loutro will be very short — you may not even get off the ferry. These are both wonderful places to visit, so hopefully you can come back someday.

If you can’t get a bus from Hora Sfakia back to Chania at the end of your day trip, you should be able to hire a taxi … a little pricey, but it’ll get you there.

Alternate itinerary idea, just for fun: you could cut two nights from Chania, bus to Sougia with your luggage & spend the night. Ferry to Agia Roumeli the next day & do your hike (leaving your luggage on the ferry) then travel to Loutro. Spend the night. The next day, ferry or taxi boat over to Hora Sfakia & rent a car. Drive to Plakias and continue your trip from there.

This idea assumes you can find hotels in Sougia & Loutro at this late date.

Whatever you end up doing, I hope you have a great trip to our favorite part of the world.

Just to add another piece of information, you cannot store your luggage on the ferry you arrive on at Agia Roumelli. That ferry returns west to paleochora. You will need to bring your luggage with you off the ferry. There is a second ferry that does the run to Hora Sfakion. You will have to find a place to store your luggage. I believe there are a couple of places at the port where you can store your bags for a fee.

As Charlene mentioned you will not have enough time to actually visit Sougia before the ferry departs, and at Loutro you will have to disembark the ferry and find a place to stash your luggage..

You may regret the idea of doing Loutro unless you can confirm there is a later bus from Chora Sfakion.

Thank you stanbr and Charlene! What we may do then is drive to Sougia and take a little ferry trip- will look at ferry schedule stanbr sent . We really want to use Chania as a home base to visit other spots in the area as well! So appreciate your suggestions!

We spent several nights in Loutro before returning to Chania. Wonderful!

Yes-I bet it is amazing!