Ideon Cave

At 1,538 metres on the edge of the Nida plateau, the Idaean cave was one of the most important cult places in ancient Crete, a rival to the Dictaean cave for the claim to have sheltered the infant Zeus. Excavation produced extraordinary material: bronze shields with eastern-influenced decoration from the eighth and seventh centuries BC, tympana, jewellery, ivory and thousands of votive objects, showing continuous use from Minoan times into the Roman period. The cave itself is a wide, high chamber rather than a formation cave, entered from the plateau across open ground. The setting is what stays with visitors: a bare high plateau ringed by the Psiloritis ridges, with shepherds' stone huts, the mitata, scattered across the grass.

What you actually see

• The cave chamber - a wide, high opening rather than a formation cave.
• The Nida plateau - flat high grassland ringed by Psiloritis peaks.
• The mitata - round dry-stone shepherds' huts on the plateau.
• The excavation ground - the terraced area worked by archaeologists.

When to go

June to October, when the mountain road is clear; snow closes the plateau in winter and often into spring. Mornings are clearest, and afternoon cloud regularly covers the ridges.

Honest expectations

The cave interior is largely empty, fenced in part and unlit, with the finds housed in the Heraklion museum, so there is little to see inside. The plateau taverna opens irregularly. The road up is long and exposed with no fuel or services.

Nearby

Anogia village lies below; the Psiloritis summit trail and Sfendoni cave are in the same range.