Zakros

Zakros was the fourth of the great Minoan palaces, positioned on the eastern coast as the trading gateway to Egypt, the Levant and Cyprus, and its excavation in the 1960s by Nikolaos Platon produced an unusual haul: because the site was never looted or built over, storerooms were found with their contents intact, including bronze ingots, elephant tusks, and stone vessels of rock crystal and porphyry. The palace has a central court, a spring-fed cistern that still holds water, workshops and magazines. Above it runs the Gorge of the Dead, so called for the Minoan burials in caves along its walls, an eight-kilometre walk from upper Zakros down to the palace and the beach, and one of the best gorge walks in eastern Crete.

History

The site was first settled around 2000 BC; its Old Palace was wrecked by an earthquake around 1700 BC, the New Palace built in its place was wrecked by another around 1450 BC, and occupation ceased altogether around 1200 BC. Thomas Spratt recorded the site in 1851, Arthur Evans visited in 1894 and 1896, and D. G. Hogarth dug in the town in 1901, but the palace itself was found only in 1961 by Nikolaos Platon, who excavated its 150 or so rooms until his death in 1992; Zakros is the second largest source of Linear A documents, and in 2025 it was inscribed by UNESCO with the other Minoan palaces (Wikipedia, Zakros).

Highlights

• The palace plan - central court, magazines and workshops beside the shore.
• The cistern - a spring-fed circular basin still holding water.
• The Gorge of the Dead - a walkable canyon with burial caves in its walls.
• The beach hamlet - Kato Zakros, a handful of tavernas on the shore.

When to go

Spring and autumn for the gorge walk and comfortable temperatures; summer is hot and the eastern end of Crete is dry and exposed. The gorge should be avoided after heavy rain.

Practical notes

This is the far end of Crete: three hours from Heraklion, on winding roads, with limited facilities at the coast. The palace is low-lying and part of it floods or grows reedy. The gorge walk needs transport arranged at both ends.

Nearby

Sitia lies northwest; Vai's palm beach is on the same eastern coast.

Key facts