Kotsifou Gorge: The Honest Guide to the Other Road to Plakias
A short, sheer slot between Kanevos and Sellia that most people drive through in minutes. Here is what the chapel, the rockfall record and the 2026 fire-season order actually mean for a visit.
The Kotsifou gorge is a few minutes of road, not a day out. It is the western of the two roads from the Rethymno–Spili road down to Plakias: about 1.8 km between Kanevos and Sellia, walls ten metres apart at the narrows, and a chapel of Agios Nikolaos in a rock hollow beside the tarmac. Drive it one way and the Kourtaliotiko gorge the other. Road closures and the 2026 fire-season order were checked in October 2026. This is a check of published sources — local, regional and official — made in October 2026, not a field visit.
The honest facts
- What it is
- a gorge of roughly 1.8–2 km carrying Provincial Road 4 of Rethymno from Kanevos south to Sellia and Plakias.
- The walls
- near-vertical; sources quote heights of up to about 600 m, and about 10 m wide at the narrow northern end.
- The chapel
- Agios Nikolaos, built into a rock cavity beside the road; feast day 6 December.
- Getting there
- from Rethymno head south towards Spili; after about 15 km turn right for Sellia–Plakias (the Koxare turn for Kourtaliotiko is a kilometre further).
- On foot
- a boulder-strewn riverbed route from Kanevos, about an hour to the Sellia–Mirthios bridge; usually dry in summer.
- Road record
- closed by a landslide from 13 March 2024 to 29 March 2025; minor landslides again in February 2026.
- Buses
- regional buses normally use the Kourtaliotiko road.
- Fire-season order
- not named in the Region of Crete’s list of 16 June 2026, though two neighbouring forests are.
The drive through the narrows
The gorge is tightest just below Kanevos, the small village at its northern entrance, where the cliffs seem to lean in over the road. It widens southwards into a valley above Plakias, whose beach is partly built from material washed down this gorge. The name comes from the blackbirds (kotsyfas) that nested in the rocks. The road was cut in 1951–53; before that, a donkey path. The rock faces are noted for a high number of Cretan endemic plants.
Agios Nikolaos in the rock
The chapel fills a rocky grotto in a narrow passage and holds an icon of St Nicholas, its altar area separated off in early Christian fashion. It replaced an older, much smaller chapel on the site. Sources disagree on its exact position — upper section, or western slope near the southern exit — but it is visible from the road. Stop only where there is a proper pull-in: the road is narrow and runs under cliffs.
Kotsifou or Kourtaliotiko
The Kourtaliotiko gorge is the busier road: roughly 2.3–3 km depending on the source, walls given as 300–500 m, a year-round river and steps down to a waterfall, exiting at Asomatos on the Preveli side. Kotsifou is shorter and narrower and lands you at Sellia, west of Plakias, the natural line towards Rodakino and Sfakia. Both gorges funnel wind to the coast, part of why Plakias is so often breezy.
The two roads back each other up. From 16 February to 8 April 2026, Provincial Road 9 through Kourtaliotiko was shut for rockfall works and Plakias traffic went through Kotsifou; in 2024–25 it was the reverse.
Rockfall, and what the record says
In March 2024 a slide smashed barriers installed only months earlier. Local press put the debris at over 500 tonnes; the Region’s Directorate of Technical Works described a 70-tonne block (27 m³) from a 40 m face, beyond the barriers’ design load. The road reopened on 29 March 2025. After heavy rain in February 2026, minor landslides were reported in both gorges. A tunnel study for a safer route south has been discussed; no tunnel exists. After hard rain, check Rethymno’s local news first.
The villages at each end, and the fire order
Below Kanevos, in the upper riverbed, a 20 m waterfall drops in from the side gorge of Boutsinas in winter; lower down, towards Plakias, the riverbed passes old watermill ruins. Sellia sits at about 280 m on a mountain saddle, looking over the bays of Plakias and Souda and, on clear days, out to Gavdos. The municipality counts around fifteen Byzantine churches there. Mirthios faces it across the valley, and the road west continues to Rodakino.
The Region of Crete’s civil protection order of 16 June 2026 closes listed areas on category 4 and 5 fire-risk days, exempting residents and workers. Its Rethymno list names the Agouseliana and Agios Ioannis peri-urban forests and part of the Kourtaliotis river — not Kotsifou. No boundary map could be found, so walkers passing near Agouseliana should check the daily fire-risk map and alerts.
The honest downside
The rockfall record is real: a year’s closure from 2024 and small slides again in 2026. The walk has a timing problem too — the Boutsinas waterfall flows only in winter, when rain also loosens rock, while in summer the riverbed is dry and hot. And the best views are from a narrow road under cliffs, exactly where you should not linger.
Worth it if: you are driving to Plakias or Sellia anyway and want to come back a different way from the one you went down, or you are heading west towards Rodakino. Skip it if: you want a real gorge walk with water in it — Kourtaliotiko does that better — or you are travelling by bus.
Photos on this page: the arum by Zsolyomi (CC BY-SA 4.0), and the narrows and the road by Lapplaender (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE), via Wikimedia Commons, resized for the web. The guide is a check of published sources, not a site visit: distances, facilities and access were checked against the sources named for the date shown at the top of this guide. Nobody pays to be featured in a guide — no business, no sponsor, no paid mention, ever. Adverts, where they appear, are labelled as adverts.
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Kanevos to Sellia — The gorge road runs north to south; pair it with the Kourtaliotiko road for a loop to Plakias and back.
1 Kanevos 2 Kotsifou Gorge 3 Sellia
Tap a name to open it in your map app. These are options, not an order — pick by the day you have.
Can you drive through the Kotsifou gorge?
Yes. The Kotsifou gorge carries Provincial Road 4 of Rethymno from Kanevos south to Sellia and Plakias, and most visitors see it from a car. The road was built in 1951–53; before that there was only a donkey path.
Can you hike the Kotsifou gorge?
There is a riverbed route from Kanevos that published guides put at roughly an hour to the bridge between Sellia and Mirthios, with large boulders to climb around. The riverbed is usually dry in summer, and one regional guide warns that heavy rain in recent years has damaged paths in many Cretan gorges.
Is the Kotsifou gorge road open in 2026?
The Kotsifou gorge road was closed by a landslide in March 2024 and reopened on 29 March 2025. Local press reported minor landslides there in February 2026, and the road then carried the Plakias traffic while the Kourtaliotiko road was shut for works until 8 April 2026. Check Rethymno local news after heavy rain.
Which is better, the Kotsifou or the Kourtaliotiko gorge?
The Kourtaliotiko gorge is longer, has a year-round river and a waterfall you can walk down to, and it is the road regional buses normally use. The Kotsifou gorge is shorter and narrower and lands you at Sellia, west of Plakias. Most drivers are best served using one on the way down and the other on the way back.
Is the Kotsifou gorge closed on high fire-risk days?
The Kotsifou gorge is not named in the Region of Crete's fire-season order of 16 June 2026. The order does list the neighbouring peri-urban forests of Agouseliana and Agios Ioannis and part of the Kourtaliotis river, which close to the public on category 4 and 5 fire-risk days.
What is the chapel in the Kotsifou gorge?
The chapel in the Kotsifou gorge is dedicated to Agios Nikolaos and is built into a rock hollow beside the road. It replaced an older, smaller chapel on the same spot, and its feast day is 6 December.
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