Zaros Lake | Heraklion Crete | Relaxing while Tasting Salmons and Trouts

Author

George Papadellis | SG Head

Zaros Lake (or else Votomos, means a place with a lot of water in Greek) is situated on the south slopes of Mountain Psiloritis in Heraklion Crete.

Photo by: iStock.com | Gatsi

The water of Lake Zaros comes from the overflow of the Amati springs, at an altitude of 400 meters. It supplies the rivers and streams of the area and it ends up at the Dam of Phaneromeni (created in 1987 by the Forest Service to store this AA-quality - in terms of physical, chemical, stability and microbiological terms - water). Before the dam, the area was a small wetland, in the crater of the springs.

The Area of Zaros Crete | Photo by: Tango7174, Crete Zaros1 tango7174, cropped by Shiny Greece, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Area of Zaros

The lake of Zaros, located 1 Km north of Zaros village and 45 Km south-west of Heraklion city, is the gate of the natural path leading to the wood of Rouvas through the gorge of Rouvas.

Photo by: Roberto Strauss from Frankfurt am Main, Deutschland, Zaros mountain trail (14044627236), CC BY-SA 2.0

What to Do in Zaros Lake

The shores host cafes to relax, restaurants to taste salmon and trout (bred near the lake), picnic permanent equipment and a playground for children. You can aksi visit the Monastery of Agios Nikolaos.

Monastery of Agios Nikolaos Zaros Crete | Photo by: Tango7174, Crete Zaros2 tango7174, cropped by Shiny Greece, CC BY-SA 4.0

The most well known Zaros Lake restaurant is: Zaros Lake

How to get there