The starting points are the towns on the north coast of the Rethymno district. From all these directions, take the "New Road" to Stavromenos, then turn onto the "Old Road", through Perama to Mourtzana, then follow the signs to the right to Garazo and then to the town of Axos. This is a tranquil and beautiful mountain village. Special specialties are the sheep's wool carpets, which can be bought in some shops. The town has been a bishop's seat since the 6th century and has many churches from the Byzantine period.
It is about 8 km further to Anogia. Anogia has a sad history. During the occupation by German troops in World War II, the German general von Kreipe was kidnapped by partisans. In retaliation, the town was completely destroyed and razed to the ground, and all male residents were shot without exception. Despite these terrible, and one must say, devilish events, no resentment is shown towards German visitors.
Behind Anogia, the road turns right, climbing steadily upwards and winding its way through many bends, with wonderful views of the north coast of Crete and the Nida plateau. After about 20 km, the end of the road is reached. From the car park, you can climb to the Idaean Cave (also known as Zeus Cave) at a height of about 1,540 m in about 15 minutes. Incidentally, this cave is competing with the Diktaean Cave of Psichron on the Lassithi plateau for the precedence of having provided the young baby Zeus with a place of refuge to grow up.
Who is actually right in this dispute will probably remain an eternal unsolved mystery.
After Anogia, you have to take the road you came on, because there is no other route in the high mountains of the Ida massif towards the north coast. However, after around 6 km you can take a paved side road to the right to the Asteroskopio observatory. The observatory can be visited at very specific times in the summer months; the times would then have to be asked about on site at the holiday accommodation.
Then drive back along this stretch of road and turn right to Anogia. After Anogia, drive towards Zoniana. Just before the town is the famous Sfenfoni stalactite cave (also sometimes called Sentoni), which can and should also be visited. There are interesting stalactite formations to be seen there. A visit is highly recommended, because it is one of the most beautiful caves of its kind on Crete.
The route back towards the starting point then goes through Livadia and other small mountain villages, although there are several ways to get to Perama. However, all of these smaller roads are easy to drive on. From Perama to the starting point of this trip, you should take the same route as you came.
