[If you first walk from Livádi to Chóra, we refer to the route description of the hike Livádi-Chóra-Livádi.]

On the bus square in Páno Chóra, you notice the kafenío I Míli (The Mills) in the south, as well as the "agora" of Michaïl Bofilios and a couple of small cafés. 

The café I Míli (The mills) in Chóra.

The hiking sign [2] in Chóra.

The road on the right (when facing I Míli) goes into the village and the road on the left runs up to the mills. You take a left and slightly further you take the climbing concrete street on the left of the mills – there is a hiking sign [2] and on a pole you also notice a [2]. After 2 minutes already, the street turns into a very stony monopáti. You go straight up the slope, towards a hiking sign on a pole and in this way you get to a very well-preserved kalderími – past the obvious retaining wall you take a left. All along you will now follow a marvellous old kalderími, running against the barren mountainside. When looking behind you, there are a whole lot of islands: from left to right Náxos, Páros, Antíparos with Ios very far away, the tip of Síkinos, then, more clearly, Sífnos, with a tip of Folégandros, and finally Mílos and Kímolos.

A view back on the beautiful kalderími between Chóra and Gýftika..

You go up gradually now, on one of the most beautiful kalderímia of the Cycladic isles. The trail has some well-preserved retaining walls and it curves to the left, towards the pass with the chapel of Agios Geórgios. After climbing up continuously for 16 minutes, the path becomes rocky again and you climb until you reach the simple chapel on the pass.

In front of you, you can now see a bare slope, with the heliport on the left and far away, on the horizon, a small and square white building – that is the chapel of Profítis Ilías, where you will get to later on. You continue for 12-13 minutes on the stony path, still against the bare, rocky slope, and then you get to a small asphalt road, near a hiking sign. The heliport is situated on the left and you proceed straight ahead for another 4 minutes, until you arrive at the main road – this is Gýftika.

Straight ahead, you see a gravel road with a sign for hike no. [4] to Vársamo and Panagiá.

[In order to follow this hike no. [4], you should take the second cart track on the right; almost immediately, a small sign will then lead you to a narrow path off the left.]

Today, though, you take the trail on the left, straight across the second cart track – so you DO NOT follow the road straight ahead. The trail runs on the left-hand side of this road, parallel to the road and towards an electricity pole. After one minute you walk underneath a carpenter’s workshop (with a barking dog) and then you go up for 9 minutes, up a stony path, until you arrive at a gravel road that runs to a dead end on this place. You thus get to the chapel of Profítis Ilías, but the gate is closed with a padlock.

From the chapel you continue on the gravel and concrete road, but after one minute you keep to the left. After three more minutes you reach a three-forked-junction, where you have to take a sharp right in the direction of Agios Mámas (signpost) – slightly before the turn you can already see this road and you might cut the curve via a vague track.  

You walk on the gravel road for about 8 minutes and you describe a large curve to the left; you pass a small road off the right, leading up to Agios Mámas and you go straight ahead on a vaguer cart track. After another 1-2 minutes you reach a slightly higher hill ridge and you see also to the left a small road that runs to the asphalt road. But you stay following for another 5 minutes the cart track, which seems to curve away too much to the right, and then you get to a gravel road again, which you follow sharply to the left. This road zigzags down until it gets to the asphalt road – in front of you, you can distinguish the large group of islands of Kímolos, Mílos and Antímilos.

At the side of the road, there is a charming little signpost, made out of marble. Amongst others it points to Agia Thékla... 

The small signpost to Agia Thékla.

You follow the asphalt road to the right for about 3 minutes and you ignore the vague tracks off the left and the right. In a curve to the right, you take a gravel road off the left – at this point, you can see the chapel of Agia Marína on the right of the road.

[The end of the path you will follow now, is not that obvious. If you would prefer an easier road to Koutalás, you should stay on the asphalt road for another 15 minutes, until you see the clear hiking sign of hike no. [3] on the left – this is a very safe road to the beach, but it demands some more walking along the asphalt road...]

The alternative path [3] to Koutalás...

Assuming that you will now follow the trail via the Kástro tis Griás, you have to take a left slightly before Agia Marína. It is difficult to find the beginning of the path, but you can see it running down on the left. In any case, you should NOT continue all the way to the 2 small buildings, but you should rather stay on the vague track. You thus descend in a double curve and after 5 minutes you get between walls. These walls run towards one another; you have to go through an iron gate and from then onwards you walk down on a kind of hill ridge (on the map this ridge is called Ríki). Small goat paths meander down on this hill ridge, between crumbled away walls and in the direction of the beautiful summit of the Kástro tis Griás, which is situated between the double bay of Koutalás (on the right) and Gánema (on the left).  

The hill top of the Kástro tis Griás.

In this way you get down in about 18 minutes, sometimes between 2 walls, sometimes zigzagging on a vaguer trail on the hill ridge – but all the time in the same direction. At last, you arrive at the foot of the cone-shaped hill, where you find a trail going to the left and another going to the right.

You take a right and during the following 8 minutes you continue on the trail fairly easily. You then reach a kind of stable, where the trail disappears on the rocky terrain. The only thing you can do now, is to clamber down on some difficult terrain for a few minutes; you keep slightly to the left and you thus get to the asphalt road.

[If you would like to avoid this difficult part, you should take the trail on the left at the foot of the hill – this is probably an easier way down. Alternatively, you can also opt for a very clear trail and, as described above, you can continue on the asphalt road in order to follow trail no. [3].]

After your clamber you should take a left on the asphalt road, until you see a staircase on the right. You go down the staircase, you find a sort of trail on the left of a house and you then get to a gravel road again, leading you to the pebble-beach.

[Hike no. [3] arrives at the other, south-western, end of the beach. Over there, there is a drive to the asphalt road; if you, with your back towards the sea, continue on the road towards the right, you will get to two run-down buildings. Over there you find the beginning – or the end – of hike no. [3]; there is also a trail marker on a pole...]

[The taxi ride back to Livádi (via Chóra) took more than half an hour and costed us 25 €. In the summer 2008 there was a bus back to Chóra and Livádi at 4.40 pm.]

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