The path to Sinetí on Andros.

You can find any further information about a holiday in Greece on http://www.belvilla.co.uk/holiday-cottage-greece 

HOLIDAY HOUSES
See the website http://www.casamundo.co.uk/greece/ 
  

The beautiful path to Léfkes on Páros.

The  monopáti to the Profítis Ilías on Kýthnos.

A couple of publications on hiking in Greece

There are not so many decent publications available on hiking in Greece:

* Marc Dubin, “Trekking in Greece”: very comprehensive with regard to the whole of Greece, but rather old and not enough details on the islands we are interested in. The indications are often too short as well. Still, this is an interesting book!

* “Walking the Aegean Islands”, Graf Editions (translated from the German title: “Wandern auf den Kykladen”): beautifully edited, with many interesting maps. Maybe, certain hikes run along regular roads too often, or there is not even a trail you can follow. But still, this is a very interesting little book.

From the same author you can also find the nicely published "Naxos and the Small Cyclades", with 30 hikes.

In May 2006 the same author published "Western & Southern Cyclades", with 51 walks.

* Dans les Montagnes de Grèce, Editions Olizane, Genève: this French publication only contains two short contributions on the Cycladic isles and these descriptions are very general. For the rest of Greece this book might be useful.

NEW!! In March 2009 the first real good travel guide, solely devoted to the Cycladic isles, appeared, in the series of Evasion, by the publishing house of Hachette. This French travel guide is put together by the French journalist Maud Vidal-Naquet and is entitled "Iles grecques. Les Cyclades".
The guidebook is expertly written and it shows great admiration for the islands. In addition to a short chapter on Athens, it contains nearly all of the inhabited Cyclades. The author gives very clear surveys of the places of interest on each of the islands, with often very correct personal appreciations (with symbols such as little stars and little hearts for “places that touch your heart’).
In the second part of the guide, each island is discussed separately, this time on a practical level – a lot of interesting websites and addresses are given, with some real good addresses for accommodation and restaurants; often, also useful facts are mentioned on hiking, diving, horseback- and donkey-riding, windsurfing, etc.
There is also a short part called "Repères", with an overview of the history of the Cyclades, a couple of pages devoted to Cycladic art and some pages with interesting books, films and music.
Finally, there is a small chapter on the practical organisation of your trip, with - again - many interesting addresses and suggestions.
This guidebook is nicely illustrated and it contains some nice maps – there is only one word to describe it: a must!

A couple of other publications

If you would like to read an old description of the Cycladic isles, there is the truly interesting "The Cyclades" by J. Theodore Bent. This is a great travel book from 1885 which was re-published in the year 2002

A lot of details about Amorgós and the small Cycladics are to be found in "Amorgós und kleine Ostkykladen" by Dirk Schönrock.

The path to the monastery of Panachrántou on Andros.

There are not really a lot of decent websites on hiking on the Cycladic isles.

We do recommend, though, to have a look at the elaborate site "Walking the Greek Islands", the website of Harald Haughli, 
and on the site "Eva's Hikes in Greece".

For Tínos, there is the excellent site of Karolos Merlin, see http://www.tinos.tv 

* Since 2002 some very beautiful maps are being published in the series Topo; the publisher is Anavasi, 34, Orminiou  GR - 11 528 Greece. You can buy these maps on the islands and on the airport.
In Belgium they are for sale in, amongst others, the map stores of Atlas en Zanzibar in Antwerp and Ghent.
For other countries, see also www.mountains.gr 
 Many monopatia are indicated on these maps and they are therefore rather indispensable. The ones that have been published so far deal with the islands of Sérifos, Sífnos, Amorgós, Síkinos, Kéa, Andros, Sýros and Náxos - Páros and Santoríni are less successful, especially when it comes to the indications of the hiking trails.

* In the course of spring 2009 a lot of new maps appeared in the series of Skaï-maps. These maps are also very detailed, with sometimes more recent inofrmation than the Anávasi-maps.
See also the shop of Skaï.   

* At the Road Bookshop, Ippokratous 39, Athens, another interesting series of maps is being published. These maps give also some indication of certain monopatia. Andros, Mílos, Santoríni, Folégandros, Kéa, Páros, Náxos, Kímolos and Mílos, etc. are already for sale.

* In 2001 the local authorities of Amorgós have published a beautiful guide in Greek and in English; the title of this edition is "A Travelogue of Amorgos. Footpaths of historical and cultural interest." It is a marvellous little book with great pictures and with very good maps of the 6 official hikes. For now, this guide is only available at the town hall of Chóra. 

The walk from Chóra to Egiáli on Amorgós.

The marvellous kalderími to Chóra on Sérifos

The path from Firá to Ia on Santoríni

Some advice before departure

* If possible, never hike all by yourself – or take a cell phone with you. You can also leave some information on where you go to at the reception of the hotel or with the people you stay with.

* Always take enough to drink.

If the indications for these hikes are not sufficient, and if you do get lost in one way or another, these suggestions might be able to keep you on the right track:

1. Many Greek farmers tend to close off their own paths by means of a fence or some thorn bushes – in general you should never cross these blockings, as these paths usually come to an end on a field.

2. When you do get to one of those fields, never try to climb over the stone walls: this is not a good idea and in the end you will definitely have to turn back.

3. The tracks of donkey dung are usually very good guidelines: there are always a lot of these tracks (fresh or dry) on often-used, so good trails. This means that if you hesitate at a junction you always have to choose the path with most donkey tracks.

Hiking time