Kíni - Delfíni - Varvaroússa and back

Evaluation: This walk connects the well- known beach of Kíni with the less popular beach of Delfíni, and then continues with a beautiful path to the lovely and lonely beach of Varvaroússa. Starting from here, there is another path to Papoúri - see the hike Papoúri – Varvaroússa.
This promenade that connects the three beaches, is worth ***.
[Update by Raymond on May the 14^th, 2022.]
[The translation of this walk was made with some help of Google translate - so, please, do not mind the mistakes...]

Estimated time: The actual walking time (AWT) lasts for about 25 minutes until Delfíni, and then you will need 40 minutes to reach Varvaroússa. The way back takes almost as much, about 1h05 in total. The AWT thus amounts to 2h10, but the total time (TWT) can be the double – this depends on the time you will spend on the beaches...
The way out or back is 2,83 km long. We walked from 11am to 5.30pm.

Route description:  [There is a bus connection between Ermoúpoli and Kíni, but you can of course take a taxi or a rented car to Kíni.]

(0h00) In Kíni you walk to the right along the beach promenade; you thus pass the quay with the fishermen's boats, then you reach the end of the quay with a small pier and a small lighthouse. You go up the long concrete staircase and after 4 minutes you get to a small house with some barking – but tied up – dogs; this is the start of the beautiful path, running all the way above the sea. After a few minutes already you can see the small island of Delfíni; the trail is easy and very pleasant, although the rocky capes are not really inviting.

(0h17) After some 15 minutes the bay of Delfíni appears and another 5 minutes later you arrive at the beach already. The beach consists of pebbles and sand; there is no shadow, but there is a tavern at the far end.

[Already in 2007, I had tried to walk up to the beach of Varvaroússa: following the Anávasi-map, I thought that the trail that continued at the end of the beach and near the edge of the water, was the right path - this trail however came to a dead end after some time ...

In August 2008, Philippe Lutz sent me a mail with information about the right path! He wrote: "The right path does not follow the sea, but goes much higher. The trailhead is at the back of the tavern Delfini. "
With these clarifications, I was able to find the right path, on May 26, 2009 and later in May 2022.

You could also have a look at the magnificent site of Philippe, with beautiful photos of the Cyclades – see  www.la-photo-of-jour.com!]

(0h27) You thus not take a path at the end of the beach of Delfíni that continues straight, but you should walk a bit to the right, inland, to pass through the narrow passage between a wall and the restaurant.
When the gravel road turns right beyond another restaurant, you take a LEFT: behind a wall with an open gate, there is a small road that starts.

(0h36) So the trail is quite wide, but it gets narrower after 7-8 minutes; it passes through a gap in a wall, then it meanders higher, with a beautiful view of the bay.
The climb is constant, the path is narrow and after a few minutes you still cross a passage in a wall. You now continue more or less flat around a trough-shaped depression. You then climb quite quickly towards a rocky hill ridge: at the top, you can enjoy a truly wonderful view over the bay of Varvaroússa with in front of it in the deep blue waters the islet of the same name.

(0h49) Pay attention now: do not go too far on the cape - unless you want to take a few photos - but continue to the right through a breach in the wall (red mark). You then continue obliquely to the right on a red and brown path and you descend quickly. A few minutes later, you keep to the right and you continue your descent on the brownish path that descends obliquely to the right. After 6 minutes, you describe a left turn towards the beach. The last stretch runs between the vegetation, you veer left again and you cross a breach in a wall to arrive on the magnificent beach, right at the water's edge. (1h05)

Varvaroússa is truly an amazing beach, composed both of sand and pebbles, and you can easily spend a few hours over here. There are only a few trees, but the water is calm; the sea is shallow, so the water is not too cold, even so early in the year. There is a little island in front of the bay – and since the beach is totally deserted, you might even want to swim naked.

[You could continue to Papoúri, see the second part of the walk Papoúri - Varvaroússa.
We will now describe in detail the way back to Delfíni and Kíni, in case you come from Papoúri, because in this case you didn’t follow the way out Kíni - Delfíni - Varvaroússa ...]

(1h05) The trailhead is almost invisible, as the path runs on a slope covered with green bushes.
But at the end of the beach (to the left, facing the sea), there is next to the edge of the water a breach in the wall that descends to the sea: it is here that a brownish path starts winding up. You go immediately to the left to arrive on the brownish path, where you continue to the right and up, between the bushes. You climb very quickly on an obvious path, but after 6-7 minutes you turn right and the climb becomes less steep.

(1h19) You thus arrive easily in front of the gap in the wall on the rocky hill crest. Here you can continue to the left and the southeast (red arrow). On the narrow cape, you find indeed an obvious trail that continues to the left – by the way, you see already the bay of Delfíni in front of you.
You also enjoy a nice view on many islands – you can see (from the left to the right) Sérifos with the islet Vous in front of it, then the triangular shape of Serfópoula, the long island of Kýthnos, and Kéa, just to the west; closer to you, you still see Giáros, the tip of Evia and to the far right the tip of Andros.
The descent is pleasant and very obvious.

(1h28) After another 9 minutes, you again pass through a breach in a wall and you continue to go down. Four minutes later, you get to the gravel road that you follow straight of course.
You arrive down after a total of 34 minutes, not far from the beach of Delfíni. You take a right alongside the two restaurants and you arrive on the beach.

(1h41) You follow the edge of the water for 6 minutes and at the end of the beach, you find the continuation of the path (hiking sign Kíni). The return from the lonely beach of Delfíni to the more touristic beach of Kíni is obvious and requires approximately 25 minutes. (2h12)

[Usually, the last bus from Kíni to Ermoúpolis is at 5.20pm or at 8.20pm.]