and 2009
Walking, hiking and trekking on KYTHNOS
WALKS
(last update on February the 14th 2010)
1. Chóra -
Dryopída
(situation 2000)
3. Chóra - Kolofoniá - Apókrousi and back
(november 2010)
4. Chóra - Loutrá
5. Chóra - Panagía tou Níkous - Agios Geórgios
- Agios Ioánnis and back
(november 2010)
6. Chóra - Panagía tou Níkous - Agios Stéfanos ***
7. Chóra - Profitis Ilias and back ***
8. Dryopída - Agios Konstantínos - Episkopí
(november 2010)
9. Dryopída - Léfkes and back
(november 2010)
10. Dryopída - Mathiá - Kaló Livádi - Antónides - Kanála
(november 2010)
11. Episkopí - Apokroússi - Kolónna and back
12.
Episkopí - Dryopída and back
(French)
13. Episkopí - Vryókastro and back
14. Kanála - Agios Konstantínos - Flambouriá and back
(november 2010)
15. Loutrá - Apókrousi and back
(november 2010)
16.
Loutrá - Chóra and back ***
(French)
17.
Loutrá - Paleókastro and back ***
(French)
18. Mérichas - Agios Konstantínos - Kanála
(november 2010)
19. Mérichas - Dryopída
In addition, there are fairly frequent connections with the harbour of Lávrio, via Kéa, and there is also the Aiolos Kentéris which takes care of the connections with the islands of Tínos and Sýros, amongst others.
You reach the port of Mérichas at Kýthnos after a boat trip of approximately two hours and a half. The surface area of Kýthnos is 99 km² and it has a population of about 1600 people.
Kýthnos is a rather
dry and arid island; some villages are really nice, especially Chóra or
Messariá. There are majestic coastlines and beautiful beaches to seduce the
tourists.
Mérichas is a picturesque fishing port with some cosy hotels and restaurants. There are busses between Mérichas and on the one hand Chóra and Loutrá, and on the other hand Dryopída and Kanála.
Chóra is situated at about 5 km from Mérichas and it provides for some nice walks. It is really pleasant to walk in the streets, decorated with white floor paintings with little flowers and ships.
In Loutrá, even further to the north, you can find wells containing sulphur and iron.
Dryopída,
4,5 km south of Mérichas is impressive because a deep valley divides the
village in two neighbourhoods. Another 5 km further to the south lies Kanála,
with a church in the middle of a beautiful pine forest.
There are a lot of marvellous beaches at Kýthnos: slightly north of Mérichas there is the beach of Martinákia; and a little more to the north you find the magnificent beaches of Episkopí and Apókrousi, and the picturesque peninsula of Kolónna. Interesting as well are a couple of beaches that are not that well known, such as Agios Stéfanos, Agios Ioánnis or Kaló Livádi on the east coast, Flamboúria and Agios Dimítrios on the west coast.
The fact that Kýthnos does not easily reveal its attractions was,
until recently, also due to the lack of decent hiking maps.
No maps on Kýthnos have been published in the Anávasi-series and
the Road-map no 106 can only serve as a road map - there are no
hiking trails at all indicated on this map.
However, in spring 2009 a very good map appeared in the excellent Skaï-series
(Terrain Maps). This map gives you a whole lot of monopátia, although not
all of them are mentioned - like the trail from Chóra to Loutrá
(on the right of the asphalt road), the beautiful path from Chóra,
via the Panagía tou Níkous, to Agios Stéfanos, and the trail from Dryopída,
via the chapel of Agios Konstantínos to Episkopí.
Nevertheless, this map is a great improvement for hikers!
In fact, you can really make a lot of beautiful hikes on Kýthnos - at the back of the Skaï-map you find 13 suggestions for hikes; on this site we will eventually describe 20 hikes, of which the most beautiful are: the hike from Chóra (or Messariá) to the Profítis Ilías (334 m hight), from Loutrá to the Paleókastro, from Loutrá to Chóra and from Chóra to Agios Stéfanos.
On
March 25th 2010 visitor n° 100 000 was on this site!
Since then, this Kythnos page got
visitors.
The fishing port of Mérichas
The monastery above
on the Profítis Ilías
The sand tongue of Kolónna
The church of Panagía Nikous, outside of Chóra
Sunset on the beach of Episkopí