Estimated time:  You only have to devote some three hours to the hike on its own (actual walking time). However, it is also nice to stroll around for a while in Chóra and the rest of the afternoon you can definitely spend on the beach of Psilí Ammos.

Route description: When walking alongside the port of Livádi with its cafes and restaurants, you have to take the road off the left immediately past the little bed of a river crossed by a bridge, and just before restaurant Perseús. This road follows the bed of a river, in between high fringes of reeds. After some 5 minutes you get to a bridge and you take a right, on the main road to Chóra. On the left you see the power station of this island. About 200 metres further, where the road slightly bends to the left, you see the beginning of the beautiful ancient staircase to Chóra off the right – you have now left the port some 10 minutes ago. Once in a while these steps cross the main road, but they always clearly go straight and upwards; you can count the steps in between these crossings: first 79 steps, then 87, then 37, then 38 ...At this point you have to follow the main road to the left for a while and then a sloping concrete path of about 20 metres. In this way you will again reach the ancient staircase, which has been broken off by some road constructions. After 30 steps you get to a small school. At the sign to the museum you continue further up and after another 25 steps you arrive at the folk museum, the secondary school and the war monument (you have now been climbing for about 20 minutes).

After a short break you go further up on the broad staircase: 61 steps later you reach a little square and a church with a blue dome.

If you want to go to the "kástro" to admire the view from the highest chapel of this village, you have to continue upwards at this point, by following the signs "kástro" . Afterwards it is fairly easy to descend again to the platía (= the main square).

The view  from the highest chapel in Chóra towards the bay of Livádi. The  island of Sífnos is visible in the background.

You can also take the easy way and go straight to the platía from hereon: this means that you first take 12 steps going up on the right, then to the left for a short while and then again 16 steps up. In this way you will reach the bend in the main road, which you follow to the right for about 50 metres. Then you take the first flight of steps on the right, which brings you back on the clear, ancient stone steps which meander upwards some 70 more steps. Having reached the top you still have to follow a little street to the left (there is a sign ‘platia/square’) and you will thus arrive at the very cosy square with the church, the town hall and two kafenía. This is a good opportunity to relax for a while and drink or eat something at the outdoor cafe. Afterwards you pass the church on the left hand side and you descend the steps towards the road and the bus square.

The platia in Chora

[Obviously, you can also take the bus from Livádi to this place, but still, you do have to make the hike following those ancient steps at least once!]

In between the shop of Michail Bofilios and the kafenion I Mili (The Mills) there is a flight of steps going down steeply. These steps bend to the left immediately and after 10 metres you go further down on a concrete path off the right. This path descends steeply again to the left after some 20 metres (at the house with number 484) and then finally turns into a paved street. A little further you will see a small red-and-white sign with the number 1 on a telephone pole – you will see this indication a couple of more times on this hike.

Some 5 minutes later you will leave the last houses behind you; the trail is now again covered with concrete. Another 20 metres further you DO NOT bend to the right - on a road leading to a cemetery and eventually back to Livádi…. Instead you take the rocky monopáti going straight, in the direction of a high aerial. When looking in the distance you will be able to discern the trail going over the next slope and going up to a chapel with a white arch – you will also reach that spot on the hike to Kéndarchos.

A little further the trail gets vaguer and it splits up. You continue on the left, alongside a kind of wall. The trail gets clearer again and it descends to a stone bridge, painted in white (after another 5 minutes). To the left of this bridge there is a well-maintained watering place with a tap – on the balustrade of the bridge you will again see a sign with the number 1.

The trail goes further up and it sometimes even turns into a beautiful stone staircase, a kalderími. Almost on top, at the foundation of a stone building, the path goes straight (there is also a number 1), in the direction of a chapel. At this point, though, you leave the hike to Kéndarchos and you take a path going down on the right, in between two walls (it has now been 25 minutes since you have left Chora).

You walk down in between two stables and after some 5 minutes you will see a big concrete bridge over a rather green valley in front of you. You continue along a rocky path roughly in the direction of the bridge and after about 10 minutes you easily get to the gravel road coming from the bridge.

If you do not walk towards the bridge to visit the frogs, you have to follow the gravel road to the right. After some 30 metres (at a stable on the right hand side) you pass a path going between two walls off the left, while you continue on this gravel road.

[If you do follow this path on the left, you will get a beautiful view on a real gorge of a kind of mountain river after a few minutes. Also along this trail you will get to the puddles with frogs, after some climbing over rocks. Afterwards you have to return to the gravel road.]

Another 100 metres further on this road there is again a path off the left in between two low walls: this is the trail you have to take now on this hike to Psilí Ammos (by continuing on the gravel road you will go back to Livádi – see the hike Livádi-Chora-Livádi).

This path off the left descends rather abruptly towards a dam under construction. After some 5 minutes, though, you have to keep to the right and you will walk flatly, in order not to get in a small valley to the right of the big one. Eventually, however, you do have to zigzag downwards over a narrow path into the smaller valley. You will get to the bottom of this valley to the right of two olive trees.

You cross the bottom of the valley between oleanders and you go up again towards the left in between two walls, on the right hand side of some ruins and the electricity and telephone cables. After some 5 minutes you reach the upper part of a smaller dam – together with the bigger dam under construction, this dam will cause the valley to be totally flooded in the near future.  

As a result of the construction of the dams, the situation had changed drastically and Eddie McLaney thus advises the following:

The last part of the walk to Psilí Ammos has been overtaken by the dam. Where the instruction says ‘This path off the left descends   ‘, You should take this path between stone walls, but as it approaches the dam follow it through a broken down wall to the right and follow it to the gravel road that goes up to the right of the larger of the dam walls. This leads you out to the main road, which you can follow down to Psilí Ammos.

If you follow the path earlier ‘to get a beautiful view on a real gorge…’ this is a way-marked path that leads across the gorge on a lovely path to emerge finally on a concrete road that starts beside the smaller of the dam walls. Going from the other end, follow the concrete road  (from the smaller dam wall) past a couple of new houses. It becomes a dirt road and where it swings right go straight on, on the way-marked path.

On top, you have to cross the gravel road next to the dam. You then follow a vague path between small bushes going down over the hill, in order to cut off the bend in the road. After that you take this gravel and concrete road for another 20 metres. When you get a clear view on the beach of Psilí Ammos you take another path going down off the right. This path leads you directly to the first – and the most typical – of two taverns. It has now been 20 minutes since you have started to follow the gravel road after leaving the big concrete bridge.

The beach of Psilí Ammos is a beautiful sandy beach with a lot of shade and with two taverns. On this beach you can easily spend the rest of the day.

The bay of Psilí Ammos

And finally, to return to Livádi, a lot of modifications have taken place as a result of the construction of the dams and of the road from Livádi to Kéndarchos. Eddie McLaney gives this advice: 

"Leaving Psilí Ammos, walk up the main road toward the dam. Look out for a path leaving the road to the left, leading uphill. This crosses a dirt road then arrives again at the new road. Go right a few metres and take a path on the left dropping down into the valley below the larger of the dam walls. Go left to arrive on the beach at Livádi – no lorries now. Alternatively, the walk along the main road to Livádi is pleasant in low season – nice views and little traffic.

These were the old instructions, probably redundant right now: "To return you have to go back to the tavern and take the same path which leads upwards underneath the telephone cables. This path will get to a gravel road and you have to follow this road to the left for about 100 metres. The gravel road turns into concrete and after about 50 metres, where the concrete comes to an end, you will find a path going up on the left. This path will cross another gravel road, just before the top of the hill. You have to continue straight, though. From this hilltop you can see Livádi in front of you – some 10 minutes after your departure from the beach.

At this point you can cross the new road to continue the path further down – not without some difficulties (it is possible to climb a little to the right in order to better reach the trail). In this way you go further down for about 10 minutes, in the direction of the valley with (in 2004) a lot of piles of rocks and pebbles. Having reached the bottom you will be able to climb onto the road. You follow this road to the left. You then walk through the valley for about 15 minutes. This valley was in 2004 nearly destroyed by trucks, for the construction of the dam, and leads you between high fringes of reeds a little further on. In this way you will get to the extreme left hand side of the bay of Livádi, next to the cafe-restaurant Issalos."

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