Platýs Gialós - Paránga - Paradise and back |
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Evaluation: This is a short hike, with as sole purpose to bring you to the very famous beach of Paradise. It gets an evaluation of **. Estimated
time: The
actual walking time to Paradise only takes about 30 minutes, just like
the return route. This is an ideal hike for a ‘peaceful’ day on a
(very busy) beach... Route
description:
[In order to get to the bus station that serves the beaches in the
southwest of Mýkonos (Ornós, Platýs Gialós, Paradise and Super
Paradise), you should traverse the entire town of Chóra, in
south-western direction. When departing from the quay you take the
street at the far end of the quay, on the left of the National Tourism
Organisation. You follow the Odós Georgoúli and the Odós Mitropóleoos
and by continuing in the same direction you will automatically reach the
bus station. There are busses to Platýs Gialós every hour.] (0h00) From
the bus stop in Platýs Gialós you go down the concrete street, until
you reach the beach. Usually there are sunshades and deck chairs
everywhere, and the entire bay is full of hotels! There is no natural
shade, but the sandy beach is really very beautiful. From here you can
also take one of the small boats bringing you to Paradise (4 €) and
Super Paradise (6 €). The beach of Platýs Gialós. You walk along the
coast line and at the end of the beach you go up the concrete slope for
a short while. On the right of the first house you will then find a
trail to the right (there is a blue arrow and an indication to Paranga
and Paradise). (0h05) This
used to be a very pleasant path, but nowadays a lot of villas have been constructed along the trail and
there are even lights... After 3-4 minutes you get to a sandy road and
you pass the much quieter little beach of Agia Anna. Once you have
passed this beach you take the sandy road again, thus crossing a small
tongue of land. Because of the reed fence of the beach of Paránga you
might walk a little too much to the right, so slightly further on you
should somewhat keep to the left. In this way, you arrive at the
beautiful and peaceful beach of Paránga – although this beach as well
is full of sunshades and deck chairs. (0h18) For
a while the path becomes narrower when it gets to a rocky crest and then
you have to continue for a couple of minutes along a very ugly and rusty
fence. At the corner of this fence you turn to the left and you cross
another small cape. Further on you should really watch out not to hurt
yourself as a result of this fence – you can already see Paradise
in front of you. |
(0h25) After 6-7 minutes you leave the fence behind you and you proceed for a few minutes past a couple of villas. Thereafter you walk on a lonely path for another 4-5 minutes; you first keep a little to the left and by doing so you pass another cape on your right-hand side. The rocky coast on your way to Paradise. You
now walk along a wall (probably a sound-deadening one!) and after half
an hour all together you get to the beach of Paradise. The beach of Paradise. Since the 80ies
the beach of Paradise – and Super Paradise, which is situated a little
further down - is known
among youngsters as one of the trendiest places of the Cyclades,
comparable to the Far Out Village on the beach of Mylopótas at Ios.
There is a camping and a lot of bars and restaurants with loud music
next to the beach – which means that there is more eating and drinking
than swimming going on here. There are quite a few trees on the beach
and the water of the sea forms a kind of swimming pool, because, after
about 20 metres, there is a rocky ridge in the sea, running almost
parallel to the beach. On this ridge you should watch out for sea
urchins though... The part of the beach to the far right (when facing
the sea) is the most recent and it is a kind of nudist beach. Food and
drinks are very expensive over there, but it is not a bad place to spend
a few hours if you are fond of music and cocktails. On the way back,
after about 5 minutes, you should watch out to keep to the left of a
small group of villas. At Paránga you should arrive on the left-hand
side of the reed fence, obviously. You can hear the bass sounds of
Paradise for about 20 minutes! [In Platýs Gialós
there are busses every hour, always at 10 minutes past the hour. For
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