Evaluation: This hike takes place in the northern part of the island of Sérifos and the goal is the lonely beach of Sykamiá. It follows beautiful trails that are well marked: the way marking is a mix of old purple circles + 6, new red and white platelets [6] and red and white stripes =. Because of the very nice trails and the splendid beach of Sykamiá (and maybe also of Skála), this hike deserves the maximum rate of ****.
[Update by Raymond on the 5^th of October 2015 and the 14^th of September 2017.]
[The translation of this walk was made with some help of Google translate - so, please, do not mind the mistakes...]

Estimated time: The duration of this hike is approximately 2h50 (AWT): it indeed will cost you 1h20 to reach the beach of Sykamiá and the return route takes a little more time.
The total walking time (TWT) depends on how much time you will spend on the beach – we walked from 10.30am until 5.30pm. The way there alone is 3,76 km long.

Route description: [As there are very few buses that connect Chóra and Livádi with Kallítsos (Kéndarchos) via Pýrgos, the best solution is to rent a car (30-35 € / day). If you leave the car on the road below Pýrgos, you will see that the start of the hike is well marked by a sign [6], to the left of the road.]

The hiking sign for walk [6].

[Possibly, you can first take the stairs up to the right of the road, to visit the village of Pýrgos and go up to the church of Agios Nikólaos. This elegant and very small church is often open.

The little church in Pýrgos.

The interior of the church in Pýrgos.

After this short visit, you have to retrace your steps down to the main road where walk [6] begins.]

(0h00) Next to the obvious hiking sign [6] you take the very clear and beautiful rocky trail that descends to Galaní. The descent is a bit difficult because of slippery stones, but you are accompanied by many figures 6, painted in white on a purple circle. After 7-8 minutes, the path gets to a rocky gravel road, next to a ruin - on the left, the road leads to Panagiá. You go to the right for one moment (red arrow), but then your path [6] continues to the right again.

(0h08) You always go down fairly quickly, the numerous [6] are superfluous. After about 5 minutes, you pass under some eucalyptus trees next to a house, the first trees in a dry landscape - there is probably a source not far from here. You wind down toward a chapel with a bright blue roof, with a palm tree on the right. You pass to the left of the chapel, on a kalderími, a path with heavy curb stones, and you descend in zigzags.

The descent to Galaní.

(0h20) You get to a gravel road, but your monopáti continues obliquely to the left (small sign [6]). The valley in which you descend is green, while the trail is paved for some moments. You cross a little bridge and go up on the opposite slope; a few minutes later, you keep to the right and you continue to climb. You thus arrive without difficulty near the first houses of Galaní on a concrete road.

(0h36) You follow this road for 2 minutes to the left and enter the village: you go down while keeping to the left and after some 30 steps, you do NOT take the staircase up to the right (direction village, church and monastery, also marked with [6]!), but you continue to descend on the street STRAIGHT AHEAD [6]. You keep to the left on a staircase and you leave the village.
You arrive on an asphalt road – but you do NOT take the attractive path that starts immediately on the left ...
You describe a left turn, and after 3 minutes, you see a hiking sign + [6] that indicates a path down to the left.

The trail head [6] in Galaní.

(0h44) You go down during 3 minutes and then you follow for many minutes an almost flat gravel path [6].

The path that descends to Sykamiá with different way markers.

Slowly, the bay appears and you can admire in the meantime the valley beside you, full of reeds and some pigeon houses. This valley rises to the interior of the island as a narrow green ribbon and winds up almost until Panagiá. After an almost flat end of 9 minutes, you have a very nice view of the bay and the beach, and the descent begins on a beautiful rocky trail, sometimes paved, sometimes bordered by heavy curbs.

(1h06) After a beautiful descent of 8-9 minutes, you see in front of you an overgrown  path that continues straight ahead, but you should go sharply to the left (arrow and [6]), then to the right, until you reach the bottom of the valley (=, [6] and little arrows).
The narrow trail veers to the right and you thus arrive at a gravel road along the river bed and you go right of course. You cross a brook and a little later another one.
After another 4-5 minutes, you keep to the left, but some minutes later, near a low wall with a few palm trees, you keep twice to the right and continue straight towards the sea. The beach is very nice and wide and  is usually completely deserted. There are pebbles, but in the water the beach is sandy. Large tamarisk provide a lot of shade and there are even some benches. (1h22)

The beach of Sykamiá.

Big trees and abandoned boats...

[If you want to continue to the still more solitary beach of Skála, you proceed to the right side of this beach and you climb the rocks (in between some fishing nets).

The rather vague beginning of the trail to the beach of Skála.

You find a vague track to the left, and a few white markings. You seek a passage at about 5 meters above the water, towards the cape. It takes a bit of flair, but you can continue quite easily.
After about 6 minutes, be careful: you see some very visible cairns, that seem to block the passage - it is here that you must go up to the right! And almost immediately, you find many white circles that guide you on a path that now is very clear, to the other side of the cape.
After 10 minutes, you cross that cape and Sykamiá disappears behind you, while in front of you you can see already the fairly large bay and the beach of Skála.
After another 6 minutes, you reach a small pebble beach; on the opposite side, the path continues, always with a clear signposting. The monopáti is rocky now, but you can follow it easily. In the end, you pass through a gap in a wall and the beach of Skála is already very close.

The solitary beach of Skála.

After 12 minutes since you crossed the cape, you arrive at the small idyllic beach with 4-5 tamarisks. One thing is certain: you are alone here!

The return route to Sykamiá follows the same nice route, high above the rocky coast. After 2 minutes, you pass through the breach in the wall, after 6 minutes, you cross the small valley with the tiny beach and after exactly 12 minutes, you cross the cape and Sykamiá appears in front of you.

Returning to the bay of Sykamiá.

You descend until you see the cairns and you continue to the left, while searching for an easy passage on the rocks - some white markings or arrows show the path... After another 6-7 minutes, you arrive safely on the beach.

The detour to the beach of Skála takes 22 minutes for the way there and 20 minutes for the return route.]

(1h22) The way back from Sykamiá follows exactly the same route and is quite obvious.
From the middle of the beach, in between the two groups of tamarisks, you go to the right and soon reach the road between the reeds.
You arrive in this way to the right of the wall with the palm trees behind it; a little later, just past the wall, you go to the left – the concrete road on the right leads to Panagiá, see the walk Galaní – Sykamiá – Panagiá – Galaní. You continue always straight following the sandy road: it becomes more stony and Galaní appears in front of you.

(1h35) Two minutes after a little concrete building and just past a river bed and a large tree, you see the side path on the left side. This path is rather narrow, but soon you will discover the beginning of the old monopáti. First, there are some steps to the left (= and [6]), but after 2 minutes, you veer sharply to the right [6] (with the overgrown path on the left side).

(1h38) The beautiful trail climbs gradually, with many red marks. After 9 minutes, you pass to the right of a ruin, and the climb gets steeper now – but then you continue more flatly. The view on Pýrgos, situated on the slope of the Petriás, is very nice.

The nice monopáti to Galaní.

(1h55) Some 5-6 minutes later, you can take some rest on a beautiful spot, sitting on a low wall in the shade of an olive tree. To the right, you see the green valley of the Kálamos, and also the very green valley of the Kalavrádos that rises in the direction of Pýrgos and Panagiá.
After 11 magnificent minutes and an ultimate climb of 3 minutes, you get to the asphalt road.

(2h02) You take a right of course. In the village of Galani, you simply follow the red marks [6]: at the end of the road, you take the concrete street to the left. Then you take the white staircase on the left, but you keep to the right on it. You do NOT continue to go up to the left – this is the direction of the monastery -, but you keep to the right and so you get to the concrete road that leaves the village [6].

(2h11) In front of you there are two valleys, with two chapels with a blue roof. You will now first follow the concrete road on the left-hand side of the left-hand valley. Already after 2 minutes, just past the final house, you find a path off the RIGHT ([6] and a red arrow to Pýrgos): in this way you easily descend into the valley, and past the bridge, you go up again.

(2h27) After 6 minutes, you get to the gravel road, where you go to the left for some moments, and then you continue up to the right, 20-30 meters BEFORE the palm tree (trail marker [6]). You go up in zigzags, you pass on the right-hand side of a small chapel with a blue roof, you continue to go up and a little later on you walk next to a house, underneath eucalyptus trees. You still go up and a little further, you keep to the right (no mark). You reach in this way the gravel road, next to a stable - there is a white chapel further on to the right. You go left for a moment.

(2h41) The road to the right leads to Panagía (see the long walk Chóra – Kallítsos – monastery Taxiárchoon – Galaní – Panagiá – Gýftika – Chóra), but should continue straight ahead of course, to Pýrgos ([6] on an stone).
The following climb is quite steep, and after 8-9 minutes, you reach the asphalt road below Pýrgos ... Your car is nearby. (2h50)