Estimated time: It will take you 50 minutes to hike to the Panagia tou Kargiávli and then another 25 minutes to Agios Nikólaos T' Aeriná. It will then only cost you 30 minutes to walk back to Vathý. This is thus a fairly short hike, with an actual walking time of 1h45. 

Route description: Leaving from Kamáres and with a transfer in Artemónas or Apollonía, the bus trip to Vathý will take about one hour. In Vathý you can get to the peaceful beach in a couple of minutes by taking a small concrete road from the bus terminal. You follow the beach for about 60-70 metres until you get to the pay phone (two houses further on you can see the taverna Manólis) and at that point you take the gravel road going inland (in eastern direction). You first walk in between walls for some 200-300 metres (a couple of minutes) on this gravel road. The road then continues straight ahead, while you take a right just past the house with number 43; there is a stone with "To Apollonía" written on it.

Panoramic view on the bay of Vathý.

After some 15 minutes this staircase turns into a regular monopáti, which goes up less steeply. Again a couple of minutes further on you have to keep to the left (a red dot shows you where to go) and then you go up steeply again, in the direction of some antennae and the little white building to the left.
About 6-7 minutes later you have to pass a little wooden gate; the trail gets broader now and at the bottom of the white building it leads to a narrow gravel road – a red arrow indicates that you have to go right. You follow this road towards the antennae for some 3-4 minutes, but in a curve to the left you will again find the old trail, going straight ahead. Although the red arrow points to the left you have to take this old path straight. You pass the antennae on the right hand side and you continue on this path, which will take you to the very simple chapel of Agia Anna after some 6-7 minutes. It has now been 40 minutes since you have left the beach of Vathý.

The trail to the Panagía tou Kargiávli.

At this deserted church you find a great picnic table and you have a fairly nice view towards Platýs Gialós.

To continue your hike, you have to go back for a short while on the newly constructed path and after some 15-20 metres you will find the trail to Agios Nikólaos T' Aeriná, off the right in between some green (there are also orange-and-red dots). This looks like a rather recent path, which is not indicated on any trail map; it runs rather flatly in between a lot of green. At first you can see the white dome of Agios Nikólaos high up on a hill far away towards the left in front of you. After about 8 minutes you bend towards the left, in the direction of two white houses high up in front of you (later on you will see that these houses are located in the shape of a big stone circle). The landscape now gets more open and you have a great view on Vathý on the left hand side. You are now guided by orange dots and big red dots and arrows. The trail goes up and down, continuously heading towards the two houses. You bend to the left, underneath the houses, and you eventually get to a big wall – it has now been fifteen minutes since you have left Panagiá tou Kargiávli. A large orange arrow and a red dot point towards the left, in the direction of the now invisible monastery of Agios Nikólaos T' Aeriná. 

[The path, which goes up on the right, towards the corner of the wall, leads to Agios Andréas and then back to Apollonía – see the hike Vathý-Apollonía.]

You now walk on the left-hand side of the wall, until you get to a vague three-forked-junction: straight ahead/to the right, continuing alongside the wall, you could go to Apollonía, via the trajectory described in the hike Apollonía-Vathý via Agios Nikólaos. You now have to take a left, on a vague path (with a couple of dark red arrows) in between the juniperus bushes, in south-western direction. All of a sudden you get to the rim of the plateau and you have a beautiful view on the bay of Vathý. At this point you are also able to again clearly discern the trail, which continues towards the west, keeping Vathý on the left. After some minutes, by following the red arrows and dots, you reach the picturesque and dazzling white monastery of Agios Nikólaos T' Aeriná.

The beautiful monastery of Agios Nikólaos T' Aeriná.

The path to Vathý begins on the northwest of the monastery, a large, red dot indicates the right direction. After a while, this path gets to a lower path, which you follow to the left. A little further you keep to the right (the trail on the left runs to a dead end). You now go down even further, sometimes between walls and then walking on open terrain – all the way you are guided by red-brownish stripes and blue dots. In this way, it is easy to follow the right track and after 30 minutes you are back down again, on the very nice beach of Vathý . 

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