Ikaria is a great place for peace and quiet and for escaping the tourist crowds. I have stayed two nights in the surprisingly small capitol of the island, Agios Kirikos, in the south. I had my meals at the taverna Klimataria, which is very pleasant. The waterfront is good for breakfast and snacks.

For walks, the north is the most organized I am told, and an official walking map that you can buy locally exists. It is more like a sketch, though. If the walks there are signposted it could be useful, but I have not visited that part of the island, so I cannot say for sure.

Selected walks:

For walks, see Samos Patmos Northern Dodecanese by Dieter Graf (Referred to below as /Graf/).

•1 AG. KIRIKOS – KOUDOUMAS – THERMA – AG. KIRIKOS (my total time 3h25, this includes stops for photography and drinking, as well as a dip in the ocean; +-398m; 1 lap): This is walk 29 in /Graf/.

Carefully following the instructions in the book should get you around, but be aware that the monopáthi at 30mins (formerly damaged by fire) now have grown over and is impassable. The red arrow is also gone. You will need to circle around this valley by going left on the dirt road instead of right. The map is detailed enough to show this. You will then reconnect at the warehouse.

At Thérma /Graf/’s route actually goes THROUGH the Pension Agiolykos. I am not sure if this has been cleared with the owners, but they were still very helpful at identifying the path. A narrow path goes upwards to the main path, which comes from the left near a telephone pole. Also, you can only come this way in summer when the pension is open, otherwise the gate will be closed. So it might be wise to identify where the main path originates.

At the rock pool a rope in the cliff side identifies the location of the fissure where warm water comes flowing in.

•2 AG. KIRIKOS – PANAGIES – TSOUREDO – KOUDOUMAS – THERMA – AG. KIRIKOS (my total time 3h20, this includes stops for photography and drinking, as well as lots of “investigation”; +-490m; 1 lap): This is walk 28 in /Graf/.

Very carefully reading the book gets you through most parts of this, but the “old mule track” after the 25min point has been cut by a new dirt track, and any continuation I could find was in the end completely overgrown and impassable. A big track/road detour to the right is needed. You can later reconnect just before the “rather long house”, but same story there and I found nothing passable. There is a third possibility of reconnecting by a narrow concrete road going left from the main road, but the map tracing is so bad here it was impossible to identify before it was too late and I short-cut the entire thing by walking the road to Tsourédo. From there it gets easier.

• Good starting points: • Agios Kirikos – walks can be done right out of town

• How to get there: • By air • By ferry from some islands, most importantly Samos • By ferry from the mainland

• More info: Sorry, none yet