- Duration: 8 days
- Period: All Year
- Level: Beginner
- Price: 600€/person
- Guide: Optional with extra charge
Karpathos is an ideal destination for hikers with many clean and beautiful trails, with lots of greenery and many paths depending on what everyone wants.
We organize programs for walking, a program for plants and flowers in spring, cooking programs with traditional food, bees and autumn pressing of olives and program for holidays.
If you are interested and want to visit and see Karpathos, we offer you a 8-day trekking, explore the island and give you all the information.
There are three different programs organized on the island, one program is all around the island and the other is in the north of the island, which has the greatest interest in walking, and another for summer.
- Accomodation to Dorana Hotel
- Car transport
- Breakfast
- Dinner
- Drinks
- Anything not mentioned above
- Guide (extra fee)
- Daily backpack 20-30L
- Sturdy, worn-in trekking shoes (preferably boots)
- Hiking clothes suitable for the season preferably quick-dry material (long & sort trousers, t-shirts & long sleeved, fleece etc)
- Waterproof jacket
- Casual clothes & shoes for the evenings
- Underwear & socks
- Personal medicines
- Sunblock & sunglasses
- Hat or beanie
- Bottle of water 1-1.5L
- Cancellations 12 days or more defore your arrival we return you all the deposit amount.
- Cancellations 5-11 days before your arrival, we return you half the deposit amount.
- Cancellations 4 days ore less before your arrival, there is no money return.
- Read our participation terms here
600€/person
Itinerary
Day 1: Arrive to Diafani
Day 2: Transfer to Lastos. Trekking from Lastos to Spoa. Transfer from Spoa to Diafani. 5.20 hours
Day 3: Trekking from Diafani for Agios Kostantinos towards Olympos and back Diafani from Olympos apied 4 hours.
Day 4: Transfer to Spoa. Trekking Spoa-Olympos. Transfer from Olympos to Diafani. 5.5 hours
Day 5: Visit to Saria Island by boat. 3.5 hours
Day 6: Transfer to Olympos. Hiking Olympos-Diafani (via Avlona and Vroukounda). 4.50 hours
Day 7: Trefani Diafani-Vananda-Tristomo and come back to Diafani. 4.50 hours
Day 8: Transfer to the airport
Day 1: Arrival to Karpathos Airport & transfer to Diafani.
Upon arrival to Karpathos airport, a transfer is arranged to the charming sea front village of Diafani. Settle to your room, and enjoy the calmness of the surroundings.
Day 2: Hike to Olympos and climb up to the summit of Profitis Ilias.
Olympos is a village of exceptional beauty, and the capital of northern Karpathos. You will cross traditional villages, beautiful green valleys and verdant cliffs until you reach the beautiful settlement on the slopes of a mountain. Houses in Olympos are built amidst lush green forests and preserve their traditional colour and layout. The village itself is a live museum with an idyllic atmosphere.
Today, the village has a population of 400 inhabitants most of whom are engaged in farming and agriculture. Olympos retains an old fashioned way of life where primitive customs play an important role. Having reached Olympos you will climb to Profitis Ilias peak at 718 meters, to admire the magnificent view of the Aegean sea and you will then descend to Olympos where you will have time to enjoy your lunch (if you wish to do so) and explore the village. (depending on your will, you can either hike down to Diafani via St. Konstantinos or transfer back to Diafani).
Distance: 8 -10 km
Estimated Hiking Time: 5,5 – 7 hours
Day3 : Hike Papa Minas beach (circular route)
A lovely walk up and down some gentle slopes, through pine trees and past olive groves and wheat fields to the pretty bay of Papa Mina with its pebble beach and shady Tamarisk trees. You will have time to enjoy swimming and snorkeling in this beautiful bay before you return back to Diafani.
Distance: 7,5 km
Estimated Hiking Time: 3,5 hour
Day 4: Hike to Ancient Vroukounta from Avlona and then to Vananta bay and Diafani
You will make a short transfer to Avlona from where your hike on a stone path built in ancient times descends to Ancient Vroukounta. Vroukounta is a mystical area where once stood the ancient city state of Vrykous.
You will discover ruins of more than 3500 years old, the Church cave of St. John and underwater treasures while snorkeling. Then you will hike up and back to the village of Avlona for a delicious homemade lunch (highly reccomended but optional) to the one and only tavern in the area – famous all over Karpathos. After, you will descend to Vananta by a stone path that goes easily towards this lovely bay. From there, the last part of the hike is situated just on the coast offering incomparable views.
Distance: 10 km
Estimated Hiking Time: 5,5 hours
Day 5: Hike to Tristomo & Steno
Again from Avlona, following a cobbled road you will reach Tristomo, an almost deserted village – where one last family refuses to abandon its hometown – and a natural harbor set in a protected bay on the north-west coast with spectacular views. After, you can continue to St. Aikaterini and Steno – the spot where you can almost “touch” the nearby island of Saria. A traditional fishing boat will take you back to Diafani.
Distance: 8,4 km
Estimated Hiking Time: 3,5 hours
Day 6: Explore uninhabited Saria
With a boat you will cross to Saria Island, where you will make a traverse hike of the island ending at the beach of Palatia where you will enjoy a barbeque lunch and take the boat back to Diafani. Saria was part of Karpathos until it detached from it through erosion. In antiquity Saria used to be one of the four cities of Karpathos.
Everywhere there are ancient monuments, ruins and remains of ancient settlements, while Saria was the base of Saracen pirates. According to mythology, the island was created when Poseidon in a battle with Titan Ephialtes, he cut off a piece from Karpathos side and buried under this opponent. Ruins of the city are sunken in the Strait of Tristomou, between Karpathos and Saria. Signs indicate the existence of Apollo Porthmiou sanctuary. There are traces of human presence since the Neolithic Age and the early Bronze Age, and since historical times have been found remains of fortifications on the west side of Castello hill. Furthermore, the island is an important habitat and breeding site for birds and marine organisms. Note that the northern Karpathos, Saria, and the sea area around them, belongs to the European network of protected areas Natura 2000, thanks to the variety of habitats available and rare plant and animal species that host.
Distance: 8 km
Estimated Hiking Time: 3 hours
Day 7 : Free day (optional hiking or cooking class etc)
Day 8: Transfer to Karpathos Airport
Day 1: Arrival in Karpathos, departure for the hotel by bus, arranging our luggage in the rooms and then a walk in the coastal area around the hotel and the village.
Day 2: From Diafani to Papa Minas Beach an hour walk to the beach
After breakfast a nice walk with your feet to the Papa Mina beach, an area full of greenery (full of pines, olive trees) ideal for relaxing and swimming on the beautiful Papa Mina beach. Total of walking to the beach an hour on foot. Activities, bath and rest.
Day 3: Drive to the village of Avlona, then walk to Vrukounta beach, an hour and 20 minutes.
After breakfast we take the bus to the Avlona settlement, a ten minute drive away. A traditional settlement with many small more abandoned houses, but in good condition, 10 people live here today, a walk in the alleys of the village, in the area has a tavern with traditional food or coffee, and back to the hotel in the afternoon with taking the walk from the Vananda beach and taking a bath there. Journey time one hour and twenty minutes. If customers do not want to walk they will return from Avlona by private bus.
Day 4: Boat trip to the island of Sharia.
Departure by ferry to the island of Saria, at 10 am, and return in the afternoon. Excursion to the island with a long history and many archaeological interests, and a guided tour of the captain in the old part of the island. In Saria we visit two different beautiful beaches, Palatia and Alumounta. Journey time of the ship one hour.
Day 5: Visit the village of Olympus and return on foot, an hour and 30 minutes to Diafani and then the sea.
After breakfast we take the bus, ten minutes and we visit the most traditional village of the island of Olympus, we walk in the village and visit the village museum, and guided tour of the museum by the director of the museum, after if you want we can walk, up to Diafani from a beautiful path, if you do not want to walk, return to Diafani by private car. With foot up to Diafani 1.30 hours, by car ten minutes.
Day 6: Boat trip to three different beaches, Agios Minas, Kapi and Opsi.
Departure by boat at 10 am and they will visit three different beaches, Kapi, Opsi and Agios Minas, and return in the afternoon at 5 hours. The captain of the ship will do a tour of the beaches, swimming activities.
Day 7: After breakfast, we will leave for one of the most beautiful beaches in the area, Forokli, we will walk through a very nice and easy path, through the green and the water crossing a nice river until we reach the beach, there we will swim in the crystal clear waters, and we will relax on the beach. Walking time 1 hour and ten minutes. In the afternoon we will return to the hotel, with a boat from the beach. Travel time by boat 30 minutes.
Day 8: Transfer to Karpathos Airport
Electronic Route Files
You can download the electronic files of all our hiking routes in Karpathos Island in compressed GPX format paying 5.00 €. See Karathos island routes list.
Or you can download the electronic files of all our hiking routes in compressed GPX format paying 9.90 €.
After extracting the file you can open it either with the Wikiloc application or with Gaia GPS.