Andros Greece - Walks and Photos.

Walking, Sightseeing and Hiking Guides for the Greek Island of Andros

Below are several Walks plus Photos described for the Greek Island of Andros from our holiday during May 2004

The Greek Island of Andros (Cyclades) is some island for walking - it is very very hilly and has a lot of dirt tracks many of which just do not appear on any map we could find. There are also extensive moni-paths but unfortunately very few of them are shown on a map and even worse some do not seem to be maintained at all. They are often high walled so vulnerable to damage caused by the incredible amount of goats and sheep jumping and knocking the stones out. Also no doubt winter takes it's toll as well, and the very lush foliage also knocks the stones out as it grows through them - the result is that some paths have become more or less unusable. Andros is probably scenically one of best of the 20 or so Greek Islands we have so far visited. We had a GPS receiver with us and some readings (WGS84) have been included with the walks in [..]'s
Note about numbered footpaths: Some of the walks are along numbered footpaths. We found that sometimes the numbering was frequent and clearly indicated where a change of direction etc. was needed, but on other paths we walked a long way without any help from the indicators. Because the maps do not show many of the paths and tracks which you can come across this can make things ambiguous at track or path forks and so on. As a rule we found that where a path split/forked if there was no indicator then the answer was to continue straight ahead on present direction.

Again because of the myriad of tracks and paths which can cross your route it is best to have a clear idea in your mind of your general route direction/layout. Our walk notes below are not comprehensive since we would never have walked anywhere if we had noted every cross path etc. Because of the really heavy undergrowth in places it can be easy to miss a path indicator so like us, you may well go wrong and come to a dead end and have to retrace to a previously noted indicator etc. to find the correct way. Still, if it was easy then everybody would be out there doing it....

Andros Greece Walks - these first walks are on our Batsi Walks Page

Batsi circular (1) 6km via 3 beaches and Ipsili headland - easy walking
Batsi circular (2) 11km - to Moni Zoodochou Pigis - moni paths, track and steep
Batsi circular (3) 22km - via K. Katakilos+Katakilos. Moni-path, track/road - very steep in places
Strapouries to Batsi 15km - mostly moni-path, road+track at end. Undulating

and on This Page

Andros Town circular 16km - track+moni-path+road
M.Panachrantou+Menites. Strenuous in places
Apikia circular 8km - via Stenies - Ghialia beach. Steps/paths. Fairly easy
Ormos circular 16km - via Exo - Vouni - Stephanes gorge. Strenuous
Circular walk to Achia Beach 10km - track+moni-path (visits the lovely Achia beach). Moderate
Vourkoti - there and back 8km - mostly track - undulates

Andros Town (Chora) circular - to M. Panachrantou and back via Menites - total climb 980 metres. This walk involves an easy start alongside a river, followed by track and monipath, and then a continuous hard steep climb up a monipath to the monastery M. Panachrandou (a climb of over 500 metres), then back down the monipath and a walk across to Menites and it's really lovely springs followed by a walk back into Andros town.

The walk starts from the car park in Andros Town (on the main island road into Andros Town just after the pedestrian only area the road swings right and then left and the car parks are clearly marked from here on the right). The path leaves from the corner of the car park and heads inland passing down through houses - at a path junction turn left and continue down to the river, cross the bridge and then turn right along a concrete road (this is the road from Paraporti to Livadia) which then follows the river with houses and orchards both sides of you - this tree lined area is full of wildlife including herons. Continue along here until you come to a road bridge at Livadia, go over the bridge and then go immediately left on concrete track this time with the river on your left. This quickly changes to a track - the river is underground along here and when the track splits stay on the main track ignoring a rubbly river crossing - after this the track becomes smaller and then becomes to mostly grass and the river is back on the surface so is soon quite pleasant to walk along. When the track bears left you come to a river crossing which has stepping stones (at this point if you look in front and behind you will now see the start of the red arrow markings.

Cross the river and turn immediately right onto a very overgrown path which you may have to fight your way through for a several metres - as you continue along the path it varies from being obstructed by fallen wall to sometimes heavy foliage but it is passable. When you come to a more open area the path bears right and then left by a wall (the wall is now on your right and is marked with an arrow). From here on you follow the cobbled path as it zig zags often very steeply up - it is quite overgrown in places but not a problem to follow.
When eventually you come to a t-junction (remember it for your return journey) the path is now marked with a red 1, go left and soon pass a footpath sign which points you up to the monastery or to the village of Falika. Take the monastery path and now just keep going ever upwards - marked with red 1s all the way up to the monastery. There is a small abandoned church near the monastery (in fact you see it and then walk just above it on the final part of the walk up) and this can be reached by walking down the track past the monastery a little way and then over long grass - this is a nice shady spot for a picnic and cool down and lots of company from 100s of spiders as well as lizards and everything else.

Return back the same way but when you get back to the junction continue down slight left following the red 1s - you will eventually come to the river and a delightful stone bridge, cross the bridge, turn right and look out for the terrapins lazing and swimming around the rocks here. This part of the path is very overgrown and in fact had been barricaded by branches - so having removed these we proceeded along the river and then had to climb up to find the path again - finding the path was quite easy though. Now continue on the path until you come to a road, cross over and continue on the moni-path opposite to then come to the main road.

Turn right and after a few metres go left and walk down to the levada - you are now at Mesaria. Turn left along the initially concrete and then grassy path and keep going along the valley heading towards Menites with the levada (and it's welcome cool spring water) bubbling alongside. Ignoring any joining paths on the right eventually the path swings round to cross a river, turn left and continue past springs, small levada waterfalls, up steps and then via old ruined buildings and also houses.
Eventually the path seems to come to a dead end however there is a spring (very overgrown) on the left and you can get through here. Continue to a t-junction where the marked path red 1 continues right over the bridge, however turn left at this t-junction and then right to walk up into Menites. Menites is very much worth the visit so see the several springs - they are easily the best on the island - also there are a couple of tavernas here.
Return is by following the levada back on the original path all the way to the main road at Mesaria and then turn left to walk back down into Andros Town.

Apikia circular This walk is fairly straightforward with good views of some of the large villas in Stenies, goes mainly via steps and paths, gives you an opportunity to have an inside look at the spaghetti factory (ruins) and ends up at the beach at Gialia (possibly not the best beach on this Greek Island..).
Starting in Apikia by the springs and bottling plant, facing the sea go left and after a short distance you see some steps going down on the right - these are marked in red. Follow the steps down through the houses, quite soon the this changes to a grassy track/path and winds round to cross a small stream. The path doubles back and goes along varying from cobbled steps/moni path to field paths and has red 8 indicators - simply stay on this path - when you have gone down a quite long fairly straight stretch of cobbled path go left by a house on the corner to cross a track and pick up a stone track which has a large red arrow pointing to the left - a few metres on go left again to divert to the spring and old wash basins.

Return back to the track (which is now marked with red dots and arrows) continue along - passing the Bistis-Mounelas tower on your left - when you come to a bridge ahead of you take the path on the left (do not cross the bridge) - this now marked with a red 8 indicator again. A little way along you will just about see in the trees on the right the old spaghetti factory, with its large iron wheel (this will be visited on the way back). Continue along the marked route until you join the road - turn right and just after a very large and expensive looking villa turn right again and follow this down to the river - follow the path along the river to the beach (there is a taverna on the beach to the right).

Return back along the river and up to the road by the villa, turn left along the road and then back down the original path. Just after passing the spaghetti factory (now on your left) come to a t-junction, turn left and after crossing the bridge the track splits, the route continues right but first go left and after a few hundred metres you get to the spaghetti factory - which you can go right into and investigate - you can see the horizontal grind stones plus the remnants of the pulley systems etc. Return back down to the junction and keep straight on - this now marked with red 8 - the path is concrete and has a stone wall on the left and an unusually big levada running alongside - presumably once a large volume of water was needed to drive the wheel at the factory. The path ends up at a really nice stone bridge - cross the bridge and then follow the marked path to soon reach the large red arrow marker near the wash basins diversion. Turn left up and then right up by a house to take the long straight path up and then round the village eventually arriving back at the start point.

Ormos circular via several villages as far as Exo Vouni then back via part of Dhipotamata Gorge. This Andros circular walk involves walking up many steps on moni-paths and village alleys and starts from the harbour front in Ormos where the river goes through to the sea. Walk a few yards into the town and then cross the river on the bridge - then follow the wide path alongside the river which is now on your left - shortly picking up the red 5 markers. When you come to the next bridge take the right hand fork to go on a cobbled/stepped path up through the southern edge of the village of Rogo. This path basically goes up and round several villages including Lardia (not named on the Road Map), after which it crosses the main road and continues via the lower part of Stavros (or Gianiseo depending on map version), and then comes to more open country side.

On reaching the dirt track cross it slightly to the right and continue between stone walls and then drops down to cross a stream in a quite boggy area, then goes back up to reach a church. The track/wide path now heads into Mesa Vouni - continue following the markers as the path goes round the right edge of the village to meet a main tarmac road. Turn right on the road and then as the road goes sharply right take the track on the left - this is more like a goat path but it is still marked - this takes you down to a dirt road. Go left on the dirt road and follow this until you come to the steps on the right heading down into Exo Vouni. Make your way through the village to the main road.

Turn left and walk along the main road (heading in the direction of Sineti) for about 2km - with really good views of the gorge you will shortly be walking along below you . Look out for a dirt track on the right which doubles back into the gorge - this is marked with a red 3. This is initially a track running alongside the moni-path (the moni is far too overgrown just here to use) but after a short while you can join this really lovely moni-path - the flowers and wildlife down here are really good, there are old water mills here - also you can see caves on the opposite side of the gorge, other old ruined buildings and also stone walls built in quite amazing places up the side of the gorge. The path goes down to reach a stone bridge next to old ruined mill - cross the bridge and don't forget to have a look round the mill on the left before continuing.
The stepped moni-path now heads back up out of the valley - climbing and winding around somewhat - soon you will see the ruins of the Venetian castle Faneromeni high above you. Continue along the path to the dirt road - turn right and follow this to a tarmac road - go across and then take the steps down into Kochilou. The path now takes you through this village (still marked red 3) - you then come out onto more open countryside as the path winds it's way down towards Ormos.

When you come to the next tarmac road turn left and then at a t-junction go straight across back onto a moni path - go straight across at the next road - eventually to come out on your original track by the river. Turn left to walk back to the start point.

Circular walk to Achia Beach Determined to somehow walk to Achia (see below) we discovered a track part of which is not shown on the maps which allowed us to visit the beach and then walk some of the moni path back towards the M. Ay. Nikolaou. The road from Vourkoti passes the Monastery and then continues round a sharp bend - a track goes off to the aerial masts right on this bend - but then a little way further along the main road another track leaves it from the left - park on this track.

Walk on down the track heading towards the coast - ignore a track going off to the right (this fork goes down to Platanos Cape) - and again ignore a right hand track further along which goes to nowhere in particular. Shortly after this, with the church of Panaghia which is situated on a rock in the sea now in view - take a track off to the right and almost immediately go left staying on the lower very rough track. This track goes round the side of the hills and eventually becomes a dead end - the views of the rocks in the sea below are really good just here and obviously a haven for birds - also you can now see Achia beach to the left and below you plus a lighthouse on the cliffs (Gria Cape) above the beach.

A goats path goes straight on from the end of the track but note this is very thorny and indistinct in places. With care - especially keep away from the cliff edges - make your way down to the small church at the end of the beach - and then scramble down onto Achia beach. This is a lovely beach - it has steams coming into it and a large freshwater lake just on its edge - reeds, birds, freshwater fish and everything.. great place for a picnicFrom here the moni-path starts by the church and heads inland with a steam on your right - this path is quite walkable and in spring it's full of wild flowers with bees and butterflies etc. everywhere around you. Stay on this moni path until it appears to come to an end in a grassy area with a ruined building on the right, ignore a farm track on the left but go through the gate next to it to continue on the moni path - this winds round until it comes to a track (please read this note). Go left on this track and almost immediately go through a gate and then continue along ignoring any side tracks to arrive at another gate - continue on through this gate and follow the track as it climbs gently out of the valley. Having walked on the track through the hills you eventually re-join your original track - continue back to where you started the walk.

Vourkoti - there and back; We wanted to do the walk on the moni-path from Vourkoti via M. Ay. Nikolaou to Achia beach which is shown on the map but this was actually impossible to undertake (when we tried in May 2004) as the walls have collapsed in and also the thorns and other foliage are too thick (the local villagers in Vourkoti were also insistent that the moni-path was unwalkable). We decided however to walk the track from the end of Vourkoti village heading down the left side of the valley towards Achia in the hope we could do a "scramble" to try and pick up the moni-path further down but in fact the track becomes a dead end and there was no way we could see of getting to the M. Ay. Nikolaou or to Achia from it.
We could see the Vourkoti end of the moni-path from this track and it was truly collapsed and obviously infested with thistles and thorns etc. (see the Achia walk above for an alternative walk to the beach.)

Park beside the road near the bus stop** which is located above the village and quite near the village church - there is a spring here and steps lead down into the houses. The way through the village is marked with arrows and these will take you on down to the start of the track. We saw a couple of snakes on the way including a quite unconcerned viper which kindly posed to let us take a photograph - also the usual loads of small lizards as well as hunting and other birds.
As mentioned, this is just a case of staying on the track and going until it ends a while down the valley - this is a quite pleasant walk with good views of the countryside and eventually M. Ay. Nikolaou and Achia beach appear tantalizingly not so far away in the distance.
**On the opposite side of the road a moni-path leaves going steeply upwards - this is a route to walk up to the highest point on the island.

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