The tiny Greek Island of Symi (sometimes spelt Simi) is located in the Southern
Dodecanese area of Greece - it's nearest neighbour is Turkey just a few KMs away and it is
around 64km from Rhodes. Symi has some very nice paths to walk (so as usual we
have lots of photos of the paths, walls and buildings) and also a few KMs of moni paths but some of the latter are in a very
poor state.  There is no airstrip on the island, just a helipad, so the normal way to get to Symi on holiday is by ferry either from Rhodes (catamarans/hydrofoils - 90 to 120 minutes approx) or by a much longer journey from Piraeus on the large GA ferries. Most people tend to stay either near the harbour (Yialos) or up at the Old Town (Chorio), although there is a certain amount of holiday accommodation in nearby Pedi. Apart from Pedi, Chorio and Yialos little Symi (it is only around 68 sq. KMs) is not very populated, with just a scattering of small villages and farms - there is one military camp with the usual "no-photos" signs in the middle of the island. |
One thing the island has plenty of (discounting the 10 million goats) and thats a plentiful supply of churches and monasteries - the latter
including the huge monastery at Panormitis. As is seemingly always the case on particularly the smaller Greek Islands we were
pleased to find the usual friendliness of the locals exists on Symi - walk down the Kali Strata from Chorio to Yialos and most people you
meet will speak at least a greeting. Go out into the countryside and as you get to the churches (out here many of the little churches have adjacent and
inhabited small houses) - if someone is around you are greeted warmly, probably get shown round the church, invited to sit down and then offered
coffee or ouzo or at least water.
Yialos: The harbour area (actually there are two harbours) is really extensive considering the size of Symi island, this because it
used to be a major trading centre for export of sponges and for shipbuilding. Although some of the houses are now quite derelict you can see
that once they must have been very grand - this is especially noticeable on the Kali Strata and towards the top. However these grand old buildings are gradually
being rebuilt/refurbished/restored.
There is a regular ferry service from Rhodes and Symi Island is also served frequently by the longer distance inter island ferries. The harbour area has loads
of tourist shops, some fast food outlets and plenty of tavernas - this is because a lot of tourist escursions boats arrive daily from Rhodes during the holiday season.
Chorio: The Old Town at the top end of Symi's Kali Strata - there are lots of alleys and narrow streets etc but hardly any
access to cars. There are still quite a few ruined houses and other buildings around but they are being slowly
renovated and restored. There are several tavernas and small supermarkets here - these are mostly centred around the village square.
Pedi: This fairly small Symi fishing village has a mostly narrow and stoney beach, several tavernas and a couple of supermarkets.
It's served by Symi bus and also water taxis. Symi imports its fresh water from Rhodes and the first photograph shows the water boat unloading in Pedi harbour.
Wildlife Snakes - well they are around apparently but we only saw one
(although we walked around 100 miles of tracks and paths) - that was sadly of
the variety squashed and on a tarmac road. There were not too many lizards about
either - this all may be due to the time of year and perhaps more are around/visible in the Spring. Apparently sea urchins can be a problem but since
the beaches are all stoney/pebbly and quite often there are very large pebbles as well in and around the shoreline we had our jellies to protect our dainty
little feet - therefore this was not an issue for us. We did see various hawks and larger birds of prey around but never close enough to identify -
also there were plenty of smaller birds around.
Symi has a variety of goat called a "beach-goat" - these goats are masters at raiding sunbather's
bags and stealing any fruit/bread etc. they sniff out - they are totally freindly and you can feed them by
hand if you wish. Apart from beach-goats there are loads of "path-goats" whose primary role is to destroy
the walls of moni-paths plus normal goats and quite a few sheep wandering around all over the island.
Getting around. (bus/water taxi/taxis/car-hire). Symi Bus simply does a shuttle between the
harbour, the Old Town and Pedi - it is very reliable and
continues the
service up to 11PM. There are five taxis on the island
based usually at the harbour - the furthest trip you can make from the
harbour is to Panormitis down the other end of the island which is meant
to cost about 23 Euros - as usual though it is a good idea to confirm the
price with the taxi driver before leaving. Also the taxis are used to
ferry passengers to and from their hotels etc. so if you want to use one
check if a ferry is due in or out and maybe book it in advance.
Water taxis run frequently out of the
harbour to various beaches with Emborio, Ag. Nikolaos, Disalona and Nanou
being charged at 5 Euros return - and Marathounda Bay at 10 Euros. There are plenty of "round the island" type day trips which start
from the harbour as well.
Car hire is very expensive and varies apparently according to the time of the year - for instance we hired for one day so we could do a small series of walks and it cost 40 Euros - but two days previously the price had been 70 Euros (i.e. July+August rate). Considering there is, apart from the hop down to Pedi, just about only one tarmac road (to Panormitis) on the island there is not a lot to do in a car for more than maybe a couple of days at most. The tracks are quite often in a very poor state and looked to us to be only suitable for 4 wheel drive in most cases. The car hire company is by the bridge in the harbour - the petrol station is on the road along the front going towards Pedi and there is another petrol station on the left hand road nearly into Pedi.
Walking - as in Hiking. (our several pages of holiday walking guides
and photos for Symi are available on a menu which is located here).
Symi has some very nice paths to walk and also a few KMs of moni
paths but some of the latter are in a very poor state - not least because the
numerous goats seem to take great pleasure from knocking down the walls.
The centre and top of the island is still quite well wooded and has some really
pleasant paths to use whilst the area around Yialos is pretty barren. There is
sadly not yet an accurate map of the island although we think that Roads
Editions may be re-issuing one sometime - the map we used to get our ideas for
creating our walks was included with a "walks" book we purchased from
Chilton - this large scale map is not bad for showing the existence of
paths and tracks but according to our gps not so accurate on exactly where such paths etc. start from and end up in some cases
Beaches. The beaches are mostly small pebble on the shoreline but quite often there are quite large pebbles to be found as you go into the water - therefore having jellies or similar on your feet is a distinct advantage - also of course the pebbles get pretty hot to walk on as you go in and out of the water. The sea is lovely and clear and the colours are brilliant - snorkeling is therefore excellent - and there are loads of colourful fish to spot and watch too. The most used beaches are on the east coast and are serviced by water taxis. More remote beaches often have to be reached by foot and are of course really busy - not... therefore ideal for naturists - for example our real favourite for globally warming ourselves was at Ag. Vasilios
Main beaches going clockwise from Yialos:
Aghia Marina - served by taxi-boats and can be walked
(described here). Popular beach with sun beds on a concrete surface has a taverna.
Once in the water you are on a sandy bottom. Good for snorkeling with really clear water. Overlooked by the monastery so certainly not nudist.
Pedi - quite narrow small shingle - several tavernas.You can walk to Pedi or get the bus.
Ag. Nikolaos - beach chairs, a taverna, lots of goats, shingle - certainly not nudist - even women being topless seemed a bit of a
no-no. You can walk to this beach via Pedi and it is also well served by
taxi-boats. Shaded by trees, the end of the beach by the church is quite shallow and easy to get into for youngsters.
Ag. Georgios Disalona - can only be accessed by taxi-boat - no tavernas or beach chairs. No shade until the middle of the afternoon.
Nanou - shingle - taverna - beach chairs - more goats - accessed by either of
a long walk or taxi-boat. There are also trees to hide under. The couple of times we went to Nanou it was ok for topless but no nudity.
Marathounda - shingle - taverna - beach chairs - more goats - accessed by either of a long walk or car/ taxi. One taxi-boat goes to
this beach leaving (during our holiday period) at 11:15 and coming back at 16:00. Topless seemed ok but certainly not nudist.
Panormitis
- narrow shingle along the front of the monastery and so busy with ferrys and day trippers walking by etc. that
its not really comfortable / useable. Further along is another shingle beach. Absolutely minimum exposure of skin acceptable round here. Reachable by road.
Ag. Vasilios - our favourite beach. Mostly shingle but a
few patches of sand. No boats* and no road, you have to walk across the island to
this beach (as described in this walk). The walk involves walking along halfway
up the side of an ever deepening gorge on a narrow but OK path, then just before
the beach you have to scramble down the (nearly vertical) rocky and scree side
of the end of the gorge. The Beach is quite long and does get quite busy, for
example one time there were SIX of us on it - needless to say being nude on this
beach is fine since you can always pick your own bit to be on away from others
if necessary.(* Sue and Dennis Orchard have advised that boats DO visit during the main season-usually on a Wednesday.
Skoumisa and
Maroni Bays - access is via a longish but
enjoyable walk (described here) - not aware of taxi-boats servicing the area but
round-the-island boats do stop off at the monastery of Ag. Emilianos where there
is a small shingle beach. The beach right inside Skoumisa Bay is shingle and not
particularly inviting being quite scruffy with rubbish and old fishing gear
scattered around. The two Moroni Bay beaches are also shingle and considering
that much better beaches are available on Symi both are not really worth staying on for too long.
Toli - no taxi-boats but you can get so far by road and
then have to walk the remainder (described on this walk). There are several
heavily shingled beaches here none of which seemed that appealing - lots of weed and some sea-debris around and of course totally deserted.
Emborio - reachable by road and served by taxi-boats - also several ways to walk there (as described here).
A popular quite long shingle beach with sunbeds and a taverna.
Nos beach - allegedly the local (nudist) police chief is
trying to make this the official nudist beach and has also renamed it Paradise
beach or something. It is a series of sunbeds adjoining a taverna and situated
with a road just above so perhaps not ideal for nudists - certainly never did
notice anyone stripped off when we walked by it on several occasions.
Easily reached since it is at the end of Yialos harbour on the Emborio coast road.
Food and Drink. We stayed in the Old Town whilst on holiday on Symi - there are supermarkets etc which open most days and a butcher and baker (the latter not open on Sundays). There are several tavernas including the famous Georgios. For a main course plus a vegetable side dish plus wine the cost for two of us was usually around 25 euros. Down in the harbour there are lots of tavernas - this because the harbour receives tourist boats from Rhodes most days - these do a trip to the monastery at Panormitis and then arrive in Yialos around midday and stay for several hours - the harbour gets very busy. However one advantage of this influx is the harbour has lots of taverna space for we who are actually staying on the island to utilise in the evenings. Again there are plenty of supermarkets, fruit stalls and butcher/bakers here - the baker does open on Sundays.
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GPS Readings
Clock tower in Yialos harbour
N36°37'04" E027°50'21"
Jetty - Nanou Bay N36°35'02" E027°51'36"
Jetty Panormitis (Lopidia Bay) N36°32'56" E027°50'43"
Ag. Emilianos (Skoumisa Bay) N36°36'29" E027°46'35"
Jetty - Ag. Nikolaos beach N36°36'53" E027°52'06"
Other Resources
Symi Visitor Probably deals with just about all you need to know about Symi
Symi.gr Another really good and informative site about the island
Symi Greece A new site with an ever increasing amount of interest information.
Symi Greece Travel Guide from Greek Island Postcards
Symidream Well worth a visit - lots about Symi on this site incl a Chorio walk