Paros Greece - Tripiti Pounda Prodhromos and Dhrios Coastal Holiday Walks.
Greek Island of Paros - Coastal Path Walking Guides and Photos including and visiting Prodhromos, Dhrios, Tripiti and Pounda.
Our holiday accommodation on Paros, Greece was located at Parikia therefore we have described getting to the start of the walks from there using buses and a taxi. A bus timetable which we believe accurate as of the end of May 2006 can be found on our main Paros page. The two coastal walks described below are generally straightforward to follow although due to cliff erosion you may at times find the coastal path has been destroyed. In this case simply divert as necessary - we found that new paths a little further in had been created - sometimes these even went along the inside walks of villa gardens. We have particularly populated the walks instructions with loads of photographs - simply to show how nice the villages are and also some of the great coastline Paros has to offer.
Tripiti to Pounda (port)
This Paros coastal walk is again quite easy as far as gradient is concerned but in
places the paths were extremely rocky underfoot so we were glad we had decent
boots. The 16km walk starts off from the main road near Tripiti - there are no
buses serving this location so we had to get a taxi from Parikia to the start of
the walk - this cost us 14 Euros. You need to get the taxi to drop you off by
the track which leaves the main road and goes to Tripiti Beach. The only certainty of finding refreshments along this walk is at
Aliki - there do appear to be several other "taverna looking" buildings
along the way but none were open when we did this walk in early June 2006.
The track forks almost immediately - go on the right fork and just follow this until it ends where it then changes to a walled footpath which descends on down to Tripiti Beach. This is a nice little beach of sand and shingle but there is very little shade and no facilities at all. On reaching the beach go left - you have to climb up a slope to a gate.
The path bears right as it crosses the headland - the path is clear but very rocky in places - follow it where you have
to obviously take a big detour round a rocky inlet - take a look around here
because there are several large blow holes. The water comes right through and
from the direction of the waves as they crash against the rocks it becomes
apparent that the sea is actually underneath where you are standing.
Return back to the gate at Tripiti beach - if you look across you can see a
gate somewhat hidden by a wall - cross the beach and make for this gate (it is
very hard to see this when on the actual beach). Once out of the beach and
through the gate there is no obvious path and the terrain is quite overgrown with
thorns and shrubs and is also extremely rocky underfoot. Simply make your own way
across always aiming to stay to the left of the higher ground - eventually you will come out by the coast.
The area is now full of huge flat rocks - continue along following the edge of the sea - the coastline has become quite eroded here
so you need to pick your own route always staying as close to the sea as possible - sometimes following the bottom garden walls of villas. Continue
along the coast passing a small rocky inlet where several fishing boats are moored to soon arrive at Faragas Beach. This beach has a small taverna plus
sunbeds etc. although it was only just opening up for the season when we arrived at the start of June.
From Faragas beach the path hugs the coast - you can (as we did of course) divert across to the tip of
Faragas's headland and back - else follow the rocky path which soon drops down almost to sea level and heads
for Cape Mavros Kavos. This area has been blessed by quite of lot of villa-building going on but
this does not spoil the walk at all.
Stay left of the villas and walk round the headland - there is a church called Aghios Mironas marked
on maps but this now appears to have been incorporated into a newly built villa's garden. The coastal path
becomes very stoney as it goes along close to the sea and with walls on the right - eventually it joins a
tarmac road - follow this into Aliki where there is a nice fishing harbour, tavernas and beach.
Cross the beach and the path continues on the far side - you climb up and then goes via gates into and then along
the bottom of someone's garden and out by a gate on the other side - (remember to close the gates behind you). Carry
on around the rocky headland of Cape Makria Miti and continue along the coast - at one point joining a road
for a while (which goes up into Voutakos)
Just after passing Voutakos small fishing harbour leave the road by going ahead on the coastal path - you passing
several small beaches and eventually arrive at a track.
Go straight ahead on the track with soon passes by Aghios Nikolas church. From here simply
follow the sandy track as it goes almost straight along the coast - there
is quite a lot of beach area along here as well as wide sandy areas.
As you approach Pounda you pass several Wind Surfing centres before finally
reaching the tiny ferry port of Pounda and it's bus stop.
Prodhromos to Dhrios
This 12km (or 20km) walk starts inland at Prodhromos - we started here so that we
could have a look round the village which is extremely pretty
with it's narrow marbled streets plus flowers and shrubs on display. This also
meant we could then walk on and have a decent look in Marpisa for exactly
the same reason. The number 1 bus from Parikia gets you to Prodhromos
inexpensively. The walk is quite flat apart from a short climb up to
Marpisa and also once you get to the coast is particularly refreshing because of
the sea breezes. Note - we walked on another 4km from Dhrios via
Dhrios Bay, Cape Pirghos and Lolandonis along the coastal path - but if
you do this then it is necessary to return to Dhrios for the bus home -
this added 8km to the walk distance.
From the bus stop in Prodhromos head right into the village - it's really worthwhile looking round the narrow village streets before continuing the walk. Make your way back to the main road and turn right - walk out of the village soon passing an old well with it's machinery and then a small church on the left.
Continue up the hill towards Marpisa then take a path on the left which heads up into the village. Once in Marpisa it's well worth while having a look round the village - taking note of the location of a large church with a red tiled dome located in the village square. From the church take the road which goes downhill to a junction, turn right and follow the road soon passing derelict windmills. Continue along to the main road junction and turn left - you have to walk a short distance on the main road then at the next junction keep straight ahead but you can now use a footpath on the right hand side of the road.
Simply continue along to walk into the small fishing village of Piso Livadhi with it's beach and tavernas.
From here continue along the main road which goes alongside the beach then when it bends right take steps down to Logharas beach. Continue along the beach and now the walk is simply a question of following the shoreline - the coastal path goes round Cape Pounta and the beaches at Pounda and Mesadha.
The coastal path eventually becomes a track near Tserdhakia and then becomes a road just by New Golden Beach. Follow the road still along the coast - it climbs slightly then when it veers right carry straight ahead on a dirt track - there is a huge holiday complex built up to the sea edge ahead of you. Keep to the left of the buildings and continue along the coast now on a path again - this path passes a small church and rounds the headland of Cape Chone before arriving at Golden Beach. There are tavernas at both ends of Golden Beach - plus the usual sun beds and stuff.
Continue along the beach and at the far end take a narrow path which goes to the left of fields and with tall canes on the left - follow this path via Boudari to finally walk into the small harbour at Dhrios. From Dhrios the coastal path has collapsed so you need to take the small road on the right which heads up via houses - also on the left there is a picturesque taverna and what we think is meant to be a duck pond but there were no ducks..
Once at the main road, turn left and soon arrive at a church and bus stop. Our walk continued since we wanted to go further along the coast but you can of course simply finish the walk here and get the bus back to either Parikia or Naoussa (check which bus is going where).
To continue the walk turn left just past the church and walk back down to the coast, turn right and the coastal
path then continues along the shoreline. The path changes into a small sandy track and there are lots of small sandy
and shingle tiny coves along here where you can easily stop on for a while. Quite unexpectedly you come
across a tiny fishing harbour just before reaching Cape Pirghos - continue along and climb on up to the small church at Cape Pirghos.
Regain the coastal path and just stay on it as it heads to Lolandonis beach - from here the path continues round the outside
garden walls of a large house. The shoreline is really collapsed around here and the path seemed to go through the bottoms
of the gardens of various villas instead - nobody yelled at us as we did this so presumably it was ok. From Lolandonis again
just follow the coast over a quite rocky but open area to finally arrive at a quite pretty little rocky beach with
a large villa perched above it on the far side.
Clearly the cliff had collapsed on the far side of the beach and destroyed the coastal path so we decided that this was as far as we could reasonably go. Therefore we simply retraced our steps back to Dhrios and caught the bus back to Parikia.
Other hiking ideas for Paros can be found via our Paros Walks page or see our Main Paros Page
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