Paxi could very well be considered the ultimate Greek island. It may not even be the best in any single respect, but still, combine all the factors and you get a pretty terrific package. The island is small, cosy and green. Very pretty to look at. Its small villages are about as picturesque as it is possible to get. The main town of Gaios (in the south east) set in a gorgeous deep bay, the very small and friendly Loggos (in the north east) and the picture perfect Lakka (in the north). They are all so beautiful. The Lakka bay must be the prettiest I have ever seen. But how can they manage not to make even one really good postcard from that place? At least I could not find one at my visit... Paxi's western coast consists of really amazing cliffs, where the island is suddenly cut off. A must see.This all sounds too good to be true, there must be a down side to all this? Well, yes it is of course immensely popular in high season, and you can just about forget about August when the island is packed with (especially) Italian familys if you have not booked your stay long in advance. The fairly wealthy British and Italians, plus the yachting crowd, makes the island far from cheap, this goes for both food and accommodation. Even if the island seems to be tranquil in e.g June(1999 may have been an odd year) , it is still expensive compared to most islands. But for nice and maybe not so long walks in a lush (but also very dramatic at some points) landscape, I do not think it can be beaten.
The best tavernas I could find: Spiros/Restaurant Rex may have the best food on Paxi, and friendly service. They have a nice fresh light red wine that they make themselves for their own use. Try it! Close by, "Little" Spiros/Beautiful Paxi is nice and traditional, with low prices. The taverna "Authentico" had very good food and the most effective service I have ever seen in Greece, but which could make it less than authentic... It was amazing how just two people could serve one fully packed taverna with such speed. Normally when I see a Greek run I think he/she must be sick or something.
For a really good retsina found just about everywhere on this island: Retsina Pikermi. The cheapest are often the best.
For those who get allergic reactions from mosquito bites, I must tell you that this is probably not the island for you!
Selected walks: For walks on Paxi take a look in Noel Rochford's Landscapes of Paxos, hereafter referred to as /Rochford/. When I refer to walk numbers etc. from this book, the information is taken from the book's 2nd edition. All landmarks etc. mentioned in my text refers to this book, unless otherwise stated. There is also a good walking map on sale from several travel agencies on the island. Check out The Bleasdale Walking Map of Paxos by Ian and Elizabeth Bleasdale, hereafter referred to as /Bleasdale/. This booklet with map is much better than the map in /Rochford/, although the instructions included for the walks are pretty sketchy. The walks described are also rather short, so you will have to stitch together several of them to get something decent. When I refer to this booklet, the information is taken from the 5th edition.On the web visit Ionian Paxos Holiday and Travel Guides - Gaios, Lakka and Logos - plus Walks and Photos for the Greek Island of Paxi by Foxy's Island Walks.
UPDATE: There is now a 3rd edition of /Rochford/ available, with an improved map. I have included notes after each walk for users of this new edition. Beware that these notes are not quality-tested in any way, but are made from my assumptions. Since my visit there has also been several updates of /Bleasdale/. The latest at the time of writing is the 10th edition. But I have not seen it, so I cannot comment on it.
◉ 1 GAIOS - VELLIANITIKA - TRIPITOS - GAIOS: This is walk 1 in /Rochford/. It turned out that this walk was not very easy to find and follow.
Here are my different attempts:
i) GAIOS - VELLIANITIKA - MOUZMOULI - TRIPITOS - AGORATIKA - GAIOS (my total time 3h, but I wasted almost an hour on just investigation): Finding your way out of Gaios should be easy, also finding the taverna where you should leave the road just can't go wrong. What /Rochford/ does not tell you, is that the path you are supposed to take are actually going right THROUGH the outdoors area of the taverna (maybe filled with tables). The path BEHIND the taverna just goes to private property. On the path, DO NOT continue left down to the Ozias road just after the church. Instead continue straight on (or slightly to the right), on the rather overgrown path (yes, there really IS a path there; by the way, it is NOT listed on the /Bleasdale/ map). In spite of what /Rochford/ tells you ("two minutes below" is just fantasy, probably a note that said 2m somehow became two minutes instead of two meters...), you DO (sort of) join the Ozias road, the overgrown path continues side by side with it for a while. Then you hit the old cobbled mule path as you should (this path is also missing on the /Bleasdale/ map, it is NOT the path that takes off right from the water cistern; the correct path takes off some yards before, at a slightly different angle). From here you should get yourself to Vellianitika as described. I did not find this route on this day, and was forced to use the approach from /Rochford/'s Walk 2 instead, and investigating from there. Also, the path from Vellianitika to the "viewpoint" was impossible to find, everything seemed to just go to some private property (but see alternative ii below). So I continued on to Mouzmouli and Tripitos (with the detour to the mentioned windmill), which were all pretty easy to find, as the instructions were much clearer here. When the narrow path down to Tripitos finally forks (maybe dissolves is a better word), just before the arch actually gets into sight, /Rochford/ seems to be of the opinion that you should go right. You also get this impression from both the /Rochford/ and the /Bleasdale/ maps. However, that is not the correct way. It also did not look good, so I left this exercise for another day, when my self confidence had not already taken so many blows. And indeed, there was even more to come (but see alternative ii below for instructions about the arch; if you cannot tolerate heights, this is where you should turn back anyway, or probably even better, from the vista point just above). The instructions on returning from Tripitos I also found highly misleading. /Rochford/ says that you should continue on a path about 100 yards ABOVE the building site. You should walk BACK from where you came, which makes it BELOW. Actually, the footpath down to Tripitos itself forks off the vehicle track at least 100 yards before (BELOW) the building site, and the continuation of the original cobbled path continues on about 200 yards before (BELOW) that again. So it's at least 300 yards all in all. Just where the new vehicle track that has destroyed it turns sharply to the right, the path continues straight on. A cairn also marks the spot! I then followed this path towards Agoratika. For Agoratika, turn left on the fourth fork off to the left. The third one is /Rochford/'s Ozias path. Remember to count the one that forks off just a few yards after you leave the vehicle track. Unfortunately both of these paths end pretty quickly, destroyed by new tracks. To find your way here you should probably stick to the /Bleasdale/ map, I did not have it at this point, and maybe even take the first or second paths towards Ozias (the second looked rather overgrown) instead. If you want to find your way towards Moggonissi from the concrete lane just after Agoratika, fork off right where a sign points to an old Christian basilica (a rather insignificant church ruin). Myself, I went straight back to Gaios and bought the /Bleasdale/ map. The end of a very confusing day...
ii) GAIOS - VELLIANITIKA - TRIPITOS - OZIAS - MOGGONISSI - GAIOS (my total time 4h15, includes swimming at Moggonissi): On my last (walking) day on Paxi I tried to recapture everything that went wrong on the first day. I now (finally!) found all the correct paths to Vellianitika as described above. On my first attempt I found just about every path and track towards Vellianitika, EXCEPT the ones from /Rochford/, and (even WITH the /Bleasdale/ map) I STILL did not think existed, at least not just the way they were described. But they were there after all. It was also possible to find the path towards the "viewpoint"! This is Footpath 31 in /Bleasdale/, which describes the trick in the accompanying text. After the viewpoint I continued further on Footpath 31, to shortcut the route in /Rochford/ towards Mouzmouli. This was very unpleasant, as the path was totally overgrown in places (mostly with thorns, by the way), and thus not recommended! OUCH!!! After this nasty stretch I turned away from Mouzmouli and went straight on to Tripitos where more interesting stuff was at hand. It turns out that when you walk down the first part of the ridge down to the arch and the path seemingly forks (at this point the arch itself is not yet visible, which makes the picture more confusing), NEITHER of the forks are the correct way. CONTINUE STRAIGHT AHEAD, anticipating to walk right into thin air, and there it is. The arch, as well as a narrow goat path just below you. Step down over some kind of remains of a wall (???) and carefully pick your way down the now waymarked (red blobs and arrows) path, and you will be able to cross the arch safely. Did I mention the views are great? But mind that edge! After Tripitos I made my way to Ozias. The path was soon destroyed, and the new track spit you out on the concrete road a bit before the taverna and the bar. I did not investigate the alley between them to see if any kind of leftovers from the original path could be found. Onwards to Moggonissi, which turned out to be a VERY nice beach. The best on the island if you ask me. And almost deserted thanks to the apparent closure of the bar/taverna here! Hence very peaceful surroundings, where you can rest up for the trip back to Gaios (on nothing but asphalt road, but it's a nice stretch anyway).
UPDATE: In the third edition all this seems much more clear. Good update this! But I still cannot understand the need to "bear right" down towards the arch. In my mind you should never veer much left or right in those narrow parts. Any diversion will only take you down to the sea. And fast!
◉ 2 GAIOS - LOGGOS (The inland route) (my total time 2h15, includes only very short stops): This is Walk 3 in /Rochford/. Some parts of this walk needs very careful reading of all the instructions in the book, but I had no problem finding the correct way. The /Bleasdale/ map will not help you with the difficult parts here. There are no weird turn-offs or anything that is impossible to spot, so move along in the rather obvious direction and you will soon find the important landmarks you need to continue. Good luck!
UPDATE: The third edition seems even more clear.
◉ 3 GAIOS - LOGGOS (The beach route) (my total time 3h30, includes some swimming at two of the beaches, I did not take the path down to ALL of them): This is Walk 4 in /Rochford/. Should be pretty easy, but read the instructions carefully. Some points are easy to miss. The instructions are OK. The former gravel track towards Kaki Langada is now tarmac. If you follow the instructions for Kipiadi you will end up at Kipos: "Just beyond the house, fork left." Instead fork RIGHT. TWICE!!! Just follow the signs...
UPDATE: The third edition has fixed the error here.
◉ 4 LAKKA - IPAPATI - LAKKA (my total time 2h45, I skipped the descents to all beaches except Plani): This is Walk 7 in /Rochford/. A very varied walk with some frightfully dramatic viewpoints. Should also be pretty easy, but again, read the instructions carefully. Some points could be easy to miss even here, and do confirm your directions with the /Bleasdale/ map.
The way down to Plani beach is now all on a dusty vehicle track. Do continue around the rock tables to the left for nice views. It only takes a few minutes to the end of what is negotiable. But watch your step, and it WILL require some scrambling over rocks... In Vassilatika /Rochford/'s map seems to suggest a right turn (the text correctly states "THROUGH the hamlet"). Instead continue straight ahead to curve LEFT and then RIGHT to reach the villa. The /Bleasdale/ map have all the details here. Turn left just inside the gate of the villa and work your way around the house in a clockwise fashion. Behind the house you will pick up the path to the picnic spot. After the dramatic views around the Ipapanti caves (mind that edge, but the path is safe, so it should not be a problem if you are not totally panic-stricken by heights) the mule track/stairs down towards Ipapanti church is very narrow and steep. Also somewhat overgrown in places. But you should not have any great difficulty finding it, as long as you know it is there.
UPDATE: The new map in the third edition looks much better to me.
UPDATE: The third edition follows my suggestion above, if the mentioned bar should happen to be closed. Good update!
◉ Good starting points: • Gaios - the main town of this island (But this island is so small that just about anywhere will do)
◉ How to get there: • By ferry from Corfu • By ferry from the mainland
◉ More info: • Living and working in Paxos • Friends of the Ionian - very nice site describing all the Ionian islands • Paxos (Ionian) - more info about walks, as well as many pictures • XenosUK's Paxoi Island Travel Page - many excellent pictures from Paxi and more... Thanks to Elaine (aka XenosUK) for letting me use some of her pictures! • Ionian Paxos Holiday and Travel Guides - Gaios, Lakka and Logos - plus Walks and Photos for the Greek Island of Paxi by Foxy's Island Walks
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