Karphatos is an very mountainous island south of Rhodes. As Greek islands go there is really nothing quite like this one. The landscape is absolutely spectacular and the walks can obviously be likewise. I have however concentrated on the easier ones.

Eating is generally a delight, both in Karpathos Town (Pigadia) and Diafani where I had my lunches and dinners.

Selected walks: All my walks are based on walks found in “Rhodes Karpathos Kos Southern Dodecanese” by Dieter Graf (referred to below as /Graf/) or the “Anavasi mapp” on my phone (referred to below as /Anavasi/).

•1 PIGADIA – AGIOS NIKOLAOS – PIGADIA (my total time 2h10): As seen in /Anavasi/.

You have several options and it makes sense to choose a different route on your way back, for variety. It is pleasant in the morning to stroll along the beach which is empty at this time. It is heavy walking in sand though. On the return you may choose simply the street that eventually turns into a seaside promenade about half way, or a path behind the beach that exists for at least some parts of the walk.

From Ag. Nikolaos the walk can be extended to either Profitis Ilias and Aperi (“Emmanouel M. Panagiotou´s Trail”) or to Achata (“George Zarari´s Trail”).

•2 OLIMBOS – DIAFANI (my total time 2h20): This is walk 20 in /Graf/.

An absolutely wonderful and fairly dramatic walk that has my warmest recommendations. It is not difficult and the most exposed parts down in the valley/canyon have very secure railings.

The initial parts from Olimbos feels like just transport to get up to the next saddle and down into the valley towards Diafani. You may choose the fastest and simplest route here, I personally took no heed to neither /Graf/ nor /Anavasi/ at this point as the route looked strenuous.

When strolling through Olimbos from the bus stop you also do not need to go as far as the windmills, if you do not absolutely want to. Better veer right at the central church down stairs toward the gravel road below and turn right. For an easy ride, just follow this winding road which eventually turns into asphalt and move into a small valley left when an obvious and easy path carry you more or less straight ahead in the wanted direction until you eventually end up at the main road. From here you can follow the map or the book.

And by the way, Diafani is and absolute delight. Olimbos is indeed picturesque but feels more like a movie set. And bring warm clothes as it can be very windy up in the mountains and there are often clouds so the sun won´t help you much either.

•3 PIGADIA – AGIA KIRIAKI – PIGADIA (my total time 2h10): As seen in /Anavasi/. A fairly nice and easy stroll.

Just use the “mapp” initially following what is marked as bicycle route 1 rounding the hill with the antennas on top in a clockwise fashion. Then just pick the easiest dirt track directly back down to the upper parts of town. I did not investigate any routes marked as “path”.

•4 PIGADIA BACKCOUNTRY (my total time 2h30): As seen in /Anavasi/. A very nice stroll but with some unexpected complications. At least half an hour of my total walking time became just wasted “investigation”.

The idea was to follow the “path” marked on the “mapp” straight out of town in direction of the dam. Eventually the route was blocked by a new animal pen or similar. Sidetracking a bit and then going left through an olive grove brought me to an asphalt road marked with walking route 3. Lots of digging and machine tracks in this olive grove so there is no way of knowing if you can cross here in the future. Might as well use the official walking route 3 from the start. Going left with route 3 will eventually bring you to the main road towards the airport.

I took left on the main road and went as far as the dam, a fairly impressive sight (here you also encounter the other side of the blocked footpath) then backtracked and entered a side road left hoping to connect with another part of bicycle route 1 (see also my walk 3 above). However the entrance to this former dirt track was blocked by a newly built house and completely fenced in. I had to backtrack way further down the main road (even past where I originally entered it). The first side road left here and up the valley turned out to be a good alternative approach to the bicycle route, and then you can just stroll along that narrow dirt road for as long for as you want. There are multiple options. Personally I took the first path right down into the next valley. This was a short and fun route down beside a small creek, and you end up where the seaside promenade to Pigadia starts.

• Good starting points: • Pigadia – several walks start from there, it also has the central bus station

• How to get there: • By ferry some Dodecanese islands.

• More info: Sorry, none yet