Hikes on Hydra

Our biennial Hydra meetups, and the big 2002 Event
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harald
Posts: 359
Joined: Mon Mar 30, 2009 4:15 pm
Location: Munich, Germany

Hikes on Hydra

Post by harald »

On Hydra you can buy a map of the island 1:25000 or 1:30000. Do so, even if they are not altogether accurate.
Then there is an excellent free ebook of around 100 pages: Footpaths on Hydra Island by Antonis Kalogirou. You find it on this website: http://www.pezoporia.gr/pez/ekdos.asp?cat=viv&vid=64. I recommend loading it down and printing it.

There are three main hikes and some smaller ones and combinations.
- to Mount Eros
- to Zourvas Monastery and on to Zourvas Lighthouse in the east (long)
- to Bisti and the west
The latter two should be done one way and taxi boat transfer pre-arranged for return. (I quote some taxi boat prices at the end of my post in the „Hydra Beaches“ thread.) Mind, I have no knowledge about mobile phone reception across the island.

We did the mount Eros walk combined with parts of the hike to the west. All directions can be found in the above mentioned ebook.
Before reaching Profitis Elias monastery take the short detour to the right to Efpraxia monastery, be it only to avoid the tiring direct steps. (Efpraxia is closed down, while at Profitis Elias a conversion to a secular monument seems in work.) All ways it´s mostly easy to find the paths, watch out for the markings. The only time we had difficulties was while leaving Profitis Elias for Mount Eros, but as one sees the top already it´s not really a problem. In the entrance porch of Profitis Elias is a small „self-service shop“, to buy bring some small money between one and ten Euros with you as there is no change. When we were there, there was free drinking water from a tap at the „shop“, but I would not rely on it.
From the top of Mount Eros we did not return straight down, but took the descend to the deserted village of Episkopi and then on to Plakes. Longish but very rewarding. The walk with great views also to the south coast, the special athmosphere at small Episkopi. Between Profitis Elias and Palamidas we did not see a single person for hours. From Plakes there are regular boats to Hydra town nearly every hour till as late as 10 p.m.

Take lots water with you (for a whole day 3 liters are better than 2), some food and sun protection. While it might be more comfortable with light wandering shoes, we had no problems doing the tour with normal sandals (not flipflops!). Hiking sandals would be ideal.
1979 Kassel / 1980 Munich / 2008 Munich, Hamburg / 2009 Cologne, Antwerp, Lisbon, Budapest, Barcelona / 2010 Salzburg, Florence, Marseille, Stuttgart, Bratislava / 2012 Ghent, Berlin, Verona, Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon / 2013 Paris, Mannheim, Rome, Prague, Pula, Zuerich, Amsterdam
2011 Haiger / 2014 Dublin / 2015 Hydra, Viladrau / 2016 Amsterdam / 2017 Hydra, Balaton / 2019 Yorkshire
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