Hiking in Kimolos

Like in all Cycladic islands, Kimolos is run by an old network of paths that connected the small capital villaeg of Chorio with the scattered, poor natural resources of the arid island. Due to the limited interest in these agricultural resources, and by a lucky advocate of the relief, the island's minimal road network left these old pathways intact and focused mainly on the easily marketable tourist resources - the beaches. Thus, most of Kimolos' paths are intact.

There are two main reasons for leaving the beaches and cafes of Chorio and getting lost on the island's paths: first, it is worth seeing the landscapes of the wild northern and western valleys, full of unexpected geological surprises, such as Skiadi.
On the other hand, the rural landscape of Kimolos has not yet received the impact of tourism - the fake "traditional" residential complexes with swimming pools and other irrelevant touches that spoil the picture of Sifnos, Tinos and the other Cyclades islands. Here the terraces are left to decay rather than the bulldozers, the huts are silently - not violently - falling and the threshing floors, cisterns and vineyards are still talking about a real economy of the minimum. Thus, the paths of Kimolos are a rare opportunity to get acquainted with the primitive landscape of the Cyclades and to get into the details of the world of survival.

Thanks to the efforts of the local volunteer group "Kimolistas" and more recently the synergy of the South Aegean Region, part of the Kimolos trails were cleared, signposted and organized into a network of hiking trails. The routes are all easy, with only some local difficulties, and can be combined into two on somewhat long circular routes - except one.

A hiking guide of topoguide app series, dedicated to Kimolos, is under development. However, all trails of Kimolos, icluding the routes presented above, are already included in the cartographic application topoguide Greece, available for both Android and iOS (iPhone και iPad) devices.