Symi harbor to Nanou the rocky way

Start : The start here is from the first stairs of Kataraktis that you can find next to the school and paddle field after the tower bell church. It is the old stair for Chorio.

(S) Start to climb Kataraktis just after the school. It is the old donkey path to the top of the city (Chorio).

(1) Instead of continuing on Kataraktis cross the torrent right on the concrete block that brings you to some stairs. You should look up and look for two church bell towers and keep in mind you need to pass both of them on the right when climbing the stairs. Instead of cutting here you can follow the Gialos - Agios Vassilios path by continuing to follow Kataraktis for 180 m.

(2) When you reach the second church bell tower, at the junction, you need to turn right (West). Here you will find some orange arrows on the ground and some red and blue markings to help you get out of the city to a farmer's metallic gate.

(3) At the donkey path crossroad, after the metallic gate, you need to take the left (up) and not forward (to Xisos where you can go to Toli, Agios Vassilios, Saint Emiliano...). Climb on the switchback donkey path until you reach the road to Panormitis.

(4) Continue on the right (climbing toward Panormitis). At the crossroads continue on the left (South-West) to Panormitis and not on the right to Toli until a big switchback.

(5) At that switchback, you can see a goat enclosure and a path marked with red and blue marking along it that you can follow easily to a chapel. Continue walking on the concrete path after the first chapel to a second chapel.

If you were to turn on the left and stay on the concrete road you will find yourself again on the road to Panormitis that you can more or less follow to the descent of Nanou, this is usually the other way to go to Nanou, faster but more on the road that on hiking trail.

(6) Here you will join a rocky path on the right of the chapel. I have cleaned and remade the red and blue marking so it should be pretty easy to follow, nature run its course and some part of the old path have been 'eaten' by the trees so there is a need to outline the trees by the left and rejoin the path on the right afterward. Cross a small valley to the next side of the mountain.

(7) After climbing around that small pick you need to continue on that side of the valley, be careful to stay up at the beginning where you can see a lot of things that look like trails bellow but that would bring you to the bottom of the valley too soon.

You will reach a pine forest almost at the bottom of the valley and cross the forest on the left side then the right side of a small torrent (well without water most of the time) until you reach a chapel that you can outline by the left even if there is not a lot of rooms.

Be aware that there can be militarily exercise in spring or autumn near that church, you just need to explain you are walking and they will let you continue without any issues, it happened to me two or three times in 17 years of hiking there.

Continue to walk on the road until a crossroads.

(8) At the crossroad you need to turn left to rejoin the road to Panormitis.

If you want to do a little detour with a great view there is a small chapel that you might have seen while walking to waypoint (8) on the right, if you go right on the crossroad you can join it and appreciate a great view.

(9) Do a right turn here (toward Panormitis, going down) and walk 100 m until another chapel on the right and the trail can be found on the left in front of the chapel.

(10) The difficulty of the hike is directly linked to the descent which can be hard with a small damage path, lots of rocks, and pretty steep in some places. You should be careful and attentive during the way down! The first part is full of small rocks that can be sliding, then it is a big pine forest section. To finish the other part you need to be careful after a cave by the end of the hike the path is pretty steep and damaged and there is a scree descent.

By the end of the descent you should see the sea, step down a few stairs next to the end of the torrent, you can join the concrete path from the church to the tavern.(E)

Start : The start here is from the first stairs of Kataraktis that you can found next to the school and paddle field after the tower bell church. It is the old stair for Chorio.

Return : You can take the exact same way to come back or the taxi boat when they run, check before your hike if the taxi boats are running that day, wind or other can stop the traffic for a day. You can also come back by the road from point 8 to 5 if you want a shorter way on the way back.

Waymarker: Red and blue points marking.

Facilities : There is no water points.

Note : Very little shadow on the way. Have at least closed shoes and if possible hiking shoes. The other important equipment is a hat, the sun can be dangerous and do not forget water especially in summer!

The difficulty of the hike is directly linked to the descent which can be hard with a small damage path, lots of rocks, and pretty steep in some places from the waypoint (10). You should be careful and attentive during the way down!__ The first part is full of small rocks that can be sliding, then it is a big pine forest section. To finish the other part you need to be careful is after a cave by the end of the hike the path is pretty steep and damaged and there is a scree descent.