5 hours hiking this trail which cuts through the island from east to west and reaches its highest peaks, is the ultimate way to experience the real Ikaria. The route only briefly follows an official path, beginning along the trail marked “Mavrato-Kapsalino Castle”. Once reaching the stone shelter, a sign indicating directions can be seen.
Here, walkers will leave the trail and continue westward, walking up the incline towards the cliff’s edge and continuing along it. After a short while, you’ll arrive at the island’s highest point (1040 m.) known as “Ephano” or “Fardi”, where magnificent views over the entire island will unfold before here. This is a great place to take a breather, and of course, a couple of photographs! Continuing westward, we soon pass the summit of Tsolia. From here, the path becomes rougher, and at the first large boulder, we move to the left. The path soon becomes extremely narrow—1.5 metres wide at its tightest spot, passing between large boulders on the right and sheer drops to the left. Here, extreme caution must be exercised, as we move over the large rock jutting out in front of us. Soon, the path widens and we continue our ascent until arriving exactly underneath Tsolia peak. From here we pass the large pile of black rocks from the right. The path begins to widen again, and after a half an hour, we arrive in the area of Dokimi, the finishing point of the paths from Arethousa and Chrysostomos. As always, we continue along the cliff’s edge, enjoying breathtaking views along the way. As we encounter large stone obstacles we move around the right wit hcare, while attempting not to lose contact with the cliff’s edge. Soon we arrive to the Peak of Pountas (905 m.), where we can also see Mt. Kephala and the Castle of Koskina sitting atop it. From here we begin our descent until arriving at a dirt road. We cross it and wind up at the chapel of Agios Dimitrios along the central road from Kosoika and Evdilo. Under fair weather conditions, this route generally takes approximately six hours to complete.