One of the main reasons we went to the island was hiking Naxos from Chalki Village (also known as Halki Village). Hiking Naxos seemed like a promising experience before getting there.
Reality exceeded our expectations since both hiking and accommodation were excellent.
We made some new friends on the island, and we learned a lot about nature and hiking routes, and how all these bind together to weave different experiences for travelers.
One of the hiking routes we did was starting near ELaiolithos (our accommodation).
The very beginning of the route is a famous church, Panagia Drossiani.
The route would be about 4-5 hours (with some frequent stops for photos).
ELaiolithos manager provided us with GPX files that had the track recorded.
Since it was our first time there and all the routes were through a variety of different landmarks, forests, springs, and hills, this was very helpful to have.
Table of Contents
Why to Visit Chalki Village (or Halki)
Chalki Village, is one of the most popular villages in the mainland of Naxos. The village of Halki is a starting point for many different hiking routes.
The main sightseeings and landmarks are in the village square and -of course- along the different hiking routes.
In the village square, you will find two fantastic shops. One is ideal for getting local food produce (the owners produce it themselves), and the other is right next to it, where you will experience amazing art(!).
The latter one is EL Gallery and is an Art oasis in the center of Chalki village that you definitely don’t expect to see. This shop is way far from the “common touristic art” shops.
Another thing to see in Chalki village (and taste) is the Valindra Distillery. That is the most popular Kitron Distillery on the island. It serves as a shop and a museum, where you can see how they transform Citrus into that magnificent alcohol-based beverage.
Do not neglect to visit the Maria Marakis; Loom shop. Creating different clothing with a Loom is a years-long tradition in Naxos and Greece. Chalki village and the village of Moni (close to Halki) are popular for their weaving products. They still produce many of such in the traditional way.
The Tragea Valley, where Halki resides, is one of the most fertile locations on the island. Therefore, it will be nice to walk through the narrow streets and admire the beautiful architecture of this village before or after your hiking.
Hiking From Drossiani to Chalki Village and ELaiolithos
You can read more for Chalki village from here. And this post for hiking Apiranthos Village.
The village is in the middle of the route and can act as a nice break before seeing the other landmarks of the area.
The route is a circular one (not returning from the same path), so you will end up to Panagia Drossiani or ELaiolithos (which is a 10 minutes walking distance from Drossiani).
Below is the entrance of the path, which by the way, is very well marked. Smaller routes start from here.
Panagia Drossiani church is a very famous church in the area.
Here we are with a Garmin GPS ready for “battle.”
Hm, where are these people going indeed?
The shade is mainly available through this specific route.
That is the tower of Gratsia, which seems to be an exciting landmark for locals.
More paths start from inside this village.
From this point on, a ton of churches makes their presence.
The area is famous for all these churches.
Before these churches, the route goes through Chalki Village.
Here is the church of Agios Georgios Diasoritis.
That is the church of Taxiarches at Monoitsia. In this place exactly, it was scorching hot.
But fortunately, this one came after and we had a small break.
As we were hiking we met even more churches of different styles.
Here we are back to Panagia Drossiani.
Drossiani means “that what gets you cool down.” Walking under hot weather for 5 hours, ending up here, getting cooler was what we needed.
And here is the ELaiolithos hotel where we would have a shower and get ready for lunch.
There are even more landmarks along the route, but we have posted enough photos already.
We want to leave many things for you to discover while hiking Naxos and Chalki Village. This location was one of our best on the island
Have fun!