Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A steady procession of coach trips from Mandhráki (see p.555) usually keeps the area
busy between 11am and 3pm; to enjoy it in solitude, make your own way up early or
late in the day. Either rent a vehicle, or choose from the hiking possibilities on p.555.
As soon as you follow the short trail from the road's-end car park to the fenced
overlook, you realize that while the main crater - officially named
Stéfanos
- may look
small from a distance, close-up it's a massive, hissing, stinking pit. Its striated walls,
yellow with sulphur, drop straight down 40m to a flat stained floor that's pockmarked
with bubbling fumaroles. You can venture down there via an easy trail that winds along
a timeworn groove in the crater wall. Don't get too close to the boiling mud-pots,
which sound as though there's a huge cauldron bubbling away beneath you. In legend
this is the groaning of the titan Polyvotis, crushed by Poseidon under a huge rock torn
from Kos.
The hillside immediately west holds several steep-sided cones, accessible via an
obvious and undemanding trail. Climbing up lets you escape the crowds, and also
offers a greater thrill of discovery. It seems a shame to reveal what awaits you at the top,
but rest assured it's worth it.
Kos
After Rhodes,
KOS
ranks second among the Dodecanese islands for both size and
visitor numbers. Here too the harbour in
Kos Town
is guarded by an imposing castle of
the Knights of St John, the streets are lined with Italian-built public buildings, and
minarets and palm trees punctuate extensive Hellenistic and Roman remains. And
while its hinterland mostly lacks the wild beauty of Rhodes' interior, Kos is the most
fertile island in the archipelago, blessed with rich soil and abundant ground water.
Mass
tourism
, however, has largely displaced the old agrarian way of life; all-inclusive
complexes comprising tens of thousands of beds are a blight that contribute little to the
local economy, and have forced many restaurants and more modest hotels out of
business. Except in Kos Town and Mastihári, there are few independent travellers, and
from mid-July to mid-September you'll be lucky to find a room without reserving far
in advance, while the tourist industry itself is juxtaposed rather bizarrely with cows
munching amid baled hay near olive groves, and Greek Army tanks exercising in the
volcanic badlands around the airport. Like Tílos further south, Kos never had to earn
its living from the sea and consequently has little in the way of a maritime tradition or
a contemporary fishing fleet. All these peculiarities acknowledged, Kos is still worth a
few days' time while island-hopping: its few
mountain villages
are appealing, the tourist
infrastructure excellent and
swimming
opportunities limitless - about half the island's
perimeter is fringed by beaches of various sizes, colours and consistencies.
8
ARRIVAL AND INFORMATION
KOS
By plane
The local airport is just outside Andimahía in the
very centre of the island, 24km southwest of Kos Town.
Destinations served include Astypálea (2-3 weekly);
Athens (5-7 daily); Iráklio, Crete (3 weekly); Léros (2-3
weekly); Rhodes (2-3 weekly); and Thessaloníki (2
weekly). Taxis (
T
22420 23333,
W
kostaxi.eu) charge
around €35 to Kos Town, and more like €20 to Mastihári or
Kardhámena. Bus services are detailed below.
By ferry
Kos Town is connected by ferry to Agathoníssi (1
weekly; 2hr 40min); Astypálea (1 weekly; 4hr 30min); Hálki (2
weekly; 2hr 45min); Kálymnos (2-5 daily; 30min-1hr);
Kastellórizo (1 weekly; 9hr 45min); Léros (1-3 daily; 1hr
25min-3hr); Lipsí (2-3 daily; 2hr 10min-4hr 10min); Níssyros
(8 weekly; 1hr-1hr 40min); Pátmos (2-4 daily; 1hr 35min-
5hr); Pireás (12 weekly; 10-14hr); Rhodes (1-5 daily; 2hr
10min-6hr 15min); Samos (1 daily; 3hr 30min); Sými (11
weekly; 1hr 30min-4hr 50min); Syros (1 weekly; 5hr 30min);
Thíra (2 weekly; 5hr); and Tílos (2 weekly; 1hr 50min-2hr
50min). In addition, Mastihári on the north coast has frequent
connections with Kálymnos (6 daily; 20min-1hr), and
Kardhámena is connected with Níssyros (2 weekly; 40min).
International ferries
Kos Town also has frequent ferry
and excursion-boat connections to Bodrum in Turkey
(30-45min).
Tourist o
ce
Akti Koundouriotou 7 in Kos Town (Mon-Fri
7.30am-2.45pm;
T
22420 24460,
W
kosinfo.gr).
