Paros walking tour & city guide

Parikia

Parikia, the island's port and capital, greets ferries with a windmill on the waterfront. Just behind it stands the Panagia Ekatontapiliani, the Church of a Hundred Doors, one of the oldest and best-preserved Byzantine churches in Greece, set in a quiet courtyard.

The old town spreads behind the harbour in a maze of narrow lanes. Its main street winds past chapels and small shops to the Kastro, a 13th-century Venetian fortress whose surviving wall was built with column drums and blocks taken from ancient temples. The seafront west of the Kastro is the place to watch the sunset.

Naousa

On the north coast, Naousa grew from a fishing village into the island's most fashionable town, but its small harbour still shelters brightly painted fishing boats beside the ruins of a Venetian fort. The lanes behind the port are full of whitewashed arches and bougainvillea, and come alive after dark. Boats run from here to the granite-rock beach of Kolymbithres across the bay.

Lefkes and the Byzantine Road

Lefkes, in the hills at the centre of the island, was once its capital and remains a peaceful village of stepped lanes and a large marble church. From here an old paved path, the Byzantine Road, leads downhill through terraces and olive groves to the village of Prodromos near the east coast, a walk of about an hour.

Visiting tips

Paros has frequent ferries from Piraeus and Rafina near Athens, and a small airport. The island is easy to get around by bus, and a small ferry crosses from Pounta to neighbouring Antiparos in a few minutes. In July and August the meltemi wind can be strong, so the south-east beaches are often calmer.