Your Guide to Karpathos

With its wild, cinematic beauty, imposing mountains, stunning beaches with crystalline waters and dreamy vistas over the Aegean, Karpathos is a destination that leaves no visitor unmoved.

The lesser-known, second-largest island in the Dodecanese, reachable via a 28-hour ferry ride from Athens and only a handful of international destinations by air, is a narrow strip of land with a series of tall mountains running through it and small, picturesque villages perched on their ridges.

The traditional way of life reigns supreme across the island, especially in the characteristic Olympos village, where women continue to wear traditional clothing and speak in the old dialect.

Karpathians also continue to produce their own food, like cheese and pasta, rear animals, and grow produce on their land.

In 2022, National Geographic dedicated a feature to Karpathos, describing its sense of remoteness and pure authenticity and noting how things change as tourists discover it.

In 2019, the island welcomed around 190,000 visitors, most of them seeking an escape from tourist traps like Santorini and Mykonos, or even neighbouring Rhodes, to meet “real” islanders, taste food based on age-old recipes and enjoy the sparkling beaches and activities such as trekking, windsurfing, and bird watching.

In response, the island has launched some ecological initiatives that put it on the world map as an eco-destination.

READ MORE: Kos: An island of wine, olive groves and fresh produce.