The Perfect 3 Days in Chios
The island that grows mastic and almost nothing else does: geometric-painted villages, fortified medieval lanes, a UNESCO monastery of golden mosaics, and hardly a tour bus in sight.
Best time to go: May–June or September–October. Getting around: Chios is big and the villages are spread out, so a car is essential; buses run from Chios Town but sparsely. Flights land at Chios (JKH); ferries link Piraeus, Lesvos and Çeşme in Turkey. Once your dates are in, Tripwise can search car hire in one tap.
Day 1 — Chios Town & the Kampos
Morning — the Kastro. The town's Genoese-then-Ottoman citadel, with a lane of old houses, a small Muslim cemetery and a museum inside the walls — a layered, slightly melancholy start.
The museums. Three good small ones: the Byzantine Museum in a former mosque, the Argenti Museum & Korais Library (one of the largest libraries in Greece), and the Archaeological Museum.
Lunch — Hotzas Taverna. The oldest taverna in town and still the one to beat, in a garden away from the front. Ouzeri Theodosiou on the waterfront is the classic ouzo-and-mezedes alternative.
Afternoon — the Kampos. Just south of town, a district of high-walled citrus estates built by Genoese merchant families, with stone mansions, water wheels and orange groves behind the walls. Perleas Mansion serves dinner in exactly that setting.
Day 2 — the mastic villages
Morning — Pyrgi. The extraordinary one: every facade in the village is covered in xysta, grey-and-white geometric patterns scratched into the plaster, so the whole place looks upholstered. Look for the Byzantine church of Agioi Apostoloi in the back lanes.
Midday — Mesta & Olympi. Mesta is a fortified medieval village built as a single defensive block, with tunnel-like lanes and no outward-facing windows — you enter through a gate. Olympi nearby is the same idea, quieter still.
Lunch — Mesaionas in Mesta. On the village square beside the church; simple, local and very good. Order the mastelo cheese if it is on.
Afternoon — mastic & a black beach. The Chios Mastic Museum explains the resin, the growers' co-operative and why it made this island rich. Then swim at Mavra Volia, a startling beach of black volcanic pebbles under a red cliff at Emporios.
Day 3 — mosaics, a ghost village & the north
Morning — Nea Moni. An 11th-century monastery inland from town whose church holds some of the finest Byzantine mosaics in Greece — a UNESCO World Heritage site, and unexpectedly moving given how little visited it is.
Anavatos. Ten minutes on, a village of grey stone houses stacked up a cliff, almost entirely abandoned after the 1822 massacre. Climb to the top if the path is open; it is a sombre, memorable place.
Lunch — Taverna Apomero. Up above Chios Town with a long view over the sea; a good stop on the way north.
Afternoon — Homer's Stone & the north coast. Daskalopetra near Vrontados is the rock where Homer is said to have taught. Carry on to Nagos for a swim under plane trees, or west to the tower-house village of Volissos and the beach at Lithi.
Best beaches on Chios
- Mavra Volia — black volcanic pebbles under a red cliff at Emporios; unmistakable.
- Nagos — spring-fed and shaded by plane trees on the north-east coast.
- Vroulidia — a small, pale cove in the far south, well worth the drive.
- Karfas — the easy sandy one nearest the town and airport.
- Komi & Lithi — long sand with tavernas behind, on the east and west coasts.
Where to eat
- The classic: Hotzas Taverna in Chios Town — the oldest, and still excellent.
- Special: Perleas Mansion, dinner among the citrus groves of the Kampos.
- Ouzo & mezedes: Ouzeri Theodosiou and Kechribari; Mesaionas up in Mesta.
🏨 Where to stay
Chios Town for museums, tavernas and ferries; Karfas for a beach near the airport; a restored Kampos mansion for something special; Volissos or Mesta to stay out among the villages.
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🚗 Getting around
The mastic villages, Nea Moni and the north are all a drive apart and buses are sparse — hire a car for Chios.
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