Chios
Photo: Eftychia Syrimi / Pexels
The Verdict
The mastic island: quiet, wealthy and almost unvisited, with fortified villages, citrus groves and a first-rank Byzantine monastery.
Why go
Chios is one of the most interesting and least visited of the big Greek islands. Mastic, the resin of a tree that grows nowhere else, has been farmed here since antiquity and still pays well, which is why the villages of the south are built as small fortresses with the houses joined in a ring around a hidden square. Chios Town has a citadel, a market and a working harbour; the west coast beaches are sand and mostly empty; and the monastery of Nea Moni, with eleventh-century mosaics, is a monument of the first rank that most visitors to Greece have never heard of.
Understand the place
A large, under-visited North Aegean island known for the mastic trees that grow only here, its medieval fortified villages, and a handsome harbour town.
The old world
History & archaeology
Towns & villages
Chios Town
The capital of Chios, arranged round a harbour and a walled citadel, with a covered market and a waterfront of ouzeries.
“A working harbour with a Genoese citadel above it and a market worth crossing the Aegean for.”
Pyrgi
The largest of the mastic villages of southern Chios, its houses joined in a defensive ring and its facades covered in black and white patterns.
“A fortified village of tall houses covered in scratched geometric patterns — the strangest architecture in the Aegean.”
Easy to combine with
Logically reachable by transport. Confirm current ferry/flight schedules before booking.
Nearby
Related
Sources
Booking links
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