Greek island hiking holiday in Serifos

Environment

Our walking trails extol the natural beauty of Serifos's countryside, its historical sites, its traditional villages, its monastery, churches and many sandy beaches. We emphasise to our walkers the importance of looking after the countryside, protecting wildlife, not dropping rubbish and closing gates. We support the efforts to put more signs on the trails and to regularly clean the paths of overgrowth, thus encouraging more walkers to explore the island on foot.

Our Travellers Code of Conduct includes two pages of useful information covering the fitness required of walkers, clothing and shoes, and the natural sights to see, such as flowers, plants and animals. For each trail, we provide a map of the route, distances, the height of hills, difficult terrain, and natural hazards. We urge walkers to be respectful to farmers and their animals.

To ensure respect for the environment, we use hotel and taverna that follow the local recycling rules for materials such as plastics, tins and other items. Also we favour hotels with solar power for at least part of their energy needs. We will limit our use of taxis or minibuses to the minimum and go on foot via trails that do a circuit and end near where they started. On beaches we take any food rubbish or packaging to a proper container.

With our hiking holidays, we want to demonstrate that this ecologically-sensitive form of tourism can help the local economy. We want to be an advocate in the local community for preserving the calm and history of Serifos. Our guide will explain during the walks all efforts being made to preserve the natural environment and nature and stop wild development. Also the island's efforts to properly treat animals, domestic and farmed.

Community

For hikes, we will use local guides and pay them a proper wage. The taverna's where we eat will be chosen for their use of local produce such as meat, cheese, vegetables and salad in order to support island farmers. We will visit a professional winery, which produces crisp white and rose wines and taste the delicious Xinomizithra soft cheese from farms. One walk will visit the monastery and its only monk who is receptive to visitors.

There are several craft shops making pottery and jewelry, particularly in the narrow streets of the Hora capital of the island. These are also on our schedule.

Serifos has usually a festival in the summer with traditional Greek themes, including from other islands. Churches hold festivals with traditional music linked to religious feast days, particularly the Orthodox Easter and 15 August Virgin Mary celebration. We try to organise attendance at these events and explain the traditional instruments being played such as lute, fiddle, tsambouna and sandouri and their continuing production.