Hiking to the highest mountain on Naxos, and walking trail nr 7

Mt. Zas/Zeus 1004 masl, trail 2

Last time we were on Naxos, in october 2022, we hiked to Mt.Zas/Zeus. That time we hiked the “hard” route, and now we wanted to hike the other trail which should be easier.

Drive to Saint Marina Holy Chapel and park the car there. It is not space for many cars, but I guess it is not a problem any day.

The trail is good marked all the way and it starts very slow up the hill.

Along the trail you can see remains from our ancestors.

And the view is amazing on all side of the mountain.

I think this is the biggest cairn I have seen!

The view to the east. Ano Koufonisi and Kato Koufonisi, next Keros, and then Amorgos in the distance.

View to the village Apeiranthos where we did the hike up to Panagia Fanariotisa Church some days later. Keep following!

The trail is well marked and it is easy to follow all the way.

Finally up on the ridge and we got the view to the west.

Yes!

The ridge of the mountain

We found a nice place with stunning views to have our lunchbreak! (and yes, as always I had extra clothes to change on the top!)

Many griffon vultures were flying around us.

When you are on the top of the highest mountain the fog can arrive suddenly, so it did that day.

Astor used the drone, can you see us?

On the south side of the mountain, amazing green fields!

The fog became stronger and stronger and we decided to walk back to the car.

On the mountains in Norway you can find a book to write your name, but here it was shoes! (next time we went there they were gone)

And when the fog arrives it is also colder.

Just look for number 2 and for cairns, but it is mostly very easy to see the trail.

On the way back down the hill.

You need some breaks to watch this amazing view.

Astor back at this huge cairn.

At alltrail.com, as we use, this trail is marked as “difficult”, and also the sign in the beginning of the trail says so. But it is not. Yes it is up hill and you can be tired, but the trail is not difficult.

And there is places to sit down for a break.

This hike is one of my favourite in the Med. It is 390 height meters and 5,8 kilometers return. Here is a video from the trail:

One year ago we hiked the other route to Mt. Zas and here you can read about that hike:

Antiparos, Paros and Naxos

On the way back the sun started to set so we decided to stop at Prophet Elias Church which is just along the road, only 50 high meters from the car. Not easy to see the trail first, but we found it.

From the church we could see the fog on the top of Mt.Zas.

Prophet Elias Church (there are at least one more on this island) with Mt Zas behind.

A video timelaps from the sunset that evening:

For dinner that evening we had pasta salad with chicken, tzatziki, feta, and foccacia bread. This is one of my favourite!

Next day and the nice weather continues. It is no problem staying in a marina in this weather!

When we needed bread we walked to Naxos Bakery in the morning, it is right on the end of the harbour. Their sourdoughbread with seeds is amazing!

Ano Sagri to the Temple of Demeter, trail 7

That day we had trail nr 7 on our plan, from Ano Sagri to the Temple of Demeter. (on the shop Zoom in town, they have a good map with all the trails on the island)

You need to drive to Ano Sagri, park the car and then it is easy to find the beginning of the trail. We used alltrail.com as usual.

This trail is mostly flat and it is easy to follow the trail, unless one place were alltrails wants you to walk left right after a gate. But we didn`t follow that because it was overgrown. We continue on the trail and found then marking there. (check the map in the bottom of this post)

Open landscape

Temple of Demeter

Unfortunately we didn`t film at the Temple of Demeter, but here is some photos. The ticket was 4 eur for the two of us. It is not open every day, so check it out before going there. The aroundtrip is nice anyway though!