UNESCO
Chios· Βολισσός
Volissos & the west
The empty half of Chios: an eleventh-century monastery with mosaics on the World Heritage List, an abandoned village on a cliff, and beaches with nobody on them.
- Peace & quiet
- Road trips
- Beaches
In the middle of the island, Nea Moni was founded by an emperor in the eleventh century and holds mosaics of that date that are among the finest to survive anywhere — it was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1990. An earthquake in 1881 brought down the dome, and the rebuilt one sits oddly over the originals. Nearby, Anavatos is an abandoned stone village stacked on a cliff, emptied after the Ottoman reprisals of 1822 in which tens of thousands of Chiots were killed or enslaved; the massacre shocked Europe, Delacroix painted it, and the island never fully recovered its population.
Avgonima, between the two, is a restored hamlet of grey stone with a view down to the sea and a taverna on its square — one of only two places to sleep in this whole half of the island.
The other is Volissos, a village under a castle at the north-west corner, with Lefkathia and the long shingle of Managros below it. South along the west coast, Elinta, Trachili and Lithi are the quiet swims, and Nagos is the north coast's own. Nothing here is on a useful bus route; this cluster is for people with a car and no fixed plan.
🏛️ Volissos & the west
Attractions · Volissos & the west
🏖️ Volissos & the west
Beaches · Volissos & the west
🍽️ Volissos & the west
Restaurants & tavernas · Volissos & the west
taverna
To Kastrochori
Avgonimataverna
Makuti
Volissos🛏️ Volissos & the west
Where to stay · Volissos & the west
Hotels on the map · Volissos & the west
Live prices and availability on a map centred on this exact spot — hotels, studios and villas — so you can judge the distance to the beach, the port or the village from here rather than guess from an address.
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Partner links · GetYourGuide
Tours and day trips from here
Boat trips, guided tours of the ancient sites and tickets bookable ahead — free cancellation on most.
- The mastic villagesMesta's vaulted tunnel lanes, Pyrgi scratched head to foot in grey-and-white xysta, and the mastic museum that explains the cultivation year.See guided tours →
- Nea Moni and AnavatosEleventh-century mosaics among the finest anywhere, inscribed by UNESCO in 1990, and the abandoned cliff village above them.See guided tours →
- A car, not the busThe mastic villages are forty minutes from town and the west coast is further; the buses are built for residents.Compare cars →
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Where to stay
The other parts of Chios
- Chios Town, Kampos & the east coastA working port city with a Genoese castle at one end, the walled citrus estates of Kampos below it, and the island's hotel beach at Karfas by the airport.6 attractions · 4 beaches · 8 restaurants & tavernas · 8 where to stay
- The mastic villagesFortified medieval villages built to guard a crop grown nowhere else on earth, with black volcanic pebbles at Mavra Volia and sand at Komi below them.5 attractions · 4 beaches · 4 restaurants & tavernas · 3 where to stay
Before you go
Car hire from local firmsIsland rental companies rather than the international desks — usually cheaper, often with full insurance and no card deposit. On Crete, Kefalonia or Naxos a car is what gets you to the beaches the buses do not reach.Compare local cars →Scooter, ATV & bike hireThe classic island runabout for coves and hilltop villages. Wear the helmet, check what the insurance excludes, and be honest about gravel roads — they are where most rental accidents happen.Find a scooter →Car hire, budgetAn aggregator that tends to surface the lowest headline prices. Read the fuel, insurance and ferry clauses — many contracts do not allow the car on a boat.Compare prices →
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