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aerial photo      transport

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MAPS

Tourist maps of Thásos are freely available: unfortunately they are of variable quality and accuracy. All show the basic features to enable the visitor to get around the island on metalled roads and to travel from village to village, but the depiction of internal forest tracks is unreliable and often misleading. Usually the main tracks are shown but the network of routes is large and complicated and no single map can be entirely relied upon for navigation in the uplands.

In part this is because some of the tracks become impassable when winter floods wash away critical sections, but the lack of decent maps here, as in other parts of Greece, is probably largely due to military sensitivity in view of the island’s history and proximity to Turkey. Even the (partially) concreted track which leads to the Radar Station on the ridge adjacent to Profitis Ilias is absent from most maps - and the Radar Station itself doesn’t seem to officially exist!

Depicted tracks are usually graded to some degree and it’s best to find a route which utilises the more permanent tracks as close as possible to your destination and then be prepared to experiment.  A new edition of the standard tourist map ('Thassos Map') has been produced (2001), which shows many of the inland tracks in much more detail than has previously been available. This appears to be based on a GIS image created by the University of the Aegean (Environmental Planning Laboratory) and also includes a larger number of placenames than before (always a help to the naturalist). Whilst being a vast improvement, this map is still somewhat inaccurate and misleading so you may have to resort to trial and error to get to where you want to go. There are certain key routes in the centre of the island which are signposted and reliable (although not always shown on the maps!), linking villages such as Theologos, Maries, Rachoni, Panagia and Limenas. In general these tracks are relatively smooth and driveable, although in the vicinity of the marble quarries some sections can get quite rutted.

A recent and astonishing addition to the maps of Thásos has been produced by Peter Pernitz. This is a digital 1:50,000 contour map of the island complete with watercourses, all major interior tracks, and a high proportion of the smaller dirt tracks through the mountains. There will inevitably be some minor omissions, but this map is an extraordinary improvement on anything that has previously been available and its creator should be warmly thanked for this magnificent effort. The full digital map can be downloaded as a 1.14mb .png file by clicking on the adjacent image. A version suitable for Garmin GPS can be downloaded from http://www.elsinga.net/map_greece.html. 

Peter appears to have based his map on a 1979 Hellenic Military Geographic Service map that shows all of the major upland routes and has relief coloured to show the island's topography. I'm not sure of the scale of this but it would appear to be about 1:100,000 and is the closest thing to an Ordnance Survey map that you can get for Thásos. It is available by application in person to the Ministry offices in Athens but you have to show a Greek identity card to be able to purchase a copy for a nominal sum. 

For so many years maps of Thásos were inadequate and frustrating but now it seems as if as each year goes by there are new and exciting developments, largely made possible by the affordability of GIS and GPS. 2003 has seen the latest superb addition in the form of Lance Chilton's detailed map of north-east Thásos, covering the area between Potamia bay and the mountain ridges of Profitis Ilias and Ipsarion. This colour map is at a scale of 5.5 cms to the kilometre (1:18,182) and provides a remarkable level of accuracy on all the paths, tracks and roads within the 100 sq. kms mapped. At least in this part of the island there is no excuse for getting lost ever again! The map is available, with accompanying guide book, direct from Marengo.

2003 also saw the release, for the first time, of a reliable tourist map. Nakas Maps 'Road Tourist Map' of Thassos is based on information from the Army Geographic Services (essentially the 1979 map referred to above) and includes much more detail on the inland track  network than has been available commercially before. This is a pretty accurate representation of most of the main tracks, though there are some curious omissions such as the Mountain Route up Ipsarion from Potamia and the link from Profitis Ilias to Toumba. It is also extremely fanciful to regard the track from Megalo Kazaviti to Ag. Ioannis as 'main road'! The scale is at 1:50,000.

Maps and guides are also available for walkers - see ‘Transport’.