Ikaria, spared from mass tourism, is a paradise for individual travellers, nature and hiking enthusiasts. Tourism is mainly centred in the coastal towns of Armenistis, Gialiskari and Nas. This is also where the famous sandy beaches of Livadi and Mesakti with their crystal-clear turquoise sea are located. 

Ikaria is one of the wildest and most unspoilt islands in Greece. It is also known as the beautiful unknown of the Aegean. The Atheras mountain range, up to 1040 metres high, divides the island into the rugged south, which plunges steeply into the sea, and the gentler, densely wooded slopes of the north. Here you will find extensive pine forests, green river valleys with plane trees and flowering oleanders and in between the widely scattered houses of the villages. The vegetable gardens, vineyards, olive, fruit, chestnut and walnut trees are laid out on terraces. There are beehives everywhere - the flavoursome Ikaria honey is delicious. At higher altitudes, the landscape consists of stone and holm oak forests, plateaus with ferns and rocky deserts made up of huge granite blocks and bizarre rock formations. From up there, on a clear day, you have an unforgettable view over the entire Aegean Sea from the Cyclades to the Dodecanese and the north-east Aegean islands.