Once you've discovered Halki it's easy to fall in love with it, and many visitors return year after year. It has an easy-going charm, just one town, a beautiful harbour surrounded by old mansions, low-key tourism that hasn't spoiled the island at all, and there's very little to do other than relax and enjoy being there.
Note that Halki can also be spelled Chalki or Khalki. We've opted for the simplest version but you will see all three variations used.
Halki doesn't have an airport and the best option is to fly to Rhodes and then take one of the daily ferries.
Halki is off the west coast of Rhodes and there are daily ferries from the port of Skala Kamirou on Rhodes, with a journey time of just over an hour. There's a bus that links Skala Kamirou with Rhodes Town when ferries are due. There are also several ferries a week from Rhodes Town with a journey time of 1-2 hours depending on the service.
From Halki you can also get to Tilos in 40 minutes on one of the high-speed services which operate twice a week, starting from Rhodes. Rhodes is the only daily ferry connection to Halki, but there are also 2-3 ferries a week connecting Halki with Kalymnos (3-4 hours), Karpathos (4 hours), Kos (2.5 hours) and Nisyros (1.5 hours). There's also a weekly ferry to Santorini (12 hours) and two a week from Piraeus, but the journey takes 24 hours.
Ferries in Greece has an excellent and very thorough website where, in addition to checking ferry schedules and times, you can also book tickets and get lots of useful information about travelling by ferry in Greece.
The island's population is under 500, and most live in Emborios, the only town. It's a delightful place, the main focal point being the harbour. This is lined by mansions, many of them once owned by the sponge fishers who made the island wealthy. The town has an ATM but no bank, a post office, travel agencies, a clinic, supermarkets and a good choice of accommodation and eating places.
One landmark on the harbour is the tall clock tower. When the population of Halki started to dwindle as the sponge fishing industry wound down, many of the people moved to Tarpon Springs in Florida. There's still a small sponge fishing industry there, and a strong ex-pat community. There's also a Dodecanese Boulevard, as people from other islands also moved there. The Halki contingent provided the clock tower as a gift to the town, and Halki also has a Tarpon Springs Boulevard!
The town's main attraction is the Traditional House of Halki, which is a museum in an old mansion and dedicated to preserving and showing the history and traditions of the island.
The main things to do on Halki are enjoying its beaches and its many hiking trails. It's only a small island - in fact it is the smallest inhabited island in the Dodecanese - but it has an excellent network of walking paths. It's also quite hilly, with an elevation rising to 1972 feet (601m).
You can also walk to the deserted village of Horio, an atmospheric place as you speculate on its old history and the people who once lived there before it was finally abandoned in the 1950s. It's worth taking the path from Horio up to the ruins of an old castle, which has a chapel inside it and great views.
Many of the trails will take you to the island's beaches. There's also a bus service in summer that links some of the beaches, and it's possible to get boats to take you there and back if you don't want to hike. The most popular beach is naturally the one closest to Emborios, Pondamos Beach, which has a taverna open in the summer months.
Halki is small and popular, and if you plan on visiting in the summer you should definitely book ahead. Many tour operators run holidays here and a lot of the available rooms get reserved by them.
Strict lockdown measures will continue in Athens and the surrounding Attica region for one more week, following the recommendations of Greece’s committee of health experts, Civil Protection Deputy Min…
The Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA) on Sunday issued an aviation directive (NOTAM) that extends travel restrictions for domestic flights (travel between prefectures) in Greece until 6am on Ma…
UK daily newspaper The Telegraph recently highlighted 15 Greek islands as the “perfect” destinations for post-Covid-19 travel. Titled “Which is the perfect Greek island? Here are 15 of our favorites…
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called off plans to ease Covid-19 lockdown measures early next month after the health authorities announced a surge in cases on Tuesday. “The sharp increase in…
The ongoing coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, the travel restrictions imposed worldwide and low demand have put Athens’ hospitality market on hold. “There are no bookings [for Athens] at the moment. No…
Greek authorities have tightened lockdown restrictions in the regional unit of Arcadia in the central Peloponnese in an effort to stop the further spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19). The General Sec…
Greece stands to gain approximately 1.6 billion euros in a year if it manages to attract digital nomads to the country with its new technologies and lax tax policy, said Greek Tourism Minister Harry T…
“We want people to be able to travel in safety,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said during the Nueva Economia Forum organized by Spain, referring to the importance of promptly reaching an a…
Greek authorities are looking into ways to allow certain activities next month, including retail and schools, but not (non-essential) domestic travel after the chairman of the Greek Medical Associatio…
Elefsina, located in Attica near Athens, will get a new archaeological museum, to be created on the premises of the city’s old Oil Mill. A landmark site of the area, the old oil mill every summer turn…