Top Attractions & Experiences
1Pothia harbour and the neoclassical mansions
Pothia is the capital and port of Kalymnos and one of the most individual harbour towns in the Dodecanese. The neoclassical mansions that line the harbour were built by wealthy sponge merchants and painted in the warm, saturated colours — ochre, terracotta, deep blue — that allowed their owners to identify them from the returning fleet. Behind the harbour, the market streets are entirely local — hardware shops, butchers, kafeneions, the kind of working-town texture that has largely been erased from the more tourist-oriented Dodecanese islands. Walk the upper streets of Pothia above the harbour for some of the finest neoclassical domestic architecture in the Dodecanese.
2Nautical and Folklore Museum
The Nautical and Folklore Museum in Pothia is the best single museum on the island and one of the most specifically focused museums in the Dodecanese — dedicated almost entirely to the sponge diving tradition. Diving equipment from various eras, photographs of the fleet departures and returns, accounts of the decompression sickness epidemic, and personal objects left by divers who did not return. Visit the museum before you buy sponges from the harbour shops — it transforms a natural product on a shelf into the residue of one of the most remarkable human occupations in the Mediterranean.
3The climbing crags — Grande Grotta, Odyssey and beyond
The main climbing areas are concentrated on the west coast between Armeos and Massouri. Grande Grotta — an enormous overhanging cave above the sea near Myrties — is the most dramatic crag on the island, with routes over 30 metres in deep shade above the water. Odyssey is accessible to a wider range of grades. The Poets sector near Massouri is considered one of the finest collections of multi-pitch routes in the Mediterranean. Even if you have no intention of climbing, walking to the base of Grande Grotta to watch experienced climbers on the roof is an extraordinary spectacle.
4Vathi — the green valley and the sea-fjord of mandarins
The valley of Vathi is the island's most surprising landscape — a deep, narrow inlet where the sea pushes into the mountains, flanked by terraced groves of mandarin and lemon trees. The approach by boat — the limestone cliffs narrowing as the valley opens — is one of the finest arrivals in the Aegean. In autumn, the mandarins turn orange and the valley fills with a fragrance that carries on the wind several kilometres out to sea. The mandarins of Vathi are among the finest in Greece — small, intensely aromatic, harvested from trees that have been growing on the same terraces for generations.
5Telendos island — the five-minute crossing to another world
The caïque crossing from Myrties to Telendos takes four minutes. Telendos has no cars, no roads worth the name, one main path, a handful of fishermen's houses, and three or four tavernas that serve food made from what was caught that morning. The climbing on Telendos — routes on the sea-cliff walls directly above the water — is among the most dramatic on the whole island. The ruins of the ancient city submerged between the two islands are visible in the clear shallow water on calm days. An overnight stay on Telendos is one of the most peaceful experiences in the Dodecanese.
6Chora medieval village and the Cave of the Seven Virgins
The limestone interior of Kalymnos is riddled with caves. The Cave of the Seven Virgins above the road between Pothia and Chora is the most accessible, with stalactites and stalagmites. The village of Chora — the island's medieval capital — sits above Pothia on a defensive ridge and retains sections of its Byzantine and Hospitaller fortifications. The Knights of St John castle above Chora gives wide views over both coasts on clear days. Walk up from Pothia in the early morning before the day warms up; the light on the stone at that hour is exceptional.
