Thasos is Greece's most northerly island, apart from Thasos' little satellite islet, Thasopoula. It is roughly circular, and approximately 25 km across. The main town and harbour is Limenas (Thasos Town), directly opposite and 12 km from Keramoti port on the mainland, though the island also has ferry and hydrofoil connections with Kavala, the provincial capital to the northwest. Keramoti is 10km from Kavala airport.
There is a coastal road that circles the island, with branches to the older inland villages. On clear days, the Mount Athos peninsula is visible to the southwest and the island of Samothraki can be seen to the east. The area covered by our walk book and map is in the northeast, the most mountainous and fertile part of the island. The village of Panagia is 8 km by road from Limenas, with Potamia and Skala Potamias about 3 and 6 km further.
Thasos was the most wooded of the Aegean islands and, despite recent extensive forest fires, much remains, particularly above Skala Potamias. The island's crystalline base is overlaid by limestones and marbles, and the island is an important source of the latter and has been since Roman times.
Panagia and Potamia. This area is partly ringed by mountainous palisades, of which the two notable high points are 1107m Profitis Ilias and 1203m Ypsario, behind Panagia and Potamia villages respectively.
Contrary to some reports, the top of Ypsario is as accessible as
before, since the construction of a radar-dome there has now been
abandoned.
From Skala Potamias the road goes on to Limenaria, the main town of the south of the island, and then around the west coast to Limenas.