Psilon Dendron- Kalidonia Falls – Pouziaris – Psilon Dendron

Date Last Walked: May 2018

Distance: Approximately 8.5 miles (14kms)

Duration: 3 hours 35 minutes, allowing for some stops.

Difficulty: No road walking. Some moderately steep climbing and descending.

The walk starts just off the main Troodos road (B8) beyond a left-hand turning to Platres. As the road continues uphill, on a left hand bend you will see a nature trail sign to your right for the Psilon Dendron and the Kalidonia Falls trails. There is room to park your car here near the entrance to a restaurant and trout farm. This is a popular place for tourists so you will probably also see a number of red-plated rental cars!

The GPS coordinates for the starting point are: 34.8958736N, 32.8685537E

Follow the Kalidonia Falls trail up the hill.

This is a well-trodden nature trail and you shouldn’t have much trouble following it. Walk up the hill and after 3 minutes you will reach a further information board.

Continue along the path uphill and you will soon start to follow the banks of the Krios Potamos up the valley towards the Kalidonia Falls. It is quite a steep walk and you will criss-cross the stream a number of times, sometimes on wooden bridges but sometimes by balancing on rocks.

If there has been a lot of rain the stream can be quite fast-flowing and some of these crossings are slippery, so take care. On the plus side: a lot of rain means that the falls will be much more spectacular – in dry weather they can be a bit disappointing!

After about 25 minutes you will reach the Kalidonia Falls themselves.

After pausing to admire the view, continue up the track, following the stream, to the next high falls after about 55 minutes.There is a viewing point and bench here.

Another pause for photos, then continue uphill until you reach the top of the Kalidonia trail (1 hour 10 minutes). There is another information board, a bench and a signpost. Your walk now heads off to the right along the Pouziaris Trail, signposted here.

No more steep climbs on this walk!

Walk along this wide earth track which very gently ascends to the south shoulder of the Troodos range. At 1 hour 20 minutes a hiking route is signposted to the right of the track:

Ignore this sign as it will take you swiftly back down again – your route continues along the earth road. (Note – there is a bench with lovely views just a few metres along the hiking trail if you want to rest)

As you continue along the track the vista opens out to offer fantastic views to your right. You can see the wind farms near Paphos, the salt lake at Akrotiri and the Kouris dam.

Stay on the main track and at around the 1 hour 45 minutes point you will reach a junction. There is a wooden bench to the left of the track and your path is opposite this, next to a waste bin and heading downhill. It is well signposted.

The trail downhill is quite well marked with a number of walkers’ boards. It has been recently re-made and the signs are new. The trail goes quite steeply downhill. After about 20 minutes (2 hours 5 minutes) you will reach a junction where there are two boards offering alternate routes to Troodos Square and to Psilon Dendron. This is Pouziaris.

Take the longer (6.5km) trail back to Psilon Dendron. Enjoy the views to Platres as you follow the loose gravel trail down the mountainside.

At around 2 hours 35 minutes you will pass a wooden bench

and 10 minutes later (2 hours 45 minutes) you will arrive at a wide track. Turn right onto this earth road, ignoring the signed hiking path directly ahead of you.

Keep to this main trail, which follows the contours and is fairly level. No more climbs or descents for a little while. Ignore any paths or tracks until, at around 3 hours 15 minutes, you will see a waste-bin and a wooden sign.

This is your route back to Psilon Dendron.

The path now winds down the side of the hill, through pine woods. In about 10 minutes you will pass a signboard to ‘Psilo Dendro 1km’ and, a few minutes later, cross a forestry track, continuing downhill.

A further 10 minutes walking (3 hours 35 minutes) will bring you to the signboard for the start of the Pouziaris nature trail, which is right next to your starting point at Psilon Dendron.

Birds seen on this walk: Alpine Swift, Blackbird, Chaffinch, Chiff Chaff, Crossbill, Coal Tit, Cyprus Wheatear, House Sparrow, Jay, Kestrel, Masked Shrike, Spotted Flycatcher, Treecreeper, Wood Pigeon, Wren