Description
The Gefyria natural trail is a picturesque hike offering impressive views. Most of the trail path is along the ridgeline of mountain ranges of Paphos forest, which half way there it gradually descends to the area called “Gefyria”. At that point a recently renovated refuge stands in the middle of a lush greenery environment, ready to welcome and host multi-day hikers. The refuge has two rooms totally empty (no beds) but with a fireplace.
The Gefyria(“bridges”) natural trail is located in Panw Panagia village in Paphos, a few hundred metres after the Monashilaka picnic area. It is 6.5km and it is linear. The trail sign post categorises the trail as moderate. However, the return increases the hike to 13km and also the elevation gain to 476 metres, which is near other difficult (level 3) trails like Grand Madari or Xystarouda. Therefore I would categorise it as difficult. The estimated finish time is 4 hours and the maximum altitude is 867 metres.
It should not be confused with the trail Venetian Bridges as this is a different one. Venetian bridges begin from Treis Elies village and end up to the Routhkia’s venetian bridge.
Table of Contents
Viewpoints
I would say that the main viewpoints of the trail are the panoramic views and the refuge at the end of the trail. Half of the trail, if not more, goes through the ridgeline of the mountains offering the hiker scenic and panoramic views of the area. When the weather is cloudy the scenery is even more impressive. At the end of the trail, a refuge appears in the middle of the forest like a fairytale making the whole experience magical. The “Gefyria” refuge is found in a crossroad of gravel roads next to a river.
Starting points
The trail has two different starting points. The new and the old one. The new starting point seems to be the official one and it’s point B in the GPS map. The old one, point A in the GPS map, is common with the trail “Moutti twn anemwn”. They used to have a common path for a few kilometres and then a sign post was differentiating the two trails. Both locations are depicted in the GPS map below.
Personal comments
The trail is linear and the hiker has several options on this one:
- Start from the new starting point and make it either linear with 4.7km or return back and so 9.4km.
- You can make it only one way by taking a second car through the gravel road at Monashilaka picnic area towards the “Gefyria” refuge.
- You can keep the difficulty Moderate by making the trail circular and return through the gravel road and hike a total of 13km if you started from the new starting point or 14km if you started from the old starting point.
The trail is panoramic and lovely. I totally recommend it. Since most of the trail is on the ridgeline of mountains, that means it is exposed to the sun. Therefore it is better to hike it in winter time or during cloudy weather.
Gefyria natural trail information table
| Description | |
| Starting points | Point A: 34.93007, 32.6468 (link) Point B: 34.93512, 32.65029 (link) |
| Ending point | 34.93765, 32.67678 (link) |
| Distance | 13 km |
| Difficulty (1 – easy, 2 – moderate, 3 – difficult) | 3 |
| Trail type | Linear but can be done as circular too |
| ETA finish time | ~ 4 hours |
| Elevation Gain/Loss | ~ 476/465 metres |
| Maximum Altitude | 867 metres |
Elevation stats
GPS map
Gallery
5 nearby trails
- Moutti twn anemwn trail
- Panagia – Kykkos
- Chorteri trail
- Moutti you Stavrou trail
- Chrysorogiatissa trail
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