Papoutsa Natural Trail: Ascent the 3rd highest peak in Cyprus

Description

The Papoutsa natural trail is the 3rd highest peak in Cyprus with an altitude reaching 1554 meters. A steep trail with amazing panoramic views that will take your breath away literally and figuratively. Papoutsa mountain range is located in the middle of the villages Palaichori, Agios Theodoros and Agios Constantinos. The mountain range is shared between Nicosia and Limassol districts.

Papoutsa peak can be reached via 4 different routes, where all of them are rated as difficult regardless of their distance. Their difficulty lies on the steep hike, rocky terrain and difficult descent. The 4 different trails are depicted in the GPS map with different colors and fully described in the Starting points. All the trails are linear but a combination of the trails can be used to make a circular route.

Viewpoints

All 4 trails have amazing views of the surrounding villages (Palaichori, Agios Theodoros and Agios Constantinos) and of course the mountains of the area. Once reaching the top you will encounter the proud Greek flag and a huge cross. At the peak you will have a 360 view enjoying from far Nicosia, Limassol and Larnaca.

Starting points

The trail can be done from 4 different routes, all shown in the GPS map.

Blue route: The starting point is outside Palaichori entrance and half of the trail is a gravel road. The other half is a trail path in the ridgeline of the Papoutsa mountain range with the terrain changing to rocky and slippery ground. When I did the hike we went to the Papoutsa mountain range but not the peak due to bad weather conditions. However in the GPS map, you can easily follow the route until the Papoutsa peak.

Purple route: The starting point is in the crossroad between Palaichori and Agios Theodoros. The trail starts immediately with a steep ascent and goes like that until you reach the top.

Green route: The starting point is outside Agios Theodoros. It begins with a 1 km of gravel road and then narrows down to a trail path with a continuous uphill. It is probably the longest one and hence easier to climb in comparison with the rest. But of course it will take more time.

Yellow route: The starting point is at Agios Konstaninos village. It follows an uphill trail that leads to the E.O.K.A’s hideouts of the area and then you can continue hiking the Papoutsa mountain range until you reach the peak.

Personal comments

The trail is steep and difficult. There is a small section that you might need to do scrambling regardless of the route you will choose. The views though are amazing!! The experience may get elevated if the weather is cloudy or you visit the peak during sunset. If you are lucky and the clouds are at a lower altitude than the Papoutsa peak, the scenery will be even more magical.

Due to the different routes for this trail you have various options on how to do the trail. Either linear by combining routes and having a car on each end so that the distance is increased along with the difficulty or combine trails to make it circular like I did. For example start from Agios Theodoros, reach the peak and return back by following half the trail of Agios Konstantinos and the change direction to Agios Theodoros again.

Papoutsa Natural Trail information table

Description
Route	Blue	Purple	Green	Yellow
Starting points	(link)	(link)	(link)	(link)
Ending point	–	–	–	–
Distance	12 km	4.5 km	11.88	13.2 km
Difficulty (1 – easy, 2 – moderate, 3 – difficult)	3	3	3	3
Trail type (Linear, Circular, both)	Linear	Linear	Linear/Circular	Linear/Circular
ETA finish time	3+ hours	~ 3 hours	~ 5 hours	~ 6 hours
Elevation Gain/Loss	608 meters	347 metres	591 meters	882 meters
Maximum Altitude	1373 meters*	1554 metres	1554 meters	1554 meters