Three kilometres west of Emborió lies the old pirate-safe village of HORIÓ , abandoned in the 1950s but still crowned by the Knights' castle. Except during the major August 14-15 festival, the church here is kept securely locked to protect its frescoes. Across the valley, the little monastery of Stavrós is the venue for the other big island bash on September 14. There's little else to see or do inland, though you can spend three hours walking across the island on the 1998-vintage dirt track, the extension of the cement "Tarpon Springs Boulevard" donated by the expatriate community in Florida. At the end of the road (best arrange a ride out, and walk back) you'll come to the monastery of Ayíou Ioánnou Prodhrómou ; the caretaker there can put you up in a cell (except around August 29, the other big festival date), but you'll need to bring supplies. The terrain en route is monotonous, but compensated by views over half the Dodecanese and Turkey.

 

Longish but narrow Póndamos , fifteen-minutes' walk west of Emborió, is the only sandy beach on Hálki, and even this has had to be artificially supplemented. The sole facility is the somewhat pricey Nick's Pondamos Taverna , serving lunch daily, plus supper four evenings weekly. Small and pebbly Yialí , west of and considerably below Horió via a jeep track, lies an hour's hike away from Póndamos. A thirty-minute walk north of Emborió lies Kánia , with a rocky foreshore and a rather industrial ambience from both power lines and the island's only petrol pump to one side.

Since these three coves are no great shakes, it's worth signing on at Emborió quay for boat excursions to more remote beaches. More or less at the centre of Hálki's southern shore, directly below Horió's castle, Trahiá consists of two coves to either side of an isthmus; you can (just) reach this overland by rough path from Yialí, and this trail is scheduled to be bulldozed into a track soon. North-coast beaches figuring as excursion-boat destinations include the pretty fjord of Aréta, Áyios Yeóryios just beyond, and the remote double bay of Dhyo Yialí . Of these, Aréta is the most attractive, and the only one accessible overland (in ninety minutes one-way) by experienced hillwalkers equipped with the Chalki, Island of Peace and Friendship map based on the old Italian topographical survey products.