Kionia - Drys

The Kionia – Drys Trail is a short but sustained climb through the Machairas forest, linking the locality of Drys, on the paved road near Machairas Monastery, with the dirt roads below the Kionia peak. Over 3.44 kilometres it gains around 383 metres and gives back only about 46, rising from roughly 940 metres at the low end to just under 1,280 metres near the top. That is almost pure ascent in one direction, so the walk feels far bigger than its distance suggests — and correspondingly easy on the way back down.

The name is a plain piece of Cypriot geography. Drys (δρυς) is Greek for "oak", and Kionia (Κιόνια) — "columns" — is the name of the highest ground in the Machairas range. The trail sits inside the Machairas National Forest Park, part of the Natura 2000 network, where pine forest, dirt forest roads and open slopes alternate. The Cyprus Department of Forests describes the route as offering panoramic views over a wide sweep of country east, north and west of Kionia.

Walked uphill it is a straightforward, steady effort with no flat sections to hide behind; walked downhill from the Kionia picnic site it becomes an easy hour. Either way it pairs naturally with the longer ridge walk Kionia - Profitis Ilias, which starts from the same picnic site.