Zia is a small picturesque village up in the mountains near
Asfendiou in
Kos. It’s about a 20 minute drive from the airport and around the same from the capital
Kos town.
The colourful and immaculately looked after village is tiny, there’s just one main cobbled road that passes through the middle with shops and restaurants on both sides. There's greenery and flowers all around the main road and a couple of small side streets to explore too.
In Zia you’ll find a number of souvenir shops and local produce shops like the fabric shop in the gallery section below. It’s a delightful place to spend an hour or two and it’s easy to get lost wandering around and watching the locals go about their business.
Getting to and from Zia can be a bit tricky as traversing the winding mountainside road that’s not lit the whole way can be a bit unsettling, it’s perfectly achievable in the average hire car though, just take it easy. If you prefer not to drive then a taxi is relatively cheap and there’s always plenty at the end of the night to take you back to your hotel.
There are also bus tours that go up for the evenings and come back down after sunset so booking onto one of the bus tours can save you the hassle of driving up the road, it also allows you to just relax and enjoy the evening out with a bottle of local wine, Mythos or Ouzo without worrying about having to drive back.
There’s no hotels in Zia but there are a couple of villas and apartments to rent, it’s generally a place that people visit for the day rather than spending their entire holiday there. You can day trip to Zia from all over the island as it's really central but the north coast resorts of
Tigaki and
Marmari are the two main resorts that are nearby.
If you'd like to stay in the area then have a look at the Zia page of booking.com
here. Alternatively find a great package holiday through Tui
here.
Zia is filled with restaurants, many of which have balconies that give spectacular views over the Kos countryside and for that reason they get extremely busy of an evening throughout the tourist season.
If you want to visit Zia and plan to go to a rooftop terrace for your evening meal then we’d advise you to get your hotel to call and book you a table when you first arrive on the island.
If you can’t do that then get to Zia earlier than you need to and reserve a table when you first arrive, this way you’re more likely to get a balcony edge table rather than an internal table.
As mentioned, Zia is close to Asfendiou which is another traditional little village you can visit for a a wander round.
If you're looking for a historical site then
Paleo Pili is your closest option, it's the remains of a Byzantine castle that's just over 5km away from Zia.