The harbour area (actually there are two harbours) is really extensive considering the size of Symi island, this because it Yialos Kali Strata Symi Simi Greece Yialos Kali Strata used to be a major trading centre for export of sponges and for shipbuilding.
Although some of the houses are now quite derelict you can see that once they must have been very grand - this is especially noticeable on the Kali Strata and towards the top. However these grand old buildings are gradually being rebuilt/refurbished/restored.

Chorio: The Old Town at the top end of the Kali Strata - lots of alleys etc with hardly any access to cars. Quite a few ruined buildings still but they are being slowly renovated. There are several tavernas and supermarkets mostly centred around the village square.

Pedi: This small fishing village has a small stoney beach, several tavernas and also a couple of supermarkets. It is served by Symi bus and also has water taxis in and out. Symi imports its fresh water from Rhodes and the first photos shows the water boat unloading in Pedi harbour.

Getting around. (bus/water taxi/taxis/car-hire). Symi Bus simply does a shuttle between the harbour, the Old Town and Pedi - it is very reliable and Symi Buscontinues the service up to 11PM. There are five taxis on the island based usually at the harbour - the furthest trip you can make from the harbour is to Panormitis down the other end of the island which is meant to cost about 23 Euros - as usual though it is a good idea to confirm the price with the taxi driver before leaving. Also the taxis are used to ferry passengers to and from their hotels etc. so if you want to use one check if a ferry is due in or out and maybe book it in advance.
Water taxis run frequently out of the harbour to various beaches with Emborio, Ag. Nikolaos, Disalona and Nanou being charged at 5 Euros return - and Marathounda Bay at 10 Euros. There are plenty of "round the island" type day trips which start from the harbour as well.

Car hire is very expensive and varies apparently according to the time of the year - for instance we hired for one day so we could do a small series of walks and it cost 40 Euros - but two days previously the price had been 70 Euros (i.e. July+August rate). Considering there is, apart from the hop down to Pedi, just about only one tarmac road (to Panormitis) on the island there is not a lot to do in a car for more than maybe a couple of days at most. The tracks are quite often in a very poor state and looked to us to be only suitable for 4 wheel drive in most cases. The car hire company is by the bridge in the harbour - the petrol station is on the road along the front going towards Pedi and there is another petrol station on the left hand road nearly into Pedi.

WALKING
Symi has some very nice paths to walk and also a few KMs of moni paths but some of the latter are in a very poor state - not least because the numerous goats seem to take great pleasure from knocking down the walls. Shaded path on Symi rocky Simi path Byzantine windepress - Symi Out on Symi's hills The centre and top of the island is still quite well wooded and has some really pleasant paths to use whilst the area around Yialos is pretty barren. There is sadly not yet an accurate map of the island although we think that Roads Editions may be re-issuing one sometime - the map we used to get our ideas for creating our walks was included with a "walks" book we purchased from Lance Chilton - this large scale map is not bad for showing the existence of paths and tracks but according to our gps not so accurate on exactly where such paths etc. start from and end up in some cases