Referred to as Hora by the locals, the capital of Chios, is built in the centre of the island's eastern side, overlooking the Asia Minor shores and has over 30,000 permanent residents. Its history dates back 3,000 years during which time is have lived through periods of prosperity and poverty and accepted influences from many conquerors.

To this date, Hora has the island's most significant harbour as well as a remarkable spiritual, educational, trade and cultural centre for the entire Northern Aegean region.

No matter how you reach the island, you will go through the capital given that it is surrounded by National Airport of Chios, except for the section of the harbour. The city's fort was built at the end of the 10th century and is inhabited to this day.

Unlike the rural centres, the capital of Chios buzzes with life and is both interesting and appealing all throughout the year.

Mesta lies southwest of the town of Chios, 35 kilometers away, in the area of Mastihohoria (the “mastic villages”). It is a perfectly preserved castle village dated to the medieval period. The houses were built one right next to the other, thereby creating a protective wall surrounding the village.

Thirty-one kilometers south of the town of Chios and six kilometers after Pιrgi, visitors encounter the medieval village called Olympi. Its beautiful houses, connected to each other, used to form its defensive wall. The narrow streets, cobbled roads and rigid, yet simple architecture, testify to the village’s medieval origin.

Vessa is a medieval village that lies in the center of a big agricultural basin and it has a main gate, which is in a very good condition. The area has a well laid -out streets and high narrow buildings that look like towers.

Kalamoti was a large and prosperous village during the Genoese period, with two defensive towers and a fortified perimeter. However the rebuilding of houses and the changes in the architectural style have altered the morphological unity of the village.

Today at the center of the village there is a marble-carved memorial made by the sculptor Michael Tombros.

Olives and fruit-trees are cultivated around the village, in gentle irrigated valleys. In this zone, one can still detect traces of the old settlements around the isolated chapels that were rallied to from Kalamoti.