Chios Town — known simply as "Chora" to locals — is where most visitors first set foot on the island, stepping off the ferry to a long harbor promenade lined with cafes and colored boats. First impressions can be deceptive: the town was badly damaged by an 1881 earthquake and what you see along the waterfront is largely modern. But venture just a few streets back and you enter a different world entirely.
The medieval castle district — Kastro — was the Genoese administrative center of the island, and much of its 14th-century architecture survives intact. Inside the castle walls you will find the old Muslim quarter, with its Ottoman mosque and cemetery, Byzantine churches, and the remarkable tomb of Kara Ali — the Egyptian admiral who ordered the 1822 massacre and was later killed when Greek admiral Kanaris detonated a fireship beneath his vessel.
The Aplotaria market — Chios Town's main commercial street — is the place to buy mastic products, local honey, spirits, and Chian textiles. At the northern end of town, the Kampos district is a revelation: a vast plain of citrus groves threaded with high-walled lanes, hiding ancient mansions behind enormous wooden gates. Many of these 17th and 18th-century aristocratic houses have been converted into extraordinary guesthouses.