On the hills and mountain sides around Vatheia proper are clusters of abandoned houses, towers and chapels known as the perichora, meaning environs.

Currently, Vatheia is a tourist attraction during spring and summer due to the abundance of wild flowers that cover the nearby hills and its scenic views.

On 13 April 1805, William Martin Leake by-passed Vatheia ("Βάθια" in text) on the way to Cape Matapan, using the sea-side road, but his journey was briefly interrupted by a band of local armed men.

Of the eight clans, in total, the four larger were living in Vatheia proper and its environs (Karabatiani, Michalakiani, Kaledoniani, Koutrigari) while the rest were mostly restricted in some of the aforementioned hamlets.

[10] The communal decision to swear fealty to the Bey might have signalled the end of the war mentioned by Leake a year earlier.

In several places around the modern village as well as in other locations within the periphery of the local community, earlier habitation is evident by the megalithic remains of housing clusters.