Schinousa

Map of  Koufonisia(Schinousa)

A little to the northeast of Iraklia, Schinousa(8km² and 250 residents) is just beginning to awaken to its tourist potential. Its indented outline, sweeping valleys and partly submerged headlands - such as the sinuous, snake-like islet Ofidousa - provide some of the most dramatic views in the group.

An asphalted road leads up from the port of Mersini to the capital, Hora (Panagia), for 1.2km. From Hora you can reach no fewer than sixteen beaches dotted around the island, accessible by a network of dirty tracks. Tsigouri is a ten-minute track walk downhill from northwest Hora and gradually being developed. The local's preferred choice of beaches are Alygaria to the south, Psilo Ammos to the northeast and Almyros, half an hour southeast.

Iraklia

Map pf Koufonisia

Iraklia the westernmost of the Lesser Cyclades and with the least spoilt scenery has just over 150 permanent residents and 18,078km² extension. As the first stop on the ferry service from Naxos, the island is hardly undiscovered by tourists, but with fewer amenities than some of its neighbours, it retains the feel of a more secluded retreat.

The port of Ayios Georgios is a small but sprawling settlement behind a sandy tamarisk-backed beach that gets quite crowded in August. Livadi, a big, shallow beach, is 2km southeast of the port and its crystal-clear waters are the main tourist attraction of the island. The asphalted road continues 3km on to the tiny capital Panayia(Hora), which has no lodgings to speak of. In season, a local boat sails from the port at 11am to make a tour of the island, stopping at the small sandy beach at Alimia and the nearby pebble beach of Karvounolakos.

Anafi

Map of Anafi

A ninety-minute boat ride to the east of Santorini, Anafi, the 16th bigger island of the Cyclades with 271 population and 38,636km² extension, is the last stop for ferries. It was so for the Argonauts who prayed to Apollo for some land to rest. He let the island emerge from the sea for their repose. Tourists visit Anafi for weeks in midsummer to enjoy exactly that: its seclusion. Although idyllic geographically, Anafi is a harsh place, its mixed granite and limestone core overlaid by volcanic rock spewed out by Santorini's eruptions. Apart from the few olive trees and vines grown in the valleys, the only plant that seem to thrive are prickly pears. The quiet, unassuming capital, Hora, provides a daring dash of white in a treeless, shrub-strewn hillock, its narrow, winding streets offering protection from the occasionally squally gharbis wind that comes unencumbered from the southwest.

Folegandros

Map of Folegandros

Folegandros is the 19th bigger island of Cyclades, with 32,384km² and 765 inhabitants. It's located between Milos(15 miles) and Sikinos. It also called Polukandros.

The sheer cliffs of Folegandros rise 300m from the sea in places and until the early 1980s they were as effective a deterrent to tourists as they had historically been to pirates. Folegandros was used now and then as an island of political exile from Roman times right up until 1969, and life in the high, barren interior was only eased in 1974 by the arrival of electricity and the subsequent construction of a road running from the harbor to Hora(capital) and beyond. Development has been given further impetus by the recent increase in tourism and the ensuing commercialization. The island is becoming so trendy that Greek journalists speak of a new Mykonos in the making, a fact that is reflected in its swish jewellery and clothes shops. Yet away from showcase Hora and the beaches, the countryside remains mostly pristine. Donkeys are also  still very much in evidence, since the terrain on much of the island is too steep for vehicles.

The island's real character and appeal are rooted in the spectacular Hora, the capital of Folegandros, perched on a cliff-edge plateau, a steep 3km from the port. Locals and foreigners mingle at the cafes and taverns under the trees of the five adjacent squares, passing the time undisturbed by traffic, which is banned from the village center. Towards the northern cliff-edge and entered through two arcades, the defensive core if the medieval castle (Kastro) neighborhood is marked by ranks of two-storey residential houses, with almost identical stairways and slightly recessed doors.

West of Hora, a paved road threads its way along the spine of the island towards sprawling Ano Meria. In the middle of the settlement stands the large church of Agios Georgios.

Sikinos

Map of Sikinos

Sikinos has so small extension and population -40km² and 270 residents- that the mule ride or walk from the port up to the capital was only replaced by a bus in the late 1980s. At roughly the same time the new jetty was completed. Until then Sikinos was the last major Greek island where ferry passengers were still taken ashore in launches. With no extravagant characteristics and no nightlife to speak of, few foreigners make the short trip over here from Folegandros or Ios. The end result, however, is the most unspoilt rural countryside in the Cyclades where the image of a priest riding a donkey can suddenly materialize from over a hill.

Hora or Sikinos , the capital, consists of the double village of Kastro and Horio. Most of the facilities are in the larger, northeastern Kastro, whereas Horio is mainly residential. Northeast from Hora is Paleokastro, the patchy remains of an ancient fortress. In the opposite direction , a ninety-minute walk takes leads to an old path throufh a steeply terraced landscape to Episkopi, where elements of an ancient temple-tomb have been incorporated into a seventh-century church - the structure is known formally as the Heroon, though it is now thought to have been a Roman mausoleum rather than a temple of Hera.

Kea

Map of Kea

Kea(Tzia), the nearest and the Westernmost island of the Cyclades to the mainland, is an extremely popular island with 131km² extension and 2.500 population. It's coastline reaches 88km. Kea is relatively sparsely inhabited island, except, Korissia, Ioulida and Vourkari which is the most expensive area of ​​the island. The most beautiful areas of the island are located on the Northeast side. The highest mountain is Prophet Elias (568 meters). Also the island has one of the biggest natural harbors of the Mediterranean, the Gulf of St. Nicholas. But the main port of Kea is Korissía.

Kea's capital is Ioulida which is beautifully situated in an amphitheatrically fold in the hills. It is a typical Cycladic town, but is architecturally  the most interesting settlement on the island. Accordingly it has numerous bars, full in summer, but during other times the town is quiet.

Santorini

Map of Santorini

Santorini or Thira is located in the southern Aegean Sea, in the Cyclades island group, south west of Ios and Anafi. It's the 12th bigger island of Cyclades with 76km² extension and 18.883 population. Distance from Piraeus is 128 nautical miles and 63 nautical miles from Crete. The Athinios is the island's biggest port and Fira is the capital. Santorini is one of the most famous tourist centers of the world. It is known for its volcano.

As the ferry manoeuvres into the great caldera of Santorini(Thira), the land seems to rise up and clamp around it. Gaunt, sheer cliffs loom hundred of meters above the deep blue sea, nothing grows or grazes to soften the awesome view, and the only colors are the reddish-brown, black and grey pumice layers on the cliff face of Santorini. The landscape tells of a history so dramatic and turbulent that legend hangs as fact upon it.

These apocalyptic events, though, scarcely concern modern tourists, who come here to take in the spectacular views, stretch out on the island's dark-sand beaches and absorb peculiar, infernal geographic features. The tourism industry  has changed traditional island life, creating a rather expensive playground. There is one time-honored local industry, however, that has benefited from all the outside attention: wine. Santorini is one of Greece's most important producers, and the fresh, dry white wines it is known for (most from the assyrtiko grape for which the region is known) are the perfect accompaniment to the seafood served in the many restaurants and taverns that hug the island's cliffs.

Syros

Map of Syros

Syros is a living, working island with only a fleeting history of tourism, rendering it the most Greek of the Cyclades. It's the 11th bigger island of Cyclades with 84km² extension and 21.500 population. It is located in the central part of the Cyclades and is 83 nautical miles from Pireas and 62 from Rafina. There's a thriving, permanent community, the beaches are busy but not overflowing and the villages don't sprawl widely with new developments. As well as being home to a number of excellent restaurants, the island is known for its numerous shops selling loukoumia (Turkish delight), mandolata (nougat) and halvadopita(soft nougat between disc-shaped wafers). In addition Syros still honors its contribution to the development of rembetika songs.

The island's sights -including the best beaches- are concentrated in the South and West. The North part is unpopulated and barren offering little interest. Most people tent to stay to Ermoupolis, the capital, which offers better connections to a cariety of beaches none further than 15km away.

Possessing an elegant collection of grand townhouses that rise majestically from the bustling, cafe-lined waterfront, Ermoupolis is once of the most striking towns in Cyclades, and it certainly worth at least a night's stay.

Medieval Syros was largely a catholic island, but the influx of refugees from Psara and Hios during 19th century created two distinct communities. The Orthodox, which accounts the 2/3 of the population, in the Lower Ermoupolis and the Catholics in the Upper Town.

Dilos

Dilos is the smallest island of the Cyclades with 14 residents and 3,5km² extension. It is located a few kilometers West of Mykonos. The island's highest point is the crown of the hill Cynthus, located in the center of Dilos and has a height of 115 meters. The history of Delos is interwoven with the mythology as it was the birthplace of Apollo, son of Zeus, and Artemis. For this reason Delos was a sacred place in antiquity.

Ios

Map of Ios

Ios is the 8th bigger island of the Cyclades with 2.024 population and 108km² extension. Though not terribly different -geographically and architecturally- from its neighbours, no other Greek island attracts the same vast crowds of young people as Ios. Although it has worked hard to shake off its late-twentieth-century reputation for alcohol excesses and to move the island's tourism one class up with some success, Ios is extremely popular with young backpacker set who take over the island in July and August.

The only real villages, Yialos, Hora and Mylopotas, are clustered in a western corner of the island, and development elsewhere is restricted by poor roads. As a result there are still some very quiet beaches with just a few room to rent. Most visitors stay along the arc delineated by the port, at Yialos, where you'll arrive, in Hora above it, or by the beach of Mylopotas. Despite its past popularity, sleeping on the beach on Ios is strictly banned these days and so is nudism.

Hora or Ios Town, the capital, is a twenty-minute walk up behind Yialos port, and is one of the most picturesque towns in the Cyclades, filled with meandering arcaded lanes and whitewashed chapels. Still, it gets pretty raunchy when the younger crowds moves in for the high season. The main road divides it naturally into two parts: the old town climbing the hillside to the left as you arrive and the newer development to the right. The archaeological museum (Tue-Sun, 8:30am-3pm, free), in the yellow town hall, is part of an attempt to attract a more diverse range of visitors to the island. It contains some interesting finds from ancient Skarkos, a few kilometers inland from Yialos.

Yialos, with its surprisingly peaceful beach- isn't in the same league as Hora, but it provides a refreshing, breezy escape from the hot, noisy capital. Alternatively there's the popular Mylopotas, the site of a magnificent beach, lots of water activity outlets and surprisingly little nightlife.

Andros

Map of Andros

Andros, the second largest island and the Northernmost of the Cyclades with 380km² extension and 9.221 population, is also one of the most verdant, its fertile, well-watered valleys and hillsides sprouting scores of holiday villas. Still home to a very hospitable people, an attractive capital, numerous good beaches, plus some idiosyncratic reminders of the Venetian period - such as Peristerones(dovecate towers) and the Frakhtes (dry-stone walls) - Andros has a special charm. Driving is also a joy, with precipitous coastal roads offering panoramic views over the Aegean.

Hora, the capital of Andros, is the most attractive town on the island. Paved in marble and schist from the still-active local quarries, the buildings near the bus station are grand 19th century edifices, and the squares with their ornate wall fountains and gateways are equally elegant. The old port, Plakoura, on the West side of the headland, has a yacht supply station and a former ferry landing from where occasional boats run tothe isolated but superbly idyllic Akhla beach in summer. More locally, there are beaches on both sides of the town headland, Nimborio to the North and the less developed Paraporti to the Southeast, though both are exposed to the winds in summer, that's why Gavrio, on the other side of the island, became the main port.

Gavrio is a pleasant small town set in an oval bay, but it has more taverns and bars than good hotels, which generally tend to be out of town. There is an adjacent town beach, but there are more attractive alternatives 5km Northwest of the port: beautiful Fellos and Kourtali.