Kythnos

Map of Kythnos

Kythnos is a lesser known island of Cyclades and the 9th bigger with 99km² extension and 1.500 population. Located between Kea and Serifos. Few foreigners visit this island which is even quieter than Kea. The coastline reaches 104km. Hora is the capital which is located in the center of the island and lies 7.5km Northeast of Merihas(an attractive ferry and fishing port). Hora seems unpromising at first sight, but into the narrow streets beyond the initial square there is a wonderful network of alleyways, weaving theis way past shops, churches and tiny squares with colorful cafes.

It's also known as Thermia due to the hot springs and the healing spas, in Loutra. The resort of Loutra, 4.5km North of Hora, is named after its mineral thermal baths. It is a nineteenth-century spa, designed by Ernst Ziller, the architect of many Greece's finest Neoclassical buildings.

Kimolos

Map of Kimolos

Of the three islands off the coast of Milos, only rugged, scenic Kimolos is inhabited. It's the 17th bigger island of Cyclades with 37km² extension and 910 residents. Volcanic like Milos, it profits from its geology and used to export chalk ( kimolia in Greek ) until the supply was exhausted. Bentonite is still extracted locally, and the fine dust of this clay is a familiar sight on the Northeastern corner of the island, where mining still outstrips fishing and farming as an occupation. Apart from the inhabited Southeast, the rest of the island is a nature reserve, which explains the lack of surfaced roads.

Even in August Kimolos isn' swamped by visitors. There is only one bus, no car or motorbike rental (rent from Milos) and few restautants.

Dazzling white Hora, the capital of Kimolos, is perched on the ridge above Psathi behind a few old windmills overlooking the bay. The magnificent, two-gated, 16th century castle was built against marauding pirates. The perimeter houses are still intact and inhabited, though its heart is a jumble of ruins except for the small church of Christ and the chapel of the island's own saint Agia Methodia, beatified in 1991. Just outside the castle to the North stands the 17th century church of Chryssostomos, the most beautiful on the island. Near the church is the archaeological museum (July-Sept , Tues-Sun, 08:30am-15:00pm, free ), displaying pottery from the Geometric to the Roman period. In a restored house near the Eastern gateway is the privately run Folk and Maritime Museum (July-Sept, daily, 09:00am-13:30pm, 1€).

Paros

Map of Paros

Paros is one of the top travel destinations of the Greeks, and not only. It's the 3rd bigger islands of the Cyclades with 196km² and 13.715 population. With a gentle landscape arranged around the central peak of Profitis Ilias, Paros has everything one expects from a Greek  island: old villages, fishing harbors, monasteries and churches, nice beaches and top nightlife. However, Parikia, the capital, is expensive and it is very difficult finding rooms and space in beaches, especially in August, when the other settlements, the port of Naousa and the satellite island Antiparos, handle most of the overflow. Carousing and drinking is idea of many people of a holiday on Paros, so it's not surprising that both Parikia and Naousa have a wealth of pubs and bars.

Bustling Parikia, the capital, sets the tone architecturally  for the rest of Paros, its ranks of typically Cycladic white houses punctuated by the occasional Venetian-style building and church domes. The real attraction of Parikia is simply to wander the town itself, especially the meandering old market street(Agora) and adjoining Gravari.

On the other hand, Naousa is a more fashionable alternative to Parikia. It's a major resort town, with modern concrete hotels and attendant trappings. It has developed around a charming little port whose layout has not been adversely affected. The local festivals are still celebrated especially the re-enactment on August 23 of a naval victory over the pirates.

Naxos

Map of Naxos

Naxos is the largest and most fertile of all the Cyclades islands, 430km² extension and 18.864 population, and with its green and mountainous highland scenery it appears immediately dissimilar to its neighbours. The difference is accentuated by the unique architecture of many of the interior villages: the Venetian Duchy of the Aegean, headquartered here from 1204 to 1537, left towers and fortified mansions scattered throughout the island, while medieval Cretan refugees bestowed a singular character upon Naxos's Eastern settlements.

Today Naxos could easily support itself without visitors by relying on its production of potatoes, olives, grapes and lemons, but it has thrown in its lot with mass tourism, so that parts of the island are now almost as busy as Paros in season. The island has plenty to see: the highest mountains of Cyclades, intriguing central valleys, a spectacular North coast and long, marvelously sandy beaches in the Southwest. It is also renowned for its wines, cheese and kitron, a sweet liqueur distilled from the leaves of this citrus tree and is available in green, yellow or clear varieties depending on strength and sugar level.

Capital of the island is Naxos Town. A really special place because of the looming fortifies castle. This is where Marco Sanudo, the 13th century Venetian who founded the town and established the Duchy of the Aegean, and his descendants ruled over the Cyclades. The most of the town's life occurs by the crowded port esplanade but there is more life in Naxos Town in the vast network of backstreets and low-arched narrow alleys that lead-up through the old town, Bourgo, to the Castle itself. There are a lot of taverns, shops and cafes in Evripeous Square, too.

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.

Tinos

Map of Tinos

Tinos is the 4th larger islands of the Cyclades with 8.636 population and 194km² extension. A few foreigners have discovered its beaches and unspoilt villages, but most visitors are Greek who visit Tinos every year to see the church of Panayia Evangelistria, a grandiose shrine erected on the spot where a miraculous icon with healing powers was found in 1822. A local nun, now canonized as Ayia Pelayia, was directed in a vision to unearth the relic just as the War of Independence was getting under way, a timely coincidence  that served to underscore the links between the Orthodox Church and Greek nationalism. Today, there are two major annual pilgrimages, on March 25 and August 15, when Tinos is inundated by the faithful, and at 11am, the icon bearing the Virgin's image is carried in state down to the harbor.

Mykonos

Mykonos has become the most popular, the most high profile and the most expensive island of Cyclades. Boosted by direct air links with Europe, it sees several million tourists a year pass through, producing some spectacular August overcrowding on the island's 86 square kilometers. Its striking capital is one of the most photogenic Cycladic towns with whitewashed houses concealing a dozen little churches, shrines and chapels.

Map of Mykonos

The cosmopolitan Mykonos is famous for its lively and hectic nightlife and this is one of the many reasons that attracts many visitors from Greece and abroad every year. The narrow streets in the country begin to fill with people in the afternoon, while traffic is increased in the evening. Bars and nightclubs with loud music for all tastes from well known dj's marks the nightlife of Mykonos.

Mykonos is the 10th bigger island of Cyclades with 86km² extension and 10.134 population. Mykonos Town or Chora is the capital of the island. The best time to explore the capital is in early morning when most people head out to the beaches. The labyrinthine design of the capital was supposed to confuse the pirates who plagued Mykonos in the 18th century, and it has the same effect on today's visitors. Getting lost in the convoluted streets and valleys is half the fun of Mykonos, although there are few places worth seeking out, like Archaeological museum, Maritime museum and Folklore museum. But the best place to enjoy coffee and the magical landscape is Little Venice, named by the high, arcaded Venetian houses built right up to the water's edge on its Southwest side.

Sifnos

Map of Sifnos

Sifnos is the 14th bigger island of Cyclades with 74km² extension and 2.625 population. It's a pretty, tidy and cultivated island and its size makes it easily explorable. Sifnos has a strong tradition of pottery(as early as the third century BC) and has long been esteemed for its distinctive cuisine, with sophisticated casseroles baked in the clay-fired gastres (pots), from the word gastronomy derives. The island is perhaps best appreciated today, however, for its many beautifully situated churches and monasteries, and for the beautiful scenery around Vathy in the far Southwest.

The areas to head for are the port, Kamares, the island's capital Apollonia, as well as the East and South coasts. There is nothing in the North worth peek, except maybe the small fishing village of Herronisos, but even that is too far and offers too little for the first-time visitor.

Generally the climate of the island is mild and healthy as all the Cyclades, and the ground is fertile enough. Main products produced are cereals, oil, wine, legumes, fruits, cotton textiles, pottery, and poultry and livestock products.

Milos

Map of Milos

Milos is the 5th bigger island of Cyclades. It has 158km² extension and 5.000 population approximately. Volcanic Milos is a geologically diverse island with weird rock formations, hot springs and odd outcrops off the coast. Minoan settlers were attracted by obsidian. This and other products of its volcanic soil made it one of the most important of Cyclades in the ancient world. Today the quarrying of many rare mineral has left huge scars on the landscape but has given the island a relative prosperity which today translates into several gourmet restaurants.

The Western side of Milos, as well the other islands around it, including Kimolos, is a nature reserve protecting three endemic species: like the extremely rare Mediterranean seal, the Milos viper and the Milos wall-lizard.

Capital of Milos is Plaka, the largest of a cluster of traditional villages that huddle beneath a small crag on the road Northwest of Adhamas., the lively main port of Milos, a small hamlet until it was populated by refugees from a failed rebellion in Crete in the 1840s.

Salamina

Map of Salamina

Salamina is the largest island of Argosaronic islands, 95km² extension and 39.000 population, and the quickest possible island-hop from Pireas. The island itself is highly developed, has few tourist facilities and is close enough to the Athenian dockyards to make swimming unappealing. The island's port is at Paloukia, facing the mainland, just a short hop across a narrow, built-up isthmus to Salamina Town, the capital, on the West coast. Five kilometers or so beyond Salamina Town, Eandio has the island's cleanest and most attractive beaches. A similar distance from Salamina Town to the North, the monastery of Faneromeni is a working nunnery with impressive frescoes, beautifully sited amid pine woods overlooking the mainland. Salamina is well-known by one of the most significant sea battles of ancient times.

Poros

Map of Poros

Poros is an Argosaronic island. It has 4.010 residents and 22,600 km² extension. Popular with Brits and Scandinavians more than any other Argosaronic island- it is also busy with weekending Athenians, who can get there by road(via Galatas) or on cheap ferries from Pireas. There are in fact two islands, Sferia(Poros Town) - for food, nightlife and shopping- and the far larger Kalavria-a little more peace-, separated from each other by a small canal spanned by a bridge. The Town is a busy place, with constant traffic of shipping and people.

Hydhra (Ydhra)

Map of Hydhra

Ydhra belongs to the Argosaronic complex. It is one of the most atmospheric destinations in Greece. With 49km² extension and 2.000 inhabitants approximately is the 4th bigger island of the Argosaronic islands (it's located between the Argolic and the Saronic gulf). Capital of the island is the Ydhra Town. Its harbor and main town preserved as a national monument. Entirely traffic-free with a bustling harbor and narrow stones streets climbing steeply above it, it feels like a Greek island. Away from the main settlement the rest of the island is roadless, rugged and barely inhabited. It is extremely picturesque and cosmopolitan island with sophisticated atmosphere and noticeably high prices. The island has a very limited number of beaches and the interior is mountainous and little-visited.

This island is a popular destination for foreign tourists and Athenians, given the relatively short distance from the capital. It has significant shipping history and tradition.

 

Ydhra

Spetses

Map of Spetses

Spetses is a famous island of Argosaronic complex with 22km² extension and 4.000 population. It's a popular destination, especially for Athenians. Capital of the island is Spetses Town, the biggest town of the Argosaronic islands, with apartments and villas spreading  for several kilometers along the Northeast coast, while the rest of the island remains almost entirely uninhabited, with pine forest inland and numerous excellent small beaches around the coast.

It's located near the Argolic peninsula right of the entrance of the Argolic Gulf, just 1.5 miles from Ermionida  and 50 miles from Piraeus.

Main products are olive oil, cereals, grapes, almonds and figs. The inhabitant's main occupation is shipping and fishing.

Spetses Town

For most visitors, shopping, eating and drinking are the principal attractions of Spetses, but it's a very enjoyable place to wander, with majestic old houses and gardens scattered through the narrow streets. The harbor, Dapia, marks pretty much the center of town, with the main square tucked in behind. To the East lies the town beach of Agios Mamas and beyond that the Old Harbor, upmarket focus of the island's nightlife, where private yachts moor up. West of Dapia is Kounoupitsa where much of the accommodation is here, and there are small beaches and waterfront taverns.

Egina

Map of Egina

A substantial and attractive island with a proud history, less than an hour from Pireas, Egina is a popular weekend escape from Athens. The second largest of Argosaronic islands with 82km² extension and 13.000 inhabitants approximately. The capital of Egina is Egina Town(Hora). It's an atmosphere island especially if you visit midweek or out of season. Famous for its pistachio orchards the island can also boast substantial ancient remains, the finest of which is the beautiful fifth-century BC Temple of Aphaea.

Egina Town

Egina Town, the island's capital, makes an attractive base, with some grand old buildings around a large harbor. It's a large town with plenty of shops places to eat and drink.

Agistri

Map of Agistri

Agistri, fifteen minutes by fast boat from Egina, is a tiny island, that belongs to Argosaronic complex. Capital of the island is Megalohori(Milos). It has 11,693km² and 1.120 residents. There's a small non attractive strip of development on the North coast facing Egina, but the rest of the island is very beautiful, pine-covered, with a very few beaches. The island has four villages: Megalochori or Milos (island country), Skala (the physical port where close to the ferry boat from Piraeus / Egina), Limenaria and Metohi. The island has daily ferry connections with Piraeus. The trip by ferry boat is 2 hours while "flying dolphin" 55 minutes.

Skyros

Map of Skyros

Skyros, the Southernmost island of Sporades, is the largest one with 206km² extension and 2.600 residents population. Despite it's natural beauty, Skyros has a relatively low profile. There plenty of beaches but few can rival the sand of Skiathos or Skopelos. Skyros has an airport in the North and a naval base in the South. All the accommodation and tourist facilities cluster around Skyros Town, the capital, in the center of the island.

Skyros Town(Hora) is a beautiful place, Cycladic-style white, flat-floated, red-tiled houses clinging to the island slope of a pinnacle rising precipitously from the coast. A single main street leads up to a central square. Beyond that lies a 150m stretch lined with almost everything. 

Shops, banks, restaurants and bars.

A position bang in the center of the Aegean guaranteed the island a busy history: it was occupied from prehistory, with a truly impressive Bronze Age settlement currently being excavated , was a vital Athenian outpost in the Classical era, and an equally important naval base for the Byzantines.

Alonissos

Map of Alonissos

Alonissos is the largest island of Sporades complex. The total area reaches 64km² and has a coastline of about 67km. The population of the island reaches 2.600 inhabitants. The capital os Alonissos is Patitiri,the major commercial and administrative center of the island. Alonissos is more rugged and wild than its neighbors but not less green. Pine forest, olive groves and fruit orchards cover the Southern half, while a dense maquis of arbutus, heather and kermes oak the North. The beaches rarely match those of Skopelos or Skiathos for sand and scenery, but the white pebbles on most of them enhance the impression of gin clear water. Remoteness and limited ferry connections mean that Alonissos attracts fewer visitors than its neighbors.

Skiathos

Map of Skiathos

Skiathos is a small island which belongs to Sporades complex. It's the closest island to the mainland with 48km² extension and 6.000 population. The real business of Skiathos is beaches. By far the best in Sporades. There are over fifty strands, most with fine, pale sand. The main road along to the South and Southeast coasts serves an almost unbroken line of villas, hotels, minimarkets and restaurants. In Skiathos it's difficult to find anything particularly Greek, but by hiking or using 4WD vehicle you can find anything relative solitude, refreshing vistas and charming medieval monuments in the island's North. Skiathos is a very popular destination for young ages due to nightlife.

Skiathos Town

Skiathos Town, the only real population centre on the island, is set on a couple of low hills around a point, with the ferry harbor and new town to the East, the picturesque old port, with the old town rising above it, in the West.

Skopelos

Skopelos is the second larger island of Sporades after Skyros with 95km² and 4.600 inhabitants approximately. Skopelos Town(Hora), the capital of the island, and Glossa are the two main towns and each one of them has a port that connects the island with Volos and the rest of Sporades. Much of the countryside, especially the Southwest coast, is really spectacular, with a series of pretty cove beaches backed by extensive pine forests as well as olive groves and orchards of plums, apricots, pears and almonds. Filled with  forests that covering approximately 80% of the area is considered the greenest island in the Aegean.

Map of Skopelos

Kefalonia

Map of Kefalonia

Kefalonia is the largest and the most mountainous island of the Ionian islands, a place that has real towns as well as resorts. Kefalonia has 781km² and 35.800 population(3rd after Corfu and Zakynthos). Capital of the island is Argostoli, a large and thriving town with a marvelous position within a bay. A big part of Kefalonia belongs to mountain Ainos with peaks the Megas Soros (1. 628m), Agia Dynati(1.131m), Evmorphia(1.043m) and Kokkini Raxi(1.078)

Argostoli was totally rebuilt after the 1953 earthquake, but has an enjoyable atmosphere that remains defiantly Greek, especially during the evening around Platia Valianou -the center of the town- and the pedestrianized Lithostroto, the main shopping street which runs parallel to the seafront.