Skiathos Town

holiday report and Skiathos Town map

Skiathos Town

SKIATHOS TOWN is a busy harbour resort packed with shops, tavernas, bars and nightclubs and located on the south-eastern edge of Skiathos island.
Harbourside bars are thick with cane-cushioned chairs and a disco music hum usually fills the air. Charter plane arrivals fly right across the bay in front of the tavernas to land at the nearby airport, while the ferry dock disgorges the latest arrivals.
Skiathos Town waterfront is split by a rock outcrop known as the Bourtzi, which is topped by a medieval fortress . There are harbours on either side of the Bourtzi, both backed by rows of cafes and tavernas.
Recently repaved and spruced up, Skiathos Town looks neat and clean. The old harbour to the west is traffic-free and it is here that the Skiathos island caquies tie up and show display boards offering round-island trips and daily jaunts to the offshore islets.
The new Skiathos Town port to the east takes the big inter-island ferries and the hydrofoils. This is also the place to catch Skiathos island buses or to find a taxi. All amenities can be found close to both town harbours.
The main traffic-free shopping street is Papadiamantis Street, which leads directly inland from the Bourtzi and is packed with clothes shops, trinket shops, smart cafes and up-tempo bars. It is supposed to be traffic-free but many visiting tourists complain of motorbikes and scooters tearing around the alleyways.
Tavernas are plentiful but they serve up tourist-based fare, chips with everything, and nowhere can be called cheap. More cafes and restaurants seem to get built each year to meet tourist demand, mostly run by Athenian businessmen who disappear from Skiathos during the winter months.