Skyros Greece | tourist holiday travel guide to Skyros

   

Wasp waisted Skyros is the odd one out in the Sporades group of islands that lie off the east coast of mainland Greece. The largest in the Sporades group (not counting Evia) it is also the most remote with no nearby airport and few direct ferry connections. Skyros's isolation has helped preserve its distinctive character and customs - foreigners for example are banned from owning houses here - and the islanders are resolutely traditional despite a recent surge in tourism. Tourist beds number only around 1,000 and islanders appear intent on keeping it that way though visitors that make the effort are warmly welcomed.
Skyros is a fascinating island whose split from the rest of the tourist-hungry Sporades group finds echoes in its own landscape - one half green and densely wooded, the other half dry, rocky and barren. The island of Skyros has long been noted for its arts and crafts, beautiful and much sough-after pottery and elaborately carved furniture that can be found in almost every Skyriot house. A tomb in the southern half of the island is also renowned as that 'corner of a foreign field that is forever England'. It is where the verse's author, the poet Rupert Brooke was buried in 1915.

Overview

Skyros The most isolated of the Sporades chain, this remarkable island has two very distinct regions, north and south, separated by a narrow neck of land where most of the permanent population of 3,000 or so live.
Skyros While the northern half is green, fertile and smothered in pine forests, the south is bare, barren and scoured by harsh winds.
Skyros Skyros island is not a great place for beaches. Sunbathers tend to restrict themselves to the sands along the east coast around the main town at Chora. Western beaches are more remote and consequently much quieter. But many beaches are either hard to find or difficult to reach and can be spoiled by the flotsam and rubbish regularly washed in on the tides.
Skyros There is a bus service of sorts but visitors will need a car, bike or boat to get the best from the island which is relatively big for the number of available beaches.
Skyros In summer there are organised boats trips to the more remote beaches, to Tres Boukes for the grave of Rupert Brooke, to caves on the southern coast and from Linaria to the neighbouring islets.

 

 

 

Sporades map

     
       
     
Chora Skyros   Chora  
    Prepare to be disappointed at your first sight of the island capital CHORA. Sometimes touted as one of the prettiest places in the Aegean, the bus from Linaria will drive through a rash of charmless mini markets and other utilitarian buildings built to be as ugly as only the Greeks know how. In the centre though, things change for the better with white Cycladic-style cube houses stacked on top of each other to the summit of Mount Olympus. The town's idiosyncratic layout is a result of the houses being built originally to face inland, thus avoiding the attention of passing pirates. The subsequent fiendish maze of steep and narrow streets are ideal for walking - even motorbikes struggle to negotiate the tightly squeezed terraces. Wander from the main street into the one of the alleys and you could easily be lost for the afternoon. The whole town is crowned by a the kastro‚ a mostly a Byzantine fortress with some Venetian trimmings built over an ancient acropolis. If you decide to walk take some ropes and a compass. On the way you will pass the church of Agia Triada with some fine frescoes and the white monastery of Agios Girgios founded in 962. Restored in 1984 is has a painting of St George slaying the dragon and an ancient icon of St George with Negroid features. The buildings here are rather more interesting than those below but hardly warrant the cripplingly steep climb. Stalwarts will be rewarded by some stunning views over the town and its harbour. The ancient monastery of Saint George is found near the kastro. Back down the steps, the main street of Skyros is also narrow and little more than a strip of tourist shops, travel agents, cafes and overpriced tavernas that eventually lead to an open square overlooking MOLOS beach and the sea. It is here, perched on a terrace overlooking the beach, you will find the banal and much neglected bronze 'Statue of Immortal Poetry' erected in 1931 to commemorate Rupert Brooke. Paid for by a rich Belgian businessman, this incongruous edifice was actually intended as an allegorical figure rather than Brooke himself - the original model for the work is thought to have been a male prostitute. Under Brooke square and along some steps is the small archaeological museum which has exhibits of local copper artifact‚ and a striking ceramic ring decorated with ducks and snakes from around 900 BC. More interesting is the private Faltaits Museum with a terrific collection of domestic items, clothes, embroidery and pottery.

kastro
Kastro

Agios Giorgios
Agios Giorgios

Skyros street
Street scene

Skyros statue
Statue

 

     
Magazia Skyros   Magazia  
    A ten-minute walk down the hill from Skyros town, and a long stairway, brings you to the fine dark sands of MAGAZIA. This is a long, sweeping beach serves the main town of Chora and is named after the gunpowder magazines once stored there in Venetian times.
The area is being fast developed but is still reasonably good despite the usual tourist trappings such as water toys for rent. As the main beach of the only main town on the island, apart from Linaria, it can get rather crowded in the high summer season. At the northern end of Magazia the rock has been carved and quarried into bizarre shapes with a church and cave-like houses hewn from the stone. Each year, more of the shoreline succumbs to the battering waves. A concrete breakwater lies broken offshore, most of it buried beneath the waves.
Magazia
Magazia

Magazia
     
  Molos  
    Sprawling tourist development behind Magazia beach now blends into neighbouring MOLOS village which harbours yet more tourist accommodation. As a result both beaches can be noisy at night and typically ugly Greek hotels now occupy what were once remote sands. An old mill, now turned into a taverna is a reminder of what a beautiful spot it must once have been. At least the taverna food is less mediocre here and less pricey than in the town. Lobster is the local specialty and worth a try. Molos
Molos
   
Basales Skyros   Basales
    BASALES Offers a less developed alternative to the beaches of Magazia and Molos but visitors must beware the sewage that can float in on the tide when wind is in the wrong direction (north or north east). This is not the cleanest beach on the island as sewers from the main town end up near here at a sewage outflow.
   
  Papa ta Chomata
    The road past Molos bring you to the excellent PAPA TA CHOMATA beach. The name translates roughly into 'land of the priest' but you are more likely to find less of the cloth and rather more of the flesh here as this is the island's unofficial nudist beach. The sands are fine here and the water cleaner though it can be a difficult descent down a narrow cliff path. Beaches further south of here are disappointingly drab until you get to ASPOUSS which is a more pleasant spot with a couple of nice beach tavernas.
   
Ormos Achilliss Skyros   Ormos Achillis
    Further south still is ORMOS ACHILLIS. This once boasted one of the best beaches on Skyros until the developers moved it and tried to turn the place into a yacht marina. Apart from a half-dozen fishing boats, a few anglers and an abandoned tugboat, the place is deserted. The marina was part of a government drive to attract yachting tourism away from Turkey but this place is in the middle of nowhere.
   
  Sarakiniko
    South of the bay at Achillis the coast becomes very rocky and virtually inaccessible except for the tiny resort of SARAKINIKO which has a cave. With a boat, however you can visit even more spectacular caves and inlets on the south east coast.
     
Skyros Linaria   Linaria  
    This functional fishing village is also the main port of Skyros and lies around 10km from the capital Chora, bringing in most of the tourist traffic by ferry. The only other settlement on Skyros apart from Chora, it is little more than a cluster of modern concrete buildings packed around a tiny, though picturesque, harbour. It boasts some excellent tavernas and there is a small beach within walking distance to the north at Aheronnas. But mainly this is just a jumping off point for boat trips around the island. A great favourite is the islet of SKYROS GOULA which has a couple of small beaches and some rather dramatic caves . There are also jaunts to the islet of SAKA GRINO which has a small beach at GLYFADA bay. Linaria
Linaria
     
  Kalamitsa  
    KALAMITSA just south of Linaria is one of the best beaches in the south west - which is not saying much for the others. It is not much more than a long swathe of shingle, although the sand does peep through the shingle at the northern end of a beach fronted by tavernas and villas and a private windsurfing club. Nearby is a well preserved stone sarcophagus and an upright Doric column. At the southern end it blends into the long white crescent beach of KOLIMBADES which has good swimming. Kalamitsa
Kalamitsa
     
Aheronnas Skyros   Aheronnas  
    The road continues into the mountains and a barren landscape it is with lots of low scrub and herds of goats. Just north of Linaria lies AHERONNAS with a small but pleasant enough beach and a couple of nearby tavernas. Not many stop here though with the pretty beach at AGIOS PEFKOS nearby. Here pine trees tumble down to the shore in the wide bay of sand with rocky outcrops at either end Agios Pefkos
Agios Pefkos
   
  Agios Fokas
    A little further north is the lovely bay at AGIOS FOKAS. It is reached by turning off the paved road and descending along tracks through pine-scented woods and fields. The rewards for the detour are great with an idyllic white pebble beach and a basic, but excellent, taverna. Unfortunately, both have recently been discovered by villa companies so it looks like its days may well be numbered.
     
Atsitsa Skyros   Atsitsa  
    The north has the best of the secluded beaches though they are not always easy to find and few have any facilities. This coast also takes the brunt of ferocious winds and heavy seas that batter the cliffs over the winter. Set in a peaceful wooded bay ATSITSA doesn't have much of a beach, mostly rocks and stones. It is home to a British-run holistic health centre which offers meditations, bungalows and PRIVATE KEEP OUT signs to preserve the karma. The centre has also nabbed the skyros.com domain name - presumptuous and confusing. There are offshore islets, densely wooded coves and some iron mine installations dating from the 19th century. Pine trees plunge down to a shoreline that is rocky enough to make swimming difficult. Atsitsa
Atsitsa
     
Agios Petros Skyros   Agios Petros  
   

A few minutes walk northwards bring you to small and rather nondescript beaches of sharp sand and shingle at KALOGRIAS and at KYRA PANAGIA with its tiny chapel.
The best of the beaches in this area must be AGIOS PETROS with its pale sand beach backed by magnificent dunes but, like the others there are no facilities here..

Petros
Agios Petros
     
  Markessi  
    There are several sand and pebble beaches along this stretch of coastline, none well known and all sparsely populated - MARKESI and THEOTOKOS on the northern tip of the island are both worth a visit if you don't mind the drone of jet aircraft taking off from the nearby military air base. Nearby can be found some engraved tombs. Markesi
Markesi
     
Palamari Skyros   Palamari  
    PALAMARI is most noted for its rather neglected site of a Bronze Age settlement which has the remains of original streets and houses. It was first built around 3,000 BC and flourished for a millennium. The total area covers about five acres though the eastern part is now under the sea. Thee main reason for its growth was the metals found here. Below it is a very nice sand beach but care must be taken not to wander too near the military base which is a restricted area.. Palamari
Palamari
     



   

SKYROS HIGHLIGHTS

skyros top   Brooke's tomb  
    Many visitors like to make the pilgrimage to Brooke's tomb, set is a small olive grove in an otherwise desolate location near TRES BOUKES bay in the south west of the island. The tomb itself, restored by the Royal Navy in 1961, is not the site of the original grave. When Brooke died of blood poisoning on a French hospital ship anchored in the bay, the midnight burial party had no time for an elaborate funeral - they left for Gallipoli the next morning. The original grave was just a pile of stones with a wooden cross and Brooke's mother commissioned the present white marble monument at the end of the First World War.
Once, the best way to reach the grave was to take an organised boat to Tres Boukes Bay, and then follow the track up the valley. Now it is probably best to go by road especially if you prefer to view the site without benefit of a backdrop of camera clicking tourists. There are taxis from Chora but they are not cheap. It is not an easy car journey either.
South of Kalamitsa village the island is almost entirely uninhabited and the unsignposted road deteriorates as it rises through the mountains. As you descend towards Tres Boukes you will see the grave tucked away on the left among the olive trees.
Brooke's tomb
Brooke's tomb

Rupert Brooke
       
skyros top   Skyros pony  
    The south of the island is also home to the wild and tiny Skyrian ponies. They are said to be related to the Shetland pony, though how is not particularly clear. They are rare these days and you are unlikely to spot them in the barren plains of the south, though there are now belated moves to protect them so hopefully numbers will increase. You can sometimes find the odd domesticated pony tethered in Skyros town and children have pony races on Magazia beach during the island's the August 15th festival. Skyros pony
Skyros pony
   



Map Skyros  

SKYROS MAP

  Skyros map
   



Weather Skyros  

SKYROS WEATHER

   
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC Temp C
11 12 14 19 24 26 28 27 26 24 16 12 Avg

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC Rain cm
15 13 8 3 2 1 0 0 1 3 12 16 Avg
Skyros weather
Skyros weather forecast
  Winter rains from November to February help keep Skyros abundant with water during the summer months. Winter storms can be ferocious but generally die out in April and by the end of May the days are hot and settled. Exposed beaches in the west can suffer from the meltemi winds in high summer.
   



Skyros info  

SKYROS FACTS

    Telephone +30 22220 Festivals
    Port: 91475
Tourist Police: 91274
Medical Centre: 92222
March 12 Chora
April 23 Ag. Georgios
July 27 Pefkos
July - Aug Theatre
Aug 15 Molos pony races
Sep 2 Chora festival
       
   

Skyros is renowned for its traditional Greek festivals especially the scary Apokriatika or 'Goat Dance' carnival leading up to Easter when three weird characters dance through the streets in Chora with other masked revellers. One dresses in goatskins and mask covered in sheep's bells (pictured right); another portrays a humpback dressed in rags and the third a 'foreigner' dressed in motley clothes and long trousers blowing a conch shell. It is believed to be a relic of goat and cattle cults on the island.

The main tourist office on Skyros is Skyros Travel (22220-91123 fax 22220-92123) www.skyrostravel.com/
The owner Lefteris Trakos is the local agent for Olympic Airways and Dolphin tickets.

Skyros goat man
Skyros goat man
  
Advert  
     
skyros ferries   Sailing
    Skyros ferry Ferries on the main hydrofoil route from the north Sporades (Skiathos, Skopelos, Alonissos) used to run regularly but have now apparently stopped. The main route now is from Kimi on nearby Evia.
The Skyros Shipping Company runs an all-year ferry operated by the islanders themselves. It runs twice-a-day in summer and the trip takes just over two hours. Off season it runs once-a-day each way leaving Skyros early morning and returning late afternoon.
The Skyros Shipping offices is on 2220-22020 (Kimi) and 2220 -91789 (Skyros).The website is
They sell connecting bus tickets Kimi - Athens which takes 3hrs 30mins.
To get to Kimi from the north Sporades is more difficult. There is a car ferry - Nona Mairy - which does the Volos-Skiathos-Skopelos-Alonissos-Kimi run each Wednesday and returns Saturday. Timetable details are on http://www.saos.gr
Skyros boat During the summer there are plenty of organised boats trips to the more remote beaches ( and the popular ones too), to Tres Boukes for the grave of Rupert Brooke and to caves on the southern coast and neighbouring islets from Linaria. In the high season they also head for grottos at Pentekali and Yerania as well as Sarakino which has caves and wild ponies. There are trips to Platy island and the nearby cliffs at Renes - very spectacular with majestic sea caves and dozens of falcons sweeping off the cliffs.
     
    Driving

  skyros car The road from Linaria to Chora, then north to the air base and Atsitsa, is surprisingly good while the remaining dirt roads are predictably bad. You need a bike, car or taxi if you want to see most of the island and stout boots if you want to see all of it. The southern part of the island has the worst roads of all and the worst signposting too - look out for rough arrows hand-painted on roadside rocks and pray you are in a four wheel drive vehicle.
skyros bus Buses run pretty regularly between Linaria and Chora - timed to meet the ferries and there are occasional buses to the more popular beaches.
     
    Flying

  skyros flights Two to three Olympic Airways flights a week drop in from Athens otherwise but no charter flights at present. The main way to arrive is ferry from Evia.
   



 

SKYROS PHOTO GALLERIES

   
   



skiathos  photos  

SKYROS SITES

    A personal pick of websites on Skyros
 
     
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A tourist holiday travel guide to the Greek island of Skyros