My Favorite Beaches

Simos Beach

Simos beach lies on the beautiful island of Elafonisos. Elafonisos is a small Greek island between the Peloponnese and Kythira. It lies off the coast of Cape Malea  and Vatika. The area of the island is 19 km².

‘My own personal experience of Elafonisos was in 1985 when my father and I decided to leave Athens and travel to Neapoli with our inflatable dingy, which was in fact an English made Lomac, 3.80 metres, which we loaded onto our little van tied with rope.

My father promised me a paradise island, me being a teenager, I didn’t feel like going with him but I had no choice.  No was not an answer in my father’s vocabulary! 

I remember arriving in the evening, and the first thing we did was to get the boat on the sea, assemble the engine, put the tent in the boat, food supplies and a full deposit of petrol.  And just as it was getting dark, we set off do discover paradise island. As we were going around the island, it was very dark at this stage, the engine stopped! Thankfully we were near land, so we used the paddles to get there and pushed the boat to shore. By this time we were so tired, that we only laid out the sleeping bags on the sand and fell asleep, only to wake up wet through as there was a small storm during the night.

We woke up in the morning and to my amazement I saw the most beautiful sight I have ever seen. I was definitely in paradise, the sea was a stunning blue and green in colour and there was a huge sand dune which looked amazing.  I was still coming round after spending a night’s sleep on the beach, when what appeared to be an apparition of Robinson Crusoe, appeared in the distance, holding a stick, with long hair and a long beard . I had to take a second look just to make sure he was real! He continued to walk passed us, and then just disappeared in the distance.

After a while, I looked in my father’s bag of essentials which included a trident without the spear.  So I went searching for a stick/rod to connect to the trident and eventually found what I was looking for.  So I wore my snorkeling mask and then went fishing to catch my first ever fish.  And guess what? I speared my first octopus! I was over the moon.  I remember screaming at my father with elation and ran towards him to show him what I had accomplished.  He was so pleases for me which made me feel ecstatic.

So my first memories of fishing and the beautiful island of Elafonisos was this, which will always remain in my heart.  This happened in 1985 and one day I hope to return to this idyllic island and hope it is still beautiful and unspoiled as it was then.’

The population of the island is between 300 and 350 during the winter but increases dramatically in the summer months. During July and August the number of tourist visitors reaches over 3,000 per day (bringing with them some 1,600 cars). Many people visit the island for its light coloured sandy beaches. Among the most well known of its beaches are Sarakiniko, Fragos (Simos) and Panagias Nissia, all filled with blue-green waters.

Elafonisos is by far the largest inhabited island in the Peloponnese archipelago, and the only one that is a separate community. There are also some archaeological discoveries to explore on the island and in the surrounding waters. The main church of the community is Agios Spyridon, which is built on a tiny separate piece of land which is connected by a bridge over shallow waters to the rest of the island. The community’s land area also includes 3 km² of the mainland consisting mainly of the famous Punta Beach.

On the nearby mainland, approximately 6.5 km (3.7 nmi) east is Neapoli of the municipality of Vatika. About 8.5 km (4.5 nmi) south is Cape Frangos on the island of Kythira.

Porto Katsiki

Porto Katsiki on the Ioanian Sea island of Lefkáda is one of the most famous beaches in Greece and Europe in general.  Translation to English means “Port of the Goat”, due to the fact that before only a goat could reach this area.

A very famous and photogenic beach, it is at the bottom of an arc of pale cliff that seems to have the clean lines of something designed by an architect rather than a natural wonder. It rises out of the water like a wedge, narrow at the center of the bay where there are only a few stairs to the sand, and then towering upwards at either end. As well as the white lines of the cliffs, the water is bright, bright blue and the cliffs have grassy topped fringes.

It is 35 km away from Lefkada town, near Athani village. The unique view of the white cliff over the beach combined with the surrounding green of the area and the cyan water of the sea make this beach a “must visit” place for tourists. It is consistently rated Top European Beach of the Year.

Koukounaries beach Skiathos

Koukounaries (meaning “pine cones”) after the trees surrounding the beach, is a site on the island Skiathos  16 km southwest of Skiathos Town, Greece. Koukounaries was once known as Maratha. Koukounaries is well known for Koukounaries Beach, also known as “Chrisi Ammos” (meaning “golden sand”) since the sand there is extremely fine. Until 1964, Skiathos town was the only settlement on the island. Koukounaries is a popular tourist destination during the summer. There is a large variety of hotels, hostels, camping sites, tavernas, restaurants, bars, “ouzeri”, and cafes.

Skiathos (Latin forms: Sciathos and Sciathus) is a small island in the Aegean Sea belonging to Greece. Skiathos is the westernmost island in the Northern Sporades group of islands. The mainland of Greece and Magnesia lie to the west, while the island of Skopelos lies to the east. The name of the island dates back to ancient times.

The Municipality of Skíathos includes the islands of Tsougria and Tsougriaki, and of the islets of Maragos, Arkos, Troulonisi and Aspronisi. Total land area of the island is 50 km². The major settlement on the island is the town of Skiathos (pop. 4,988 in 2001), while other settlements are Χanemos, Kalyvia, Troulos, and Koukounaries.

Despite its small size (under 50 km²), Skiathos is a popular tourist destination. It has over 60 chiefly sandy, beaches scattered along the coastline of about 44 km

In 1964 Skiathos was designated by the Greek National Tourism Organisation as a development zone for tourism. The results of this decision have largely transformed the island, due to tourist-orientated construction projects. These include the construction of the coast road from Skiathos town to Koukounaries, the construction of Skiathos Airport in 1984 and the construction of the first large hotel over Koukounaries beach. Along the coast road many hotels have been constructed since the island became an important tourist destination.