Most beaches on this island are windy and blanketed with fine sand and most feature well-equipped facilities for all kinds of water sports.  On this famous snow-white Cyclades island of Paros all is possible in the sea.

Beach soccer; beach volleyball; diving; pedalo riding; sailing; water slides; water skiing, underwater fishing, kayaking and surfing: these are the most popular activities that will put your stamina to the test and keep your adrenalin surge up all day long!

The island of Paros and its windy sea is widely considered to be a surfer’s paradise, a top choice for Greek and foreign athletes alike.  The wind speed and direction on the island’s southeastern side in combination with the sea waves create a worldwide known surfing area ideal for international windsurfing games. So, it is no surprise that the PWA (Professional Windsurfers Association) World Championship used to take place on the island for many years with the first surfer appearing sometime in the early 80s.  Today Paros is windsurfers mecca offering training as well as high performance gear to meet all types of surfers demands.

Chryssi Akti, named after the golden sand it is covered with, is the most popular beach for windsurfing; in this area, schools take advantage of the shallow crystal clear waters and offer even to beginners the opportunity to test their abilities safely.

Néa Chryssí Aktí beach (Tserdakia) offers countless thrills to those who are “advanced” as this area is where the winds of the greatest duration and strength are recorded. Wind direction (left side-shore) combined with the angle created by sea waves lift windsurfers up creating the ideal conditions for jumps.

Finally, the “hot spot” list for windsurfing fans would never be complete without the addition of the “sport-oriented” and noisy beaches of Santa Maria and Pounta noted for the prevailing high winds.   As a matter of fact don’t be surprised if you see “flying swimmers” as you approach the weathered Pounta bay!  These are daring kite surfers who manipulate the ropes of their kites  gliding on the waves spume with an ever growing speed until they literally take off 20 to 30 meters up in the air.

So if you think of combining your summertime holiday leisure time with practicing your favorite water sports, Paros island is definitely to be considered as an option.

article originally published on the Greek Tourism’s website http://gnto.org

The Greek Island of Milos, the south westernmost of the Cyclades lying 86 miles from the port of Piraeus and half way to the Island of Crete.  It is one of the most stunning of the island group for many reasons.  Milos’s greatest claim to fame is the famous nude statue of the Venus de Milo, unearthed in 1820  and today located in the Louvre in Paris.   Known as Aphrodite to the Ancient Greeks she is the goddess of love and beauty, born out of the foam of the sea.  Milos has a large protected harbor formed from a volcanic crater similar to Santorini’s, which separates it into two almost equal parts.

Today the island remains relatively uncrowded, despite its 75 sandy beaches with crystal clear waters and an abundance of shade provided by thousands of trees serving as natural umbrellas.   The islands beaches are surrounded by stunning geological formations featuring multicolored rocks and considerable deposits of obsidian, a naturally occurring volcanic glass used to construct razor-sharp tools as far back as the Neolithic era.  Milos a U shaped island with volcanic history is very similar to the island of Santorini however, is not as expensive or crowded of a destination.  Although it lacks numerous high end luxury hotels it does offer an array of small inns and rooms making Milos a far more authentic Greek Island Experience.

Getting There

Flying to Milos  will take about 30 minutes from Athens and it is not much more expensive than going by high-speed ferry.  Olympic Airlines has two flights a day from Athens in the summer.  High Speed Ferry Service can get you to Milos in under four hours where as traditional slow ferries can take over seven hours.   One can bring their car to Milos with the slow ferry, but unless you plan on traveling to other island destinations from Milos the cost will not be justified since local car rentals are fairly cheap.   From Milos there are many connections with other Cycladic islands making this a great stop on your Greek Island hop.

What to See

• The remains of the ancient town include a 7000 seat Roman theater,  featuring fortification walls & other buildings with fine mosaics
• Adamas, the port village and Plaka home of the archaeological and folk museums.
• Sarakiniko, on the north side of the island is an idyllic seaside location featuring white volcanic rock formations & fossils reminiscent of the moons surface.
• Milos also has two inactive volcanoes that release volcanic gas into several therapeutic hot springs.

This island gem is still off the beaten path and not frequented by those which typically flock to the main Greek Island destinations of Mykonos, Santorini, Rhodes & Crete.  Milos is worth the journey for those seeking a traditional Greek Island Experience with its natural beauty still intact and not over run by hotels, golf courses and throngs of tourists.

Click Here for Photographs of Milos

Colin Fraser from GNN wrote a great piece on Mykonos this week that we now share with you.  His article gives readers great insight into the wonders of Mykonos Island in Greece.  Below are a few excerpts from his recent Mykonos Island Story.

Warm, deep blue waters lapping sun bleached beaches as ancient fishermen take the days catch to a waiting cafe. Grilled calamari and salad washed down with a bottle (or two, or three) of crisp wine is served as the sun sets into a beckoning ocean. Windmills dot cliff tops peppered with white-washed homes as enormous ferries shuttle between islands and the mainland, docking their craft on impossibly small wharves. The islands are a stunningly visual space, and visitors take home a very particular memory of Mykonos.

People looking for a gentler time head here. It’s a place for relaxing on the beach or reading a book under a sun umbrella. It’s for people who want to shake off the working week in an untroubled part of the world where you can be yourself.

With our dollar buying more Euros than ever before, and Europe’s tourist throng now reduced to a manageable hoard, Greece really is the word and Mykonos the word that you heard.  To Read more about the Greek Island of Mykonos by Colin Fraser go Here

Read about Mykonos Beaches

Mykonos Island, the golden jewel of the Aegean Islands is known world wide.  However, Mykonos is primarily known for its nightlife, parties, beautiful people, boutiques and chic scene, but it has something that many are not aware of; Great Beaches.  So when you’re done exploring the pulsating town of Mykonos and its nigtlife, it’s time to relax at one of the enticing sandy beaches located through out the island.

Mykonos beaches are some of the best of all the Greek Islands and cover the entire spectrum from sleepy coves with small fish taverns to those that look more like a cover of a fashion magazine featuring a nightclub environment with house music & drinks flowing under the Aegean Sun.   Paradise Beach will satisfy the Party Animal in you, the gay crowd now seems flock to Elia Beach, and Ftelia Beach’s natural beauty may very well soothe your soul since it is the most undeveloped of them all.

Each Mykonos beach seems to specialize in a different niche: family-friendly or party; straight, gay, or mixed; nude or clothed; with many other traits to satisfy any type of beach seeker.  But one thing that all the beaches of Mykonos have in common is topless sunbathing.   For in Greece like most other European Countries, even the family friendly beaches allow one to be topless if they choose, but Mykonos Beaches does have the highest amount of topless and nude beaches.  Click here to view Mykonos Beach Listings and Descriptions

More Information on Mykonos Beaches from Chicago Tribune

Ios Island in Greece is in a class all its own.  Although not the most picturesque, upscale, historic or significant of Greek Islands, it is one of the best spots on the planet for a hedonistic adventure featuring cheap alcohol, party goers, great music and youthful travelers.  You do not have the usual distractions of other main stream islands in Greece so there is pretty much only time for  the pleasures at hand.  Ios pretty much just consists of a port, a town, a beach and dozens of clubs, bars and party spots!

Life on Ios is simple and to the point; wake up at about mid day, stumble to the beach to sleep a bit and begin the hedonistic pleasures of the day; go home before sunset, take a nap, wake up and party hard til the sunrise…and if one remembers eat along the way.  One road connects the port, the town and the beach so it is not complicated and almost impossible to get lost.   During the day, a pair of buses travel this route back and forth on a route that takes about 30 minutes to complete.  It’s so simple on Ios that you just have to remember to catch a bus at the beach every half-hour to go back to where you started from or ended…does it really matter?

Distance to settlements from port in km

Ag, Theodoti: 12
Chora: 2
Kalamos: 16
Koumbara: 1,5
Manganari: 23
Mylopotas: 5
Paleokastro: 18
Plakotos: 13
Psathi: 20

Here is some helpful information on the Island of Ios:
Customs office: +30 22860 91294
Dentist: +30 22860 92096
Health center: +30 22860 91227, For emergencies: +30 22860-28611
National bank of Greece: +30 22860 91354, 91565
Pharmacy: +30 22860 91562
Police: +30 22860 91222, 92222
Port Police: +30 22860 91264
Post office: +30 22860 91235
Town hall : +30 22860 91505, 91028

Ios Party Photos Click Here

Click here for some Ios Nightlife Listings

Greek Singles Island Hopping Featuring Ios Island

Every where one looks there is a top 10 list of beaches as if someone other than the 12 Gods can make such a list of favorites.  The problem is simple; Greece and it’s islands have an overabundance of beaches, coves and private hideaways which one calls a beach. The Endless sands of the Greek coast add up to approximately 16,000 Kilometers.

A visitor has the opportunity to enjoy beaches in sheltered bays and coves, golden stretches of sand with dunes, pebble beaches, coastal caves with steep rocks and dark sand typical of volcanic soil. In 2007, 428 beaches and 5 marinas in Greece were awarded the “Blue Flag”, a figure that places the country in second place among 49 other countries.

Most of the thousands of Greek coasts are freely accessible and you can easily discover and enjoy them. There are also many organized beaches in the country, with the necessary infrastructure providing high-quality services (umbrellas, reclining chairs, change booths,cafes, bar-restaurants etc), and in addition to swimming, you can enjoy an abundance of water sports.

Here are some beaches we think one should put on their list of those worthy of an exploration:

• Ballos Beach, Gramvousa Crete
• Egremni Beach, Lefkada
• Kathisma Beach, Lefkada
• Apella Beach, Karpathos
• Saraniko Beach, Gavdos
• Achla Beach, Andros
• Pori Beach, Koufonissia
• Tsigrado Beach, Milos
• Mikros Simos Beach, Elafonissos
• Seychelles Beach, Ikaria
• Myrtos Beach, Cephalonia
• Zacharo Beach, Peloponnese
• Lagouvardos Beach, Messinia, Peloponnese

This beautiful beach at Myrtos Bay, on the Ionian island of Kefalonia, is known as Myrtos and is backed by steep limestone cliffs.

Myrtos is often lauded as one of the most dramatic beaches in Greece with its mile-and-a-half long arc of dazzling white pebbles that cuts deep into a sheer cliff on the island’s northwest coast. Film buffs will recognise it as the location for the mine explosion in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and the first time you catch sight of it from the coast road high above is truly memorable.

The nearest you can get by public transport is the top of the winding three-mile approach road on any bus bound for Assos or Fiskardo. Consequently, a hired vehicle or stout legs are the way to go. Kefalonia has daily flights from Athens and several weekly services from the UK, while ferries leave from Patra and Kyllini on the mainland. Content provided by the Telegraph of UK

Photo Credit Bill Fitzgerald

Mention the Greek isles, and you’ll trigger visions of sailboats anchored near pebble beaches and coves concealed by pine-treelined mountains. Apella Beach on Kárpathos is a living incarnation of those daydreams.

Apella Beach on Kárpathos, Nestled between the islands of Rhodes and Crete.   Kárpathos an off the beaten path Island of the Dodecanese island chain, boasts some of the most picturesque shores  of the entire country of Greece.  Situated on the east coast of the island , the beach as the island as a whole, has very few visitors and offers travelers a Greece of yesteryear.   One can relax on the fine white sand at the far end of Apella Beach and feel as if you have discovered paradise on Earth.

Photo by Jan Eriksen, courtesy of greekisles.biz

There are no concessions on the beach, and road access is limited so like many other beaches on Karpathos, not easy to get to. A day on Apella is all about soaking up the breath taking surroundings featuring steep cliffs and a turquoise sea. Apella beach is easily accessible by boarding a ferry from the island’s capital city of Pigadia.   You can take the ferry back to the capital city of Pigadia, or continue northward on land to Ólimbos, where the townspeople follow 100-year old customs and traditional music fills the streets.

Apella is not the only beach worth visiting on the island, but we can not give away all the secrets of Karpathos in one post.   Prepare well for your Greek Island hopping adventure to Karpathos for this island will have you amazed at each bend of the road or bump of the sea!

Studios Delfini is a great place to call home in Diafani