Best Beaches in Greece

Best beaches in Greece stretch from the Ionian Sea to the Dodecanese. The trips here are beach days, boat cruises and swims with local hosts across the country. The page covers Voidokilia, Kamari Bay, Vatsa Bay, Kalogria, Ftelia and Stoupa. It also covers Small Santa Maria, Skala Eresou, Laganas, Petani, Prasonisi, Faliraki and Gianiskari. Related pages cover Milos tours, Greece island hopping tours and Corfu tours. All of them sit within the wider range of Greece tours.

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Which are the best beaches in Greece?

The best beaches in Greece include Voidokilia, a popular beach in Messinia, in southern Greece. It faces the Ionian Sea, and its sand forms a half-circle strip of dunes. The bay follows the shape of omega, the last letter of the Greek alphabet.

Among the best beaches in Greece, Voidokilia has Gialova Lagoon on the land side of its dunes. Here, a lagoon means shallow salt water closed off from the open sea by sand. Gialova is an important habitat for birds. A habitat is the natural home where an animal finds food, shelter and a place to breed.

Nestor’s Cave opens above the beach. Higher up stand the ruins of a thirteenth-century Frankish castle, called Old Navarino. Frankish refers to western European rulers of that age. At the north-eastern end stands a tomb built for Thrasymedes, son of King Nestor. Neolithic, or late Stone Age, finds at the tomb show people lived there by 4000 BC.

Of the best beaches in Greece, Voidokilia is presumed to be Homer’s “sandy Pylos”. Presumed means that the link is widely believed but not proven. In that ancient poem, King Nestor welcomed Telemachus on this shore. Telemachus was searching for his father, Odysseus, at the time of his visit.

• Hermes: In myth, the god Hermes hid cattle stolen from Apollo inside Nestor’s Cave.
• Natural beauty: The beach bears the label “A Place of Particular Natural Beauty”.
• Natura 2000: Voidokilia belongs to this network of protected nature areas across the European Union.

The tomb of Thrasymedes, above one of the best beaches in Greece, is a tholos 5 metres wide. A tholos is a round stone tomb with a domed roof, also called a beehive tomb. Pebbles cover the floor inside it.

Among the best beaches in Greece, where does Kamari Bay on Kos lie?

The best beaches in Greece include Kamari Bay, which curves along the south-western tip of Kos. The old cliff-top village of Kefalos looks down on the bay. The shore also goes by the names Kefalos Bay and Kefalos Beach, after the village.

Kefalos was once the capital of Kos. Around 400 BC, a devastating earthquake struck. After it, a new capital rose at the town of Kos, at the other end of the island. A capital is the leading town of a state, where its rulers meet. The village name is also spelled Kephalos.

Among the best beaches in Greece, Kamari Bay keeps a harbour with deep water on its west side. Above that harbour tower the steep cliffs of Mount Zini. The mountain is a volcanic rhyolitic dome. Rhyolite is a pale volcanic rock, and a dome forms when thick lava piles up around a vent.

The sandy beach runs on towards cliffs made of ignimbrite. This tough volcanic rock forms from fast flows of hot ash. The cliffs beside one of the best beaches in Greece formed in the Miocene Period. They took shape over ten million years ago. Greek builders once quarried the rock for stone.

• Kastri: Kastri, a little volcanic island, carries a small church built for Agios Nikolaos.
• Agios Stefanos: Ruins of this Roman-era Christian church still stand, with mosaic floors inside the old walls.
• Mount Latra: Beyond the harbour rises Mount Latra, which reaches 426 metres and dates from the Pliocene Period.

South of one of the best beaches in Greece lies the volcanic island of Nisyros. The islets of Pergoussa and Pachia sit to its west. Gyali, also spelled Yiali, and Strongyli lie in between. Islet is the word for a tiny island.

Why do the best beaches in Greece include Vatsa Bay on Kefalonia?

The best beaches in Greece include Vatsa Bay, also called Vazza, on the Ionian island of Kefalonia. The bay sits at the southern tip of the Paliki peninsula. The area lies well away from the island’s main towns and villages.

Among the best beaches in Greece, Vatsa Bay was settled in Roman times. A Roman villa there left a mosaic with dolphins and a trident, or spear with three prongs. In a mosaic, tiny cubes of stone or glass are set together to form a picture. The Archaeological Museum of Kefalonia now displays the piece.

The Venetians later used the bay as a shipyard. Venetians were people of the Republic of Venice, a sea power in Italy. At a shipyard, workers build and repair ships. Light farming goes on in the area today, including covered growing houses. A growing house is a covered frame, like a greenhouse, that shelters crops.

The shore at Vatsa, one of the best beaches in Greece, is about six metres wide. Its soft sand is red and yellow, with scattered pebbles set into it. A small river meets the sea at this point, one of the two rivers on Kefalonia. It can be crossed by a boat held in place by a chain.

• Fishing: Fishing from small boats still goes on in the waters of the bay.
• Chapel: A little chapel of Saint Nikolaos stands close to the beach.
• Temple: The chapel site also holds the remains of an earlier ancient temple.

Vatsa Bay, one of the best beaches in Greece, lies on Paliki. A 2005 book by Robert Bittlestone, Odysseus Unbound, argues that Paliki was Homer’s Ithaca. In the Odyssey, Ithaca is the island home of the hero Odysseus. Odysseus is the central figure of that poem.

What earns Kalogria a spot among the best beaches in Greece, near Araxos?

The best beaches in Greece include Kalogria, a sandy beach near the village of Araxos. It lies in the north-western Peloponnese and holds a Blue Flag. A Blue Flag is an international award for beaches that meet set standards of water quality and care.

Among the best beaches in Greece, Kalogria runs for about 9 km, or kilometres. Its sand reaches a width of 80 metres. Those figures place it among the longest sandy beaches in the country. It ranks as a popular destination for foreign tourists and for Greeks. A kilometre equals one thousand metres.

Sand dunes rise close to the beach. A dune is a hill or ridge of sand heaped by wind. Westerly winds and waves from the Ionian Sea move the sea sand that builds them. The dunes cover 200 hectares and climb to heights of up to 10 metres. A hectare equals ten thousand square metres.

Arsonists have made repeated attempts to burn the Strofylia forest at one of the best beaches in Greece. An arsonist is a person who sets a fire on purpose. On 13 August 2015, one blaze burned 160 acres of forest. An acre is an old unit of land area, a little over four thousand square metres.

• Largest dune: At the north edge of the beach stands the largest sand dune in the Peloponnese.
• Dune widths: The dunes range in width from 20 metres to 500 metres.
• Second fire: On 17 October 2017, another major forest fire struck the protected area beside the beach.

One of the best beaches in Greece, Kalogria lies beside the Kotychi and Strofylia National Park. The law protects such parks for their plants, animals and landscape. Kotychi and Strofylia are the two place names joined in the park’s title.

Among the best beaches in Greece, what makes Ftelia on Mykonos special?

The best beaches in Greece include Ftelia, a beach on Mykonos that also holds an archaeological site. Experts rank it first in importance among known Late Neolithic settlements of the Cyclades. The word Neolithic refers to the New Stone Age, the era of the first farmers.

Among the best beaches in Greece, Ftelia holds the remains of a village of the Saliagos culture. Archaeologists link it to the early part of the Final Neolithic. A culture here means a group of sites sharing the same tools and pottery. The size of the settlement points to around 150 to 200 residents.

At the time of the settlement, the sea level stood 10 metres lower. Scholars assume that the village then lay in a fertile plain by the coast. The position of Mykonos suggests that Ftelia was a hub for the exchange of rocks, above all obsidian. Obsidian is a black volcanic glass that breaks into sharp edges for tools.

Grass pea was the staple food of the village. Grass pea is a legume, a plant with seeds in pods, like a lentil. More than half of all food finds belong to this one plant. On one of the best beaches in Greece, barley was the only grain in use.

• Walls: Every wall is largely made of rubble from local granite, with flat stones in the foundations.
• Gold: A round gold object from the first phase is the Aegean’s earliest gold find with a secure date.
• Ajax: In ancient times, people believed the tomb of Ajax the Locrian, a hero of the Iliad, lay here.

For windsurfers, Ftelia stands among the best beaches in Greece. Its place on the northern side of Mykonos has earned it that standing. Windsurfing means riding across the water on a board fitted with an upright sail. Mykonos belongs to the Cyclades, in the central Aegean.

Which springs set Stoupa among the best beaches in Greece, in Outer Mani?

The best beaches in Greece include Stoupa, a coastal village in the southern Peloponnese. The Peloponnese is a large peninsula making up the south of mainland Greece. Stoupa lies in the part of Mani that is traditionally known as Outer Mani.

Among the best beaches in Greece, Stoupa has underground springs of fresh water. A nearby cove has springs of the same kind. Spring water rises from under the ground and flows out at the surface. Spots where this water seeps into the sea are easily seen on the surface of the bay.

Scientists call this submarine groundwater discharge, or SGD for short. Groundwater is water stored in rock and soil below the ground. The largest source lies about 100 metres off one of the best beaches in Greece. There, two strong flows rise from cracks in the solid rock, roughly 25 metres down.

On a hill in Stoupa stands Leuktron Castle. Work on it ran from 1248 to 1249, in the age of the Frankokratia. Frankokratia is the Greek term for rule by western European lords. At that time, Stoupa was part of the Principality of Achaea. It was meant to bring the Melingoi tribes of Mount Taygetus under control.

• Local government: Stoupa belongs to the municipal unit of Lefktro, within the municipality of West Mani.
• Kazantzakis: A bust of the modern Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis stands on a cliff above a nearby beach.
• Economy: Work in Stoupa is oriented towards tourism, the activity that drives its economy.

Stoupa links one of the best beaches in Greece to a celebrated novel, Zorba the Greek. The protagonist of that book was based on a real acquaintance of its author from Stoupa. A protagonist is the main character in a story.

Where among the best beaches in Greece does Small Santa Maria on Paros sit?

The best beaches in Greece include Small Santa Maria, a sandy beach on the north-eastern coast of Paros. It sits just north of Santa Maria Beach, within the wider Santa Maria coastal area. Paros belongs to the Cyclades, an island group of the Aegean Sea.

Among the best beaches in Greece, Small Santa Maria lies in the area of Plastira. The coastal town of Naousa sits about 6 km to the south-west. Parikia, the main port and capital of Paros, lies about 16 km away. In a port town, ferries and ships load and unload at the harbour.

Of the best beaches in Greece, this one forms a small, sheltered bay with sand and shallow water. Sheltered means protected from strong wind and waves by the shape of the land. Rocky formations line parts of the coastline. The seabed here suits swimming and snorkelling. Snorkelling is swimming at the surface while breathing through a short tube.

In 2023, national media mentioned Small Santa Maria during debates on rules for beach businesses. The debates also covered rules on public access to the shore. Later that year, measures led to part of the beach equipment being taken away. That freed a larger stretch of the shoreline for public use.

• Meltemi: The bay’s position gives partial shelter from the meltemi, the strong northerly summer wind of the Cyclades.
• Size: The beach is smaller than the adjacent Santa Maria Beach and has fewer facilities.
• Inspections: After public reactions, inspections took place on beaches in Paros, Naxos and Rhodes.

During the summer season, Small Santa Maria, one of the best beaches in Greece, operates with organised facilities. These include sunbeds, umbrellas and a seasonal restaurant serving food and drinks. A sunbed is a low reclining chair for lying in the sun.

Who links the best beaches in Greece to Skala Eresou on Lesbos?

The best beaches in Greece include Skala Eresou, a seaside village on Lesbos. It forms part of the community of Eresos. Its beach of dark grey volcanic sand runs for almost three kilometres along the west of the island.

Among the best beaches in Greece, Skala Eresou carries a name that literally means “the pier of Eresos”. A pier is a platform built out over the sea where boats can tie up. The central square of the village is paved with flagstones. Flagstones are flat slabs of stone laid to form a hard floor.

The town is famed as the birthplace of Sappho, a legendary lyric poet of ancient Greece. Lyric poetry is verse first made to be sung with music. She is also called the “Tenth Muse”. In Greek myth, nine Muses ruled over the arts, so the title names her as a tenth.

The village behind one of the best beaches in Greece was also home to the philosopher Phanias. Phanias was a pupil of Aristotle. Philosophers think hard about knowledge, truth and how people ought to live. Theophrastus, called the father of classical botany, also lived here. Botany is the science of plants.

• Blue Flag: In 2006, the beach gained a Blue Flag, awarded for clean water and a clean shore.
• Ladder: Besides pier, the Greek word skala can also mean “ladder”.
• City walls: Ancient city walls still stand from the days when the town was an important trading centre.

Since the 1980s, Skala Eresou has been a popular destination for lesbian travellers. The word lesbian comes from Lesbos, home island of the poet Sappho. Every September, one of the best beaches in Greece hosts a festival for women in the village.

What makes Laganas one of the best beaches in Greece for turtles?

The best beaches in Greece include Laganas, a village and former municipality on Zakynthos in the Ionian Islands. Its beach village lies on the south-eastern coast of the island. Each municipality has its own elected council and mayor.

Every June, July and August, loggerhead sea turtles travel to the Bay of Laganas. They come ashore there and lay their eggs in the sand. The loggerhead, a big sea turtle, takes its name from its broad, heavy head. The migration counts as a draw for one of the best beaches in Greece.

The nesting beach is protected, and ecologists watch over it at all times. An ecologist is a scientist who studies how living things relate to their surroundings. A large part of Laganas forms a national park, set up to protect the turtles. Nesting means laying eggs, and the word covers both birds and turtles.

In Greek, lagini means “jug”, and the name Laganas comes from that word. The name recalls a former pottery trade near Lithakia and Kalamaki. Pottery means fired clay vessels. Laganas, now among the best beaches in Greece, used to be a calm fishing village. It now ranks among the top party destinations in the country.

• Southern tip: Laganas, as a municipal unit, takes in the far south of Zakynthos.
• Area: The whole unit spreads over 74.104 square kilometres of land.
• Hills: The centre and east of the unit are flat, while hills rise to 450 m in the west.

Laganas is home to over 100 bars and clubs. A club here means a place that stays open late for music and dancing. The village with these venues lies next to one of the best beaches in Greece, on Zakynthos.

Why is Petani counted among the best beaches in Greece by visitors?

The best beaches in Greece include Petani Beach, found in the north-west of the Paliki peninsula on Kefalonia. The name of the beach is also spelled Petanoi. Paliki counts as a peninsula, since sea surrounds it on all sides but one.

Among the best beaches in Greece, Petani lies below a very steep road, in a curved bay. Mountains rise all around it. The shore is a strip of pebbles and sand, up to 50 m wide in places. Pebbles are small, smooth stones worn round by the movement of water.

Petani runs for about 600 m along its bay, and swimmers use the central part. The steep hillsides around it are made of local limestone. Limestone forms from the shells and skeletons of ancient sea creatures, pressed into pale rock. A cover of brush, or low scrubby plants, grows over those slopes.

The peninsula around one of the best beaches in Greece takes its name from Pale, an ancient town. Pale stood north of Lixouri, and its remains now form an archaeological site. On the east, the Gulf of Argostoli divides Paliki from the rest of Kefalonia. A gulf is a large, deep bay that cuts far into the land.

• Blue Flag: Petani holds Blue Flag status, which marks a beach that meets set international standards.
• Mountains: Peaks of up to 500 m rise across the west and north of Paliki.
• Lixouri: Lixouri is the nearest large town to the beach, on the same peninsula.

Recognised for its great beauty, Petani ranks among the best beaches in Greece. Visitors compare it with a smaller version of Myrtos Beach. Petani Beach lies on Paliki, which forms the westernmost part of the Ionian island of Kefalonia.

Which of the best beaches in Greece turns into an island each winter?

The best beaches in Greece include Prasonisi, a cape in the far south of the island of Rhodes. Its name means “green island” in the Greek language. Cape is the name for a headland pushing out into open water.

Among the best beaches in Greece, Prasonisi turns into a peninsula in summer, when water levels drop. A tombolo then joins it to Rhodes. A tombolo is a narrow bar of sand that ties an island to the shore. In winter, when water levels are high, Prasonisi becomes an island once more.

The sandy bar needs fresh sand, carried by wave currents, to build up the land. The island itself shields the bar from rogue waves out of the north-east. Waves from the south-east, however, can wear the landmass away. Erosion is the name for that slow wearing away of land by water or wind.

Prasonisi, one of the best beaches in Greece, sits between two seas. The Aegean Sea lies on one side of the cape and suits advanced surfers. The Mediterranean Sea lies on the other side and suits beginners better. A surfer rides on a board across the water, pushed by waves, wind or a kite.

• Lighthouse: The Prasonisi Lighthouse stands on the southernmost tip of the cape.
• Katavia: Of all Greek villages, Katavia lies closest to the cape, in southern Rhodes.
• Vroulia: Vroulia, an old settlement near the cape, keeps an ancient floor of mosaic tiles.

Prasonisi is listed in Natura 2000 as an environmental protected area. That listing joins one of the best beaches in Greece to a Europe-wide network of protected nature sites. Each listed site is managed to protect its habitats and its wild species.

How does Faliraki hold its place among the best beaches in Greece on Rhodes?

The best beaches in Greece include Faliraki, the leading seaside resort village of Rhodes. Rhodes counts as one of the Dodecanese, near the eastern edge of the Aegean Sea. The name Dodecanese comes from the Greek words for “twelve islands”.

Faliraki, one of the best beaches in Greece, is a popular tourist destination. Its beach forms a stretch of sand 5 km long. At the southern end lies Mandomata, an official naturist beach. Naturist means that clothing is optional for bathers there. Mandomata has a small tavern and a couple of public toilets.

Faliraki has reinvented itself as a cosmopolitan centre of tourism. Cosmopolitan means open to people from all over the world. It caters to visitors of all age groups and of a wide range of nationalities. The largest water park in Greece is found here too. Bowling, a history park and a family fun-park add to its attractions.

Near one of the best beaches in Greece, the fishing harbour of Saint Apostolos bustles in the morning. Fishing boats unload their catch there, and locals gather for coffee. The beach front is lined with bars, cafeterias, restaurants, taverns and tourist shops. A taverna, or tavern, is a small Greek eating house serving simple local food.

• Kallithea: Faliraki belongs to the municipal unit of Kallithea on Rhodes.
• Food: Besides Greek dishes, restaurants serve Chinese, Mexican, Italian and British cooking.
• Airport: The airport of Rhodes sits about 10 km to the north-west of Faliraki.

The village lies on Faliraki Bay, along the north-eastern coast of Rhodes. A bay is a stretch of water that the coast curves around. The bay, the village and one of the best beaches in Greece all share the same name.

What do travellers ask about Best beaches in Greece, and what are the answers?

The best beaches in Greece include Gianiskari, a sandy beach in the north-western Peloponnese. Its shore faces the Ionian Sea, close to the village of Akrotirio Araxou. In the summer months, it is a popular destination for local people. The beach sits between two hills.

Among the best beaches in Greece, what does the name Gianiskari mean?

The name Gianiskari is a reworked form of an older word, Gialiskari. That word comes from the medieval Greek Aigialiskarion. Medieval means from the Middle Ages. Aigialiskarion is a diminutive of Aigialos, which means seashore. A diminutive is a word form that means a smaller version of something.

How far north-west does Gianiskari reach among the best beaches in Greece?

No beach open to the public lies further north-west in the Peloponnese than Gianiskari. North of it lies a restricted area that belongs to the Araxos Naval Fort. Restricted means closed to the public. A naval fort is a stronghold used by a navy, the armed force that serves at sea.

Before a trip to the best beaches in Greece, what changed on the hills of Gianiskari?

Kermes oaks once covered the hills around the beach, with other native Mediterranean trees and bushes. The kermes oak is a low, prickly evergreen oak of Mediterranean lands. Forest fires struck in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2017. Together, those fires destroyed all of that plant cover completely.

Which sea grass covered Gianiskari, one of the best beaches in Greece?

In the fifth month of 2018, large amounts of sea grass covered the beach. The grass formed a band 5 to 6 metres wide. Its kind was Posidonia oceanica, a sea grass endemic to the Mediterranean Sea. Endemic means that a plant or animal lives naturally in one region and nowhere else.