Western Cyclades 2020: Nailing Down the Itinerary

Thursday 27th August 2020

Introduction

In between bouts of worrying that my trip would get cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions, I’ve been researching and refining the itinerary outlined in my previous trip planning overview post.

With less than a week to go before I fly to Athens, I thought I would share my final itinerary (well, mostly final).

The Itinerary

In case you don’t want to read all the detail below, the summary of my trip itinerary is as follows:

1. Morning flight from London Stansted to Athens, arriving 14:45.
2. Sky Express internal flight to Milos at 18:15, arriving 19:00.
3. Five nights on Milos staying in Adamas.
4. Afternoon ferry to Sifnos.
5. Six nights on Sifnos, staying in Kamares.
6. Afternoon ferry to Serifos.
7. Two nights on Serifos, staying in Livadi.
8. Evening ferry to Syros.
9. Three nights on Syros, staying in Ermoupoli.
10. Late morning ferry to Tinos, stopover for lunch.
11. Afternoon ferry to Andros.
12. Three nights on Andros, staying in Batsi.
13. Midday ferry to Rafina.
14. Bus to Athens airport.
15. Late afternoon flight to London Stansted

Sounds hectic, but over 19 nights I think it will be pretty relaxed and provide a good opportunity to visit 4 new islands as well as going back to Andros again. Originally, I had also intended to spend a few nights on Paros, but it became clear that this would be too many islands and wasn’t worth the extra effort. Keep reading if you want to know more about what I’ve got planned for each leg of my journey.

Milos

My original flight from Athens to Milos was the 17:30 service arriving at 18:15. Unfortunately, by the time I was ready to book my ticket, this flight was fully booked so instead I’m on the next plane, leaving only slightly later at 18:15 and landing 19:00. I knew the later flight existed as a contingency, otherwise, I would have booked the earlier flight much sooner so it wasn’t a big deal really. It gives me a slightly longer layover in Athens airport, which may be beneficial if there’s any delay on my outbound flight.

Once I land on Milos, I’ve arranged a taxi pick up through my accommodation. Adamas is only 4km along the coast from the airport so I should be in my room by 19:30, giving me time to unpack before going out to dinner.

My plan is to hire an ATV for the next two days, either through the accommodation if they have a recommendation on a good company to use, or else I’ll walk around and check out the local dealers to see what’s on offer. With the ATV, I’ll spend one day exploring the western side of the island and the other day around Plaka, Trypiti, Pollonia and the northern coastline.

I’m also in the process of organising a day boat trip around Milos as this was highly recommended online. The remaining full day will be free to either relax or visit any other places I might want to see.

Sifnos

I knew very little about Sifnos before organising this trip, but have since discovered that it’s very high on many people’s list of favourite Greek islands. In fact, it’s mainly down to how highly it has been recommended that I am now staying 6 nights here, instead of the 3 I’d originally planned.

I’ll be based in the port village of Kamares, partly to make getting to/from the ferry easy, but also it’s meant to be a nice resort and the beach looks quite appealing. The other recommended places to stay are the capital, Apollonia, or a beach resort on the east coast called Platis Gialos.

As with Milos, I plan to hire an ATV or car for two days, using the first day to explore the northern half of the island including the beaches of Vroulidia and Chersonissos, then heading south towards Artemonas and Apollonia. The second day will focus further south, including beaches along the east coast at Faros and Platis Gialos, then heading across the island to Vathi beach and back to Kamares again via Apollonia.

Hiring the ATV for the first couple of days will allow me to find places that I might want to spend more time at during the rest of my stay on Sifnos, travelling by local bus where possible.

Serifos

If I’m being honest, Serifos is still a bit of an unknown quantity at this point. I’m only staying two nights based on the advice I found online: it’s meant to be a pretty quiet island with not a huge amount to see. My ferry doesn’t arrive until late afternoon, so my plan is to spend the first evening in the port town of Livadi which is where I’ll be staying.

The next day I might try and hire a car/ATV and see how much of the island I can cover – according to Google maps, a driving loop around the island with a few detours should only take 2.5 hours, meaning I can stop at various points along the way and still cover most of the island in a single day. Assuming I have a vehicle, I’ll probably spend the evening in Chora and travel back to my accommodation later on.

My ferry to Syros doesn’t depart until 17:45, so I will have the benefit of most of the day here, but without a vehicle I’ll probably stay local to Livadi and relax on the beach, unless I find somewhere I really want to visit instead.

Syros

Arriving late in the evening, my first night will pretty uneventful. The next day I plan to explore as much of the south of the island as I can. The island has a good bus service, so I will try and work clockwise and cover the following beach resorts: Varis, Megas Gialos, Poseidonia, Galissas and Kini.

At this point, I still need to research some other points of interest that I might want to visit besides the beaches mentioned above.

The following day, my friend Ed should be arriving on a morning ferry from Tinos. Our plan is to drop his luggage off in my room and head straight out for a hike north of Ermoupoli towards Chalandriani. Not sure on the timings yet, but there is apparently a nice taverna further north-west near Kampos where you can get fantastic sunset views over the western side of the island.

Andros (via Tinos)

The next morning we plan to catch the 11:30 ferry to Tinos, which should give us plenty of time for a lazy breakfast and possible walk around Ermoupoli.

At Tinos, we’ll have a couple of hours before the ferry to Andros departs – only really enough time for some lunch and perhaps a stroll around Tinos town.

We should arrive on Andros just after 16:00 at the port of Gavrio. The plan is to walk from there to our accommodation, Mare Vista Hotel, just outside Batsi. It’s about 6km so not too far, but I will have two backpacks to carry so I’m expecting it to be fairly tiring! Luckily, Ed has assured me there are a few beach bars along the way that I’m sure we’ll take full advantage of for some rest and refreshments. After settling into our rooms, we’ll head out for food and no doubt several more drinks in Batsi.

The next day, Ed has found a hike towards the south of the island that we’ll need to catch a bus for. I’m not sure of the exact route yet, but the intention is we’ll finish in Andros Town for a late lunch and catch the afternoon bus back to Batsi. The day after is currently unplanned, but will definitely include another walk and dinner at our favourite Pizza Memories in Gavrio!

Rafina, Athens, Home

That basically concludes the trip. Our last morning we’ll have some time at the hotel, either taking the 10:15 or 12:30 ferry back to Rafina. The latter obviously being more desirable but with less contingency for delay getting back to Athens airport for our 16:45 flight back to Stansted.