The charming Milos
Some of my friends asked for recs in Greece and I thought I might as well finally compile a blog post. Milos island is one that is the easiest for me to recommend.
I have visited Milos in June 2024 and it’s absolutely charming. It has this magical vibe of small towns with blue white houses, as well as dramatic cliffs and crystal clear waters.
It’s a very small island and I found it cute and cozy. It has the main “touristic” village Plaka which is on a hill and is really picturesque with white & blue little houses and many restaurants. On the top of the hill, it has a couple really beautiful churches with a backdrop of the sea which are very much worth the mini hike. Most of the restaurants are tourist traps though 🤷🏻♀️.
For some reason, Milos is not easy to find on a map, so here's a map:
Then there are a few tiny tiny fisherman villages (prob turned airbnb villages at this point) that are very picturesque. In the order of how much I liked the 3 that we have visited: Mandrakia, Firopotamus, Klima. You can swim there too.
Turns out, I didn't take photos of Klima 😅
One of the most amazing experiences we had there was renting a boat and sailing to a place called Kleftiko. It is a bay that only accessible either by water or by a long hike (which might also require some 4x4 vehicle to get to the starting point, not sure…). It is hands down some of the most gorgeous places I have ever seen. The bay is surrounded by cliffs and the water is relatively shallow and crystal clear. It’s like a huge pool. You can swim and snorkel there, and explore some caves too. It’s a very popular spot so you won’t be alone. There are also group tours there if you don’t want to rent a private boat. Btw, you don’t need a license or boating experience to rent a boat either.
By boat we have also visited the Tsigrado beach. It is accessible by land as well, although involves some hiking, I believe. It also has amazingly beautiful water and some caves.
We have also visited couple beaches by car. One of them is the Sarakiniko beach. It is one of the most popular spots on the island, so be prepared in terms of parking and the amount of people. It has cool white rock cliffs with unique wavy forms and that’s the reason for its instagrammability and hence, popularity. It also has some catacombs, surprisingly. Make sure to use a flashlight. Note that the “beach” part of Sarakiniko is actually very small. Most of the space near the water are these rock formations.
The other beach we visited is Plathiena. It is an actual sandy beach, quite picturesque. You can get there by car.
I swear I didn't pay attention to what looks like seaweed concentration in the water, only later when I was editing the photos. It was so beautiful out there despite it.
We have also visited the town of Pollonia, at the north eastern side of the island. It was nice and we saw a beautiful sunset. I liked Plaka better though.
Near Plaka, there’s the town of Trypiti. You can walk from one to the other, although that would be a bit of a longer walk. It is also nice and has a reproduction of the statue of Aphrodite of Milos (which is known as Venus of Milos, but Venus is not Greek mythology…) in the middle of some hillside. Which is weird and iconic at the same time.
There's also an amphitheater.
There’s also the town of Adamantas, which I guess is the largest one, it has a port and is closest to the airport. I didn’t find it particularly exciting for my taste though, but it has stores, bakeries etc.
We have also visited the mine museum there, which was interesting.
There's probably more to explore on the island. Writing this post def makes me want to go back, even to just visit these places that I've already seen. Such a little gem.
Getting around the island
We have rented a car there and I think that’s probably the best way to get around as I didn’t get the impression that public transportation could get you to all these tiny villages or beaches (fact check me though). But be prepared: at times driving there is very sketchy. Some roads are super narrow and 2 cars can barely pass one past the other. So I say get the smallest car possible and be cautious and nice to others. Also, ALWAYS double check Google or Apple maps routes, because they tend to get you into the narrowest paths between buildings where you don’t see much ahead. Stick to the widest roads on the map until you have to turn off to some secondary road to get to your particular destination.
Parking is also challenging, so try to get to the popular places early. In Plaka, there’s a large parking lot (I think it was free when we visited) from which you need to walk a bit. Don’t try to get past it - there’s no parking further into Plaka and you get yourself into a dead end that is hard to get out of.
Getting there
There’s an option to take a ferry from Athens, but it was about 5 hours if I’m not mistaken, so we just took a flight. Milos doesn’t have an international airport, so there’re only domestic flights there.
When to visit
We have visited Milos in June, and living in Vancouver, Canada, I found it a bit too hot for me. I think the temperatures were around 28-30C. May would’ve been better for me personally. But I’m not sure when all the restaurants and such open for the season, so worth checking that. Also, I’ve visited both Zakynthos and Athens during September and found it a bit less hot than June, so I guess this would be good weather for Milos, too. Both June and September were fairly busy with tourists though.
More tips
The tap water is not drinkable on Milos, so stock up on bottled water. Best to buy large 6-packs in some grocery store.
