Folegandros, Sifnos, Milos
At first the idea of travelling for 12 days with nothing but a backpack (no hair straighteners and only a “few” pairs of shoes for Lou) was a bit daunting but nothing ventured, nothing gained so off we went !! 🙂
We found flights from Heathrow to Athens with a Greek airline with good travel times and a great price. Thoroughly recommend SKY Express https://www.skyexpress.gr/en. We ordered a taxi through Booking.com Booking.com Taxi which was there waiting for us when we landed and took us straight to our accommodation in Piraeus port where our ferry was sailing from the next morning. The accommodation Yolanda Studios was clean and served a purpose as an overnight stay although the air con could have been more chilled ! but opposite there was a great kerbside restaurant serving authentic Greek street food which was delicious.
Up early and a 10 to 15 minute walk to the port where we picked up our tickets for all the ferries we were going to take during our trip. We booked these through Greek Ferries https://ferries.greeka.com/ which was simple and easy to book numerous trips.
After nearly a 4 hour ferry journey from Piraeus port in Athens, our first island was Folegandros, unspoilt by tourists and a very chilled laid back atmosphere. We stayed in the Coral Apartments in Karavostasi where the ferries arrive and were met by one of the hosts who gave us a lift to the apartment. The apartment was spotless, lots of room and a lovely outside space and just a minute walk to the beach. The beach is shingle not sandy, the sea inviting and the odd beach bar and restaurant made for lazy days meaning we were often still in beach wear late into the evening where we ate a couple times at Dal Capo del Porto, chilled dining ! The local bus service is regular and appeared to be a fixed 2 Euro price wherever you went on the island so we ventured to a beautiful cove Agali Beach one afternoon and one night went out out in he main town Chora for a few drinkies and dinner (lots to choose from).
Next was a 2 hour ferry from Folegandros to Sifnos where we were greeted by an amazing sandy beach cove in Kamares and a number of well kept beach bars and tasty restaurants along the sea front, the fish at Araxovoli was delicious! We stayed in the family run Hotel Afroditi and enjoyed taking breakfast every morning looking out at the beach before taking our position on one of the beach bar sunbeds or just placing towels down where we fancied. We found a great infinity pool bar 7 Seas where we spent the day relaxing with food, drink and lush views.
The third island was Milos which was just under an hour ferry trip from Sifnos. This island is defo more a tourist destination and did not have that chilled relaxed vibe at first. However, once we had hired our quad bike and travelled around the island we certainly found picturesque small villages and secluded beach coves to enjoy, including Sarakiniko beach which looks like a lunar landscape, quite spectacular. A quad bike or hire car is a must on Milos and definitely recommend pre-booking as many places get sold out during high season. Our accommodation Giannis Hotel Apartments was clean and in a good location and the owner met us from the ferry which was appreciated. We found a small beach at the end of the port which was lovely although drinks at the beach bar were a bit steep ! Another lovely location we found was at the other end of the island in a resort called Pollonia. Whilst in Milos we ate dinner a couple nights overlooking the sea in a beach front restaurant Trapatselis, got to try the Shrimp Saganaki !!
Sadly, we had to then leave after our “hopping” experience and get the ferry back to Piraeus port where we boarded a train to Athens for our last few days. We stayed in the ROH Suites located in the popular Plaka district of Athens close to the Acropolis, Olympic stadium and many other places of interest, a bottle of wine with 2 glasses was a nice touch in the room. Breakfast was served in the restaurant below which was owned by the same hosts and discounted if you ate dinner there too. We found a fab rooftop bar at the Central Hotel looking across to the Acropolis…stunning view…and also made the Hard Rock Cafe Athens for happy hour 😁
And then it was time to catch the train to the airport to fly home. All good things must come to an end……….until we find the next group of Greek islands to explore !!!!
Bristolians Abroad 