Why I Can't Stop Thinking about Milos

The Hellenic Republic boasts 227 inhabited islands. Just five of these receive the lion's share of international visitors. If you're headed to the Cyclades, do yourself a favour and make a detour to the sublime little island of Milos. 

With just under 5,000 people in three main towns and scattered villages, Milos is the island that lends its name to the famous Venus de Milo statue that you may have already glimpsed on a visit to the Louvre. 

Everyone has their own criteria for identifying the best beaches and so I recognize this might be controversial. I'm putting it out there! Milos offers, in my experience, an unrivalled variety of stunning places to swim: sandy beaches, rocky lunar landscapes, dramatic canyons, turquoise fishing harbours... Milos has it all. 

But Milos isn't just about salt water therapy. It also hosts some of the best food you'll encounter in the Greek islands. Google the island's name and you'll find articles - from the Greek and international press - praising the island's local products and the stalwart tavernas that serve them up in both traditional and innovative ways. 

I visited six islands on my recent trip to Greece. Milos offered, without question, the most beautiful water and the best food. 

Milos is easily reached by daytime ferry from Athens (Pireas), Paros, Sifnos, and by overnight ferry once weekly from Heraklion, Crete. A tiny airport receives a few flights daily from Athens International Airport. My trip to Milos was in July 2021, during the second summer of the Covid-19 pandemic. While these were the only ways to reach Milos at that time, it's entirely possible that additional routes will (re)open soon. 

Besides beaches and food, it was the relative unpopularity of Milos that made my visit so enjoyable. Don't get me wrong. There were plenty of tourists. But compared to Naxos, Paros, Crete, Rhodes, and Santorini, Milos felt uncrowded and tranquil. Though tourism had declined 63.5% compared to the pre-pandemic 2019 summer season, multitudes of tourists swarmed the narrow streets of Thira and Oia in Santorini. Frankly, it's difficult to imagine myself enjoying Santorini with the pre-pandemic visitor numbers. All this to say, my experience of Milos' uncrowded towns, beaches, and taverna gardens would likely be different had I visited in any other year. Still, Milos is a popular destination for Greeks partly because it receives (even in normal times) far fewer visitors than its Cycladic neighbours.

The Covid-19 pandemic and its accompanying restrictions and lockdowns left an indelible mark on the mental health of people around the world. As life slowly begins to return to something closer to "normal" in many countries, many of us are looking for opportunities to recover our sanity. For me, nothing offered greater potential for bliss than soaking in the Aegean. I hoped the salty waters would be a salve, pulling the stress from my pores, leaving me in a less stress-riddled, albeit water-wrinkled, state. In fact, swimming (more often floating and bobbing, if I'm honest), was such a big part of my travel plans that I invested in a waterproof MP3 headset. Milos absolutely delivered in this area and I spent many happy hours listening to Madeline Miller's novels, gazing back at Milos' rocky shore and peering down to the ocean floor through crystal clear water. 

When I talk about the "beaches" of Milos, I'm really referring to all swimming spots: sandy, rocky, off the end of a pier... or at the end of a set of stairs leading into the water of a harbour surrounded by the fleet of village fishing boats, the daily catch hung up on lines to dry in the sun, jealously coveted by the cats who inhabit every corner of Greece. 

The diversity of swimming spots in Milos is one of its greatest offerings to the water-inclined visitor. 

Most of these are found along the south, north, and east coast, and the large bay at Milos' centre. While the west coast offers some very attractive locations that I researched before travelling, I was forbidden by the rental car agency to drive into westernmost Milos due to poor road quality.

My accommodations were in the south of the island, a 15 minute walk from Provatas beach. Reaching all of the other swimming spots on the map above involved a car. There's a local bus network in Milos operated by KTEL, but you'll need to plan carefully and factor in significant buffer time to beach hop by bus. Taxis are also an option but as of July 2021, Uber and other rideshare services were not operating on Milos. Rental cars, scooters, dirt bikes and ATVs are all available to rent. 

My rental car was a SEAT Mii Automatic provided by Giourgas Rental Milos. This tiny car with a mere 1000 ccs of engine power was actually ideal. While Milos' main roads are quite good, reaching many of the island's best swimming spots involves descent down narrow, twisting roads hemmed in by rocks on one or both sides. The smaller the rental car, the more likely you are to avoid damage, (and perhaps worse, the constant worry that you'll cause some). 

Mandrakia is a place that I'm going to remember forever. At the end of a stressful work day, when I surrender to nostalgia and think of my summer in Greece, Mandrakia is the first place that comes to mind. This tiny village, 15 minutes drive from Adamas Port, is the stuff of dreams. There's very little to do here besides admire the beauty of the harbour, eat and drink at Medusa Taverna, and commune with the sea. 

On the road that descends steeply towards Mandrakia, I spotted an elderly woman with her thumb out for a ride. I pulled over and asked if she was headed to the village. This kindly woman, who introduced herself only as "a yaya" (grandmother) from the mainland, had set out to walk to Mandrakia earlier that morning in the 30+ degree heat. "I was here 30 years ago," she told me. "It's not so close as I remember... and besides, I was young before!" Her limited English and my dozen words of Greek limited our communication, but she managed to tell me a bit about her life, her grandchildren, and her previous trip to Milos with her late husband. "Maybe I see you later," she told me, and in a village the size of a postage stamp, I did run into her again twice. Both times, while swimming!

Swim in the harbour. Swim on the far side of the pier. Swim in the bay on the opposite side of town. Take the short walk to the tiny Geraniá Beach. Jump from the rocks. Rent snorkel equipment if you like, or join one of the kayaking groups that passed by. Check out the fishermen's catch before dining on seafood or grilled meats with half a litre of wine at Medusa Taverna. Just soak it all in! I'm willing to entertain the possibility that Mandrakia's charms were magnified by the fresh eyes of my first day on the island. But really, I think it probably is just a magical place. 

10 minutes up the road you'll find Firopotamos. This is the kind of beach for which you muster up every superlative you've got, knowing you're not exaggerating in the least. Mind you, the short stretch of sand isn't anything special. What Firopotamos offers is a deep bay with the most stunningly clear, vibrantly blue/green water with a sandy bottom. As you float in the bay, follow the line of syrmata (waterfront fishing huts mere inches above the waterline) to the point dominated by the Church of Agios Nikolaos. There are no facilities to speak of at this beach besides a little beach cantina that was closed during my two visits.  

I'd read about O Hamos! taverna long before setting foot on Milos. Giourgas from the rental car agency recommended it upon picking me up at the airport. The host of my accommodation recommended it upon checking-in. The cleaner asked me on my second morning if I'd eaten there yet. (You better believe it!) 

I ate dinner here three days in a row. This is not to say that there aren't other great restaurants in Milos. There are! But when this restaurant managed to so thoroughly charm me with their cooking and hospitality, I became their captive. I tried a few dishes on their menu and while all were great, the arnaki sourtoukiko was to die for. Dessert-wise, the bitter orange and chocolate bread pudding was fantastic. 

O Hamos! is located on the road between Adamas town and the airport, just across from the beach. My quickly-established pattern of life on Milos was to eat breakfast, explore the island's beaches, grab a light lunch, and head to O Hamos as the sun started to sink towards the horizon. This is a popular spot and you often need to put your name on a waiting list. No bother! My strategy was to leave my name with the hostess and go for a quick swim in the bay across the street to cool down before the epic meal ahead. 

I ate a lot of spanikopita in Greece. The pastry from Milos' bakeries was truly standout. 

Mytakas is one of several awesome swimming spots to hit along the road to Pollonia in the northeast corner of the island. Following the dirt road down from the highway, cars park on a rocky ledge that separates Mytakas Harbour from Paralia Mytakas (Mytakas Beach). The beach offers a long stretch of searingly hot sand and calm, shallow water. My advice is to scramble over the hill and down into the fishing harbour. The water is so clear that a snorkel isn't needed to see down to the deep bottom, dotted with barnacle-crusted boat anchors and the occasional urchin. Half a dozen Greek youngsters were spear fishing at the mouth of the harbour as their mothers hollered admonitions from the patio of a nearby syrmata. A beach bar on the paralia side offers drinks and light meals. 

Alogomandra Beach is next up on the way to Pollonia. This sandy beach with turquoise water is home to several impressive caves. As with any seaside caves, be aware of tide timings and keep an eye on your exit path!

The Papafragas Caves are very much an at your own risk kind of experience. The whole area is fenced off and warning signs are posted to ward away visitors. But as you'll soon observe, rules in Greece are pliable and oft ignored. A well-trodden path skirts around the barricade. A safe visit to this area requires your full attention. This is not the place to explore after a few drinks at the Alogomandra beach bar. The sea here has carved several deep channels and from the area near the road there are many sheer drops. Keep your wits about you and follow the trail. A narrow path has been carved into the rock face, ending in a few uneven stairs. If you're not surefooted, content yourself to admiring the caves from above. But those who venture down are rewarded! Papafragas feels like a swimming in small canyon.

The village of Pollonia is home to many upscale accommodation options and a waterfront full of restaurants known for fresh seafood. The beach here won't impress you after visiting any of the others described in this article, but you could certainly do worse than floating a dozen meters out and looking back at Pollonia's quaint waterfront. 

It's precisely because Milos is left off the itineraries of so many visitors to the Greek islands that you should plan to visit. You won't be disappointed.