Category: Greek Islands beaches

The bewitching but dangerous beauty of Santorini’s Red Beach

Santorini’s Red Beach is seen in an image from EscapeGreece.com

[Editor’s Update: If you plan to visit Santorini in 2018, please beware that Red Beach is officially closed to the public. Click here to read about a landslide that occurred on Red Beach in April 2018 and led island authorities to re-issue warnings that the beach is off limits because it’s too dangerous to visit.]

Rockfall risk: Since Santorini enjoys a worldwide reputation for superlative natural scenery, it’s not surprising that the island’s remarkable Red Beach regularly garners glowing accolades from international travel publications and leading lifestyle websites — along with ample attention on social media, where thousands of people have posted selfies that they shot on and near the colourful coastal attraction.

During my routine online work and research, I frequently find articles in which travel magazines and websites declare Red Beach to be one of the world’s “best,” “most beautiful,” “most unusual” or “most colourful” beaches, and recommend it as a “must-see” for anyone visiting Santorini. Photos of the distinctive strand, which is also known as Red Sand Beach, appear even more often on websites and social media pages dedicated to travel in Greece, and in particular for hotels and tour companies operating on Santorini.

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What the articles, posts and photo captions rarely mention, however, is that Red Beach is a veritably perilous place to sunbathe, swim or stroll. In recent years, there have been several significant rockfalls and landslides from the crimson-coloured bluffs that rise behind the narrow strip of scarlet-tinged pebbles and stones, and geological experts believe it’s possible that more cliff sections could collapse onto the beach at any time. (There are anecdotal claims that two beachgoers were killed by a landslide a few years ago, but I couldn’t find any news reports confirming the fatalities or date of the accident.)

Red Beach is seen on a sunny April afternoon in a photo by TripAdvisor review contributor Chris B

During peak season in past years, sunbeds have been available for rent, as seen in this photo from the Santorini Hotels Facebook page

In April, Facebook member Cecil Ramirez captured this photo of the imposing red stone cliffs that tower above Red Beach

Major rockfalls have occurred at Red Beach several times in the past decade. Two of the larger landslides are clearly visible in this photo shared on Facebook by Daena K Nicholas

Red Beach has been “closed” since August 2013 because of fears more landslides could occur, and since stones and boulders loosen and plunge from the cliffs on occasion. But warning signs like this one, shown in a Facebook photo by Jc Male, have not deterred thousands of people from going to the beach.

Sunbathers sit near the foot of one of the larger landslides, seen in a Facebook photo by Daniel Dias da Silva. Fences were installed to keep people from climbing the cliffs and landslip rubble because that could trigger further collapses of the rock face.

The safest way to see Red Beach is from the sea or from a distance on a hilltop vantage point like this one captured in a Facebook photo by Nikky Dudek

Please click on the link below to continue reading about Red Beach on page 2 of this post, where you can view videos and dozens more photos of this singular Santorini beach.

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May 10, 2016
What’s new at Mykonos beach bar/restaurant venues in 2016

~ updated Friday August 26 2016 ~

Rakkan Mykonos opened at Kalo Livadi beach on June 15 in the beachfront premises previously occupied by Monarch beach club…

… which has relocated to Platis Gialos beach for this year

Regular visitors will notice some big changes at Lia beach this year — like the new Lia Beach House, where guests can enjoy food and beverage service while relaxing on comfy sunbeds…

… and the completely renovated Liasti restaurant, which has been given a new look and has been rebranded as Liasti Mykonos, with fine dining and special DJ entertainment events

Also sporting a new look and brand this year is Sueno Village Beach Club at Paraga beach ….

… while Panormos Beach Resort has also undergone a massive transformation for 2016. After major renovations to its restaurant, bar and beachfront, it has been re-branded as Principauté de Mykonos — Panormos

Another new venue for summer 2016 is Jumeirah Mykonos Beach Resort at Agia Anna / Paraga

Beach bar news: The vibrant Mykonos beach bar & restaurant scene has grown bigger and even more exciting in 2016 with the arrival of brand-new drinking, dining and party establishments at Kalo Livadi, Lia, Platis Gialos and Agia Anna/Paraga.

Meanwhile, Panormos Beach Resort has unveiled significant changes to its bar, beachfront, and restaurant — enhancements that the resort says will take guests “to another level, offering a brand new decadent experience.” It also has changed its name, re-branding the resort with the moniker Principauté de Mykonos — Panormos. And two other restaurant / beach bar venues have been given new upmarket looks and branding — Liasti Beach Resort at Lia beach, and Sueno Village Beach Club at Paraga beach.

Please click on the link below to continue reading and view photos of all the new beach clubs.

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April 10, 2016
The scenic charms of Serifos

Beautiful Serifos scenery is spotlighted in the two aerial videos above, both of which were shared online by YouTube contributor Loris Trian. Click on the arrows to view the films.

Cycladic gem: One of my readers has been asking where she should look on the blog to find photos and reports from our trips to Serifos, as she’s been having trouble tracking them down. Unfortunately, there aren’t any — purely because we haven’t been to Serifos yet.

But since it’s one of the many places on our bucket list of islands to see in Greece, I have been bookmarking Serifos websites and videos I come across so the links are handy for future reference.

Rather than just pass that information along in an email reply, I’m posting the links and three of the videos here in case other readers considering a holiday on Serifos might find them interesting and helpful.

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Besides reading many good things about Serifos, I have heard only positive feedback about it from well-travelled friends and contacts who have highly recommended paying the West Cyclades island a visit. Several have used the words “wonderful” and “gem” to describe it, and “gem” is exactly what some online travel sites have called it as well. A few of the people I have spoken to are repeat visitors to Serifos, and have been to other islands that my partner and I have visited and enjoyed. They have assured me that we would not be disappointed with Serifos, and would find it just as delightful as our favourite isles.

Below are links to three travel websites specifically dedicated to Serifos. Confusingly, they all have the words “Serifos Island” in their titles, but they’ll take you to three completely different sites:

♦ Serifos Island Greece

♦ Serifos Island

♦ Serifos-island

Below are links to several major Greece travel websites that offer photos, travel guides and general visitor information for Serifos:

♦ The Serifos page on The Greek Travel

♦ The Serifos travel guide on the Cycladia travel portal

♦ The Serifos holiday guide on the Greeka specialty website for Greek island travel

♦ The Serifos information page from the Discover Greece website for Greece tourism

And last but not here, here is another aerial video of Serifos:

Explore Serifos from the air in this 6-minute film by Photo Kontos

April 3, 2016
Considering Corfu for your next holiday? These videos may convince you to go

Take a 3-minute aerial cruise above Corfu in this newly-released video, produced on behalf of the island’s port authority

Video vacation: I feel like I have just taken an extensive and exhausting (but in a good way) sightseeing trip to Corfu — even though I haven’t been there yet. And courtesy of several online videos I’ve been watching the past couple of days, it’s entirely possible that I may have just seen more of the island from here at home than I might have been able to see had I actually been on Corfu for the same period of time.

On March 14, a link to Corfu, the Garden of Gods (above) popped up in my social media news feeds, and I watched the film a few times. The three-minute aerial video was shared by Vangelis Koulouris, who said the short clip “was created for the Port Authority of Corfu with a view to highlight the unique environment and the multicultural history of Corfu island.”

The film features soaring views of Corfu’s lush landscapes, its picturesque coastlines and beaches, the island’s beautiful capital (also called Corfu), and cruise ships calling at its port. Corfu is, of course, one of the top Greek island destinations for cruise ships, so a video by its port authority just wouldn’t seem complete without at least a few passenger liners appearing in the picture.

As tends to happen whenever I find something interesting on social media, one thing led to another — and before long I had compiled a playlist of several more Corfu videos to view. But except for Garden of the Gods, and another 3-minute clip, the other films weren’t as short and sweet — with run times ranging from 10 and 24 minutes to nearly two hours, they were the equivalent of watching a few evenings of TV programs. But I considered it “time well wasted,” as the saying goes.

It’s time some of you might wish to spend, too, should you be considering Corfu for an upcoming or future vacation — or should you simply want to see what the island is all about. To that end, I have posted some of the videos below. Four of the six films (including the one above) were published just within the last several weeks, while two were released last year. What I appreciated most about the videos is that they either show or tell you the names of places you’re looking at — something all too many travel videos fail to do.

If you manage to make it through all the clips, you’ll probably feel like you’ve just gone to the island, too — or attended a Corfu film festival!

My Corfu in 3 minutes is a quick-view highlight version of the considerably longer My Corfu, which is posted directly below. Produced by Petros Kapsokavadis and the Oasis Hotel in Perama, it’s intended for viewers who don’t have enough time to watch the full-length clip.

This is the full 24-minute My Corfu video by Petros Kapsokavadis and the Oasis hotel. Most of the clip is aerial videography of places all around the island, but there is a segment showing part of the Corfu Mountain Trail footpath from Perama to Gastouri.

Corfu — the island of eternal returns is a 10-minute film released just this month by the Mouzenidis Group of companies. A guide takes viewers on a tour of many of Corfu’s marvellous attractions, sights and scenery while describing highlights of the island’s history.

Corfu Coast Line is an aerial tour around the Corfu coast. The 48-minute film is a project of Corfu Benitses, the Association for Culture and Redevelopment of Benitses, a fishing village 12 km from Corfu city.

The Corfu Vacation Travel Video Guide title says it all! Nearly 58 minutes long, the informative narrated film is a production of Exposa Travel.

My Movie Corfu Trail clocks in at 1 hour and 50 minutes but it is, after all, a video diary of a 10-day, 150-mile trek around the island that Tim Beal and a friend took last September. “It is a fantastic walk and should be a tonic for all who like fine views, fine food and great people. Take two weeks out and walk Corfu… you will love it!” Tim says. If you don’t have the energy to attempt the walk yourself, simply sit back and watch Tim and his friend do it instead!

March 17, 2016
Naxos: The quietly traditional heart of the Cyclades islands

Shops line a narrow lane in the historic Old Market district of Naxos Town. Photo by Mike Andrew.

Sitting at the heart of the Aegean, can the unassuming and traditionally minded Naxos hold its own against its cosmopolitan neighbours?

Guest post by James Andrew

The shutters bang and clatter against the window. The howling, whistling noises coming from outside are more than a little disconcerting. The meltemi, the strong warming wind that blows constantly through the Aegean at this time of year, is definitely strong today.

Looking out of our villa window at the large, agriculturally rich fields, curious, twisted rock formations and, in the distance, the somewhat foreboding Mount Zas silhouetted against the dusk skyline, this all feels slightly alien. Certainly it’s a world away from the cosmopolitan and touristy island of Santorini from which we caught the ferry earlier in the day. No, this is very different. This is the much less visited and certainly less known island of Naxos.

Positioned at the heart of the Cycladic (or White) Islands, Naxos sits somewhat oddly next to its much-lauded neighbours Santorini, Mykonos and Paros. Whilst the island has gradually been building a fan base amongst Greece afficionados in the know, it still remains defiantly off the main cruise routes. Its main port in Naxos Town sees the arrival of daily ferries but no towering cruise ship behemoths like the ones that anchor in Santorini’s caldera.

The highest peak in the Cyclades, Mount Zas dominates the island. Breaking from the image of barren, volcanic lunar landscapes one most associates with this area of Greece, Naxos is blessed by nature. Green and verdant throughout, it defies convention. So, how would this island that lacks Santorini’s chic, polished veneer and Mykonos’ cool, hipster vibe reveal itself? Can it compete with its upmarket neighbours? We cracked the rattling shutters open and stepped into the wind to find out.

A view of Mount Zas, Filoti village and Halki village (bottom). Photo by the Fish & Olive Creations art gallery and shop in Halki.

Please click on the link below to continue reading and view more photos.

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March 16, 2016
The captivating coast, beach and village scenery at Kokkari on Samos

Kokkari Village 2016 features breathtaking bird’s eye views of the scenic seafronts and harbour at Kokkari village on Samos

Picture-postcard perfect: We’ve got a lot of happy memories from our trip to Samos six years ago, and some of the best are from our visit to Kokkari one afternoon.

We had rented mountain bikes in Vathy for a day, and cycled to Kokkari to get a first-hand look at the village mainly because an online acquaintance had recommended it as a “must see” spot on the island. She warned me that it’s “super-popular” with tourists, but said we would love it nonetheless because “it’s just so gosh-darned pretty and picturesque — everything looks like a picture on a postcard.”

She wasn’t kidding when she cautioned us about the “touristy” side to Kokkari — we couldn’t believe the astounding number of bar, cafe and taverna signs we saw on the popular dining strip along the village harbour. (Take a quick peek at the photos in my posts Kokkari’s waterfront restaurant row, and What’s cooking in Kokkari? and you’ll see what I mean.) Although the signage suggested there might be cutthroat competition between the village’s dozens of eateries, we found Kokkari had a surprisingly laid-back atmosphere, and we didn’t encounter any of those annoying restaurant touts who try to coax and cajole people into patronizing some establishments on Naxos, Kos and Mykonos.

Gorgeous scenery and photo opps galore

My friend was absolutely right about the village’s picture-postcard appeal, too. There was gorgeous scenery all around, and photo opportunities galore — striking beach and coastal scenery, quaint lanes and alleys, the colourful village harbour, and the impressive backdrop of Mount Karvouris. We’ll certainly pay Kokkari another visit next time we’re on Samos.

The video I posted above, which was produced by the aerial photography firm Reel Drone, shows much of the village and coastal scenery that we found so captivating back in 2010 — even though it is, of course, filmed from a completely different perspective than tourists get to see while strolling around the area.

If you have been to Kokkari before, the video will probably bring back pleasant memories of your own. If you haven’t visited it yet (or haven’t even been to Samos), I’m sure you’ll enjoy the 2-minute aerial tour and find it inspiring for future holiday planning.

Kokkari website links

And just in case you might be thinking about a trip to Samos, the people at Reel Drone have offered the following helpful links to online information about Kokkari:

♦ https://www.facebook.com/Κοκκαρι-Δημοτικη-Κοινοτητα-1411154232520339/

♦ http://www.kokkari.gr/

March 5, 2016
A bevy of beaches & coves on the scenic west coast of Andros

Looking along the west coast of Andros from a vantage point near Liopessi beach outside the town of Gavrio. More than a dozen places to sunbathe, swim and participate in water sports can be found along the 7 km stretch of seafront between Gavrio and Agia Marina.

The coastline includes alluring small bays, inlets and quiet coves, like this one with warm golden sands near Kypri ….

… as well as several fully organized beaches, like Agios Petros, where sunbeds, bars, tavernas and water sports are available

Beach tour: Our final full day on Andros (Saturday May 30) was blessed with a mix of sun and clouds, warm temperatures and a slight breeze — perfect conditions for soaking up some sun and taking a dip at one of the island’s beautiful beaches.

But we were feeling too restless to simply laze away the day on a beach — our Andros visit was coming to an end, and we wanted to see more of the island before moving on to our next destination. So we spent the afternoon walking along the island’s west coast to have a look at all of the beaches situated between our hotel and the port town of Gavrio 7 kilometers to the north.

It took us about 3 hours to trek from Aneroussa Beach Hotel to the Gavrio harbourfront, following the two-lane highway that winds along the coast. It was a good way to enjoy the wonderful weather while seeing 10 main beaches — Agia Marina, Delavoyia, Stivari, Batsi, Kolona, Kyprianos, Kypri, Chrissi Ammos, Agios Petros, and Liopessi — plus the numerous coves and inlets that dot the scenic shoreline. It also gave us a chance to see more of Gavrio, which we had glimpsed only briefly when we arrived at the island five days earlier.

Our original plan was to walk all the way back from Gavrio, too, stopping for a drink at one of the beach bars along the way. But by the time we finished a late lunch in Gavrio, the sky was almost totally clear of clouds and the sun felt considerably hotter than it had during our hike to the port. Rather than risk sunburns, we took a taxi to Batsi, then walked from there to the Aneroussa hotel’s bar on Delavoyia beach, where we rested our tired feet and cooled off with some ice cold beer.

Though 10 beaches was a lot to visit in one day — far more than we typically see on our Greek island walkabouts — there were many others elsewhere on the island that we didn’t get to check out during our short time on Andros. They included Achla and Vitali, both of which often rank at the top of lists of the island’s “best” beaches, and Tis Grias to Pidima, which is pictured on scores of Andros postcards and travel guides. No worries — we’ll try to see them on future trips to Andros.

Please click on the link underneath the next two photos to continue reading on page 2, where you can see pictures of all the beaches we visited on our coastal walk. I have also included links to websites with Andros beach information for those of you who might be planning to visit the island soon.

Besides beaches and coves, there is a lot of interesting scenery to view all along the Andros coast — like this curious rock formation at Liopessi beach …

… along with steep hills dotted with houses and studio apartment buildings, as well as some impressive villas on sizable mountainside estates. The highway between Batsi and Gavrio also passes several tavernas, where the fragrant aromas of Greek cuisine will tempt your tastebuds as you walk by.

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March 3, 2016
Sizing up Stivari, the coastal settlement near Batsi village on Andros island

The Stivari settlement overlooks a scenic coast and bay on Andros

The road through Stivari is lined on one side with buildings of reasonably-priced rental studios for summer tourists …

… while the other side of the road offers wide open views of the sea, sunset, some small nearby islands and the Andros coastline

The beach resort village of Batsi is less than a 10-minute walk away

Studio suburb: There’s a lot to like about Andros, as we discovered during our first trip to the island in late May 2015 — and as I have already described in a series of Andros posts I have published in recent months.

Something else we really liked was the Stivari area, which we passed through several times a day while walking between our hotel and the beach resort village of Batsi.

Stivari is a small hillside settlement that’s basically a coastal “suburb” of Batsi, which is a mere 5- to 10-minute walk up the road. There are more than a dozen different accommodation options right at Stivari or within close walking distance, and most of the rooms have nice garden or sea views from their balconies or terraces. The area has a popular taverna and a small shingle beach (actually just a few steps apart from each other), and is within a scenic 15-minute coastal walk of two better beaches, one of which boasts a superb seaview restaurant.

Stivari is a convenient base for Andros vacationers, especially those who don’t want to rely on a rental vehicle to get around — it’s so close to all the amenities that Batsi village has to offer, yet still just far enough away to offer a little more peace and quiet than you’ll find in and around the village’s popular tourist center and beach.

What we particularly liked about Stivari is the area’s impressive scenery: the surrounding steep hills are dotted with houses, villas and the accommodation properties; crystal-clear turquoise seawater sparkles beneath the rocky cliffs that line the coast; and there are beautiful island, sea, and sunset views from the hillsides and from the pebbly sand on Stivari beach. Whether we passed by in morning, afternoon or at night, there was always a pleasant and calming atmosphere — though our favourite time was evening, when Stivari was bathed in the golden glow of the setting sun.

Please click on the link below to continue reading on page 2, where I have posted some of our photos of Stivari, and on page 3, where I have provided a listing of accommodations in the area, complete with photos and hotel contact information.

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February 27, 2016