Greek Island Less Travelled? Skiathos
Sep 25th, 2015, 03:48 AM
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Greek Island Less Travelled? Skiathos
Skiathos is a Greek Island which, despite my title, is that popular that they call it Boomerang Island. Its popularity is partly explained because of its many beaches (there are more here than any other Greek Island) and most of these have tavernas. It also has an excellent transport system although, as explained later, this was more busy than previous years. It also has excellent restaurants, many are international but its got a lot of restaurants serving Greek and fish dishes.
We stayed again at the wonderful Filokalia Apartments in Achladies. It’s worth staying in Achladies for both the romantic boats (water taxis) to Skiathos and the lovely bakery (in its vicinity) where you can sit and sip coffee and munch on baklava and French tarts.
The beaches are excellent and a great way to experience these are via boat trips from the harbour. For around 25 euros you can go on a Round the Island Trip. It visits many of the best beaches and includes a trip to Greece mainland where you can choose to eat at a family tavern serving great fish.
Another great trip, although more expensive, is with the sailing boat Lena 2. This boat sailed by two Brits visits various beaches en route to Skopeolos. They only take small groups. We were very lucky as the boat attracted a family of dolphin that stayed with us for over 15 minutes. The price includes all drinks and use of snorkelling equipment. The couple gave a great insight into the politics of the island.
It was a tremendous holiday focused on relaxation and eating (my research resulted in a restaurant list) but I must say we were let down by two restaurants.
Amfiliki (on my list): Okay if you are rich, famous, local, Greek or regulars. In which case you don’t wait over an hour for the main course and you get placed somewhere overlooking the sea. These were well looked after and served, whilst we mere mortals waited for our fish dishes to arrive. The excuse was “We pride ourselves on our cooking and make sure it is cooked to perfection”. I’m no Jamie Oliver but even I know that fish hardly needs to touch the sides before it’s cooked. To cap it all, they expected us to part with a shed full of euros for the privilege of sitting with the rich, famous, and local Greeks.
Marmita: (wasn’t on my list). This restaurant in the middle of Skiathos Town is both beautiful from the outside and beautiful from the inside. And, to be fair, they did try and make amends for forgetting a starter (came 30 minutes after the other) and serving stone cold mains and after another long wait. When it did arrive it didn’t taste good . Because of all this, they refused to accept payment. Let me add, though, people coming out of this restaurant could not praise it enough, and people who went the night after us couldn’t praise it enough. Our experience could well have been the exception.
Let me balance this with two great restaurants.
We stumbled across Exandas ( Not on my list but should have been) This taverna is worth visiting just for the atmosphere – it oozes it. It’s a ramshackle of a taverna; when you pass it at dusk it begs you to visit, despite our plan to definitely visit a specific restaurant in town. It was a fluke that we came across it as I had seen a few starving kittens on my way to a bar in the area ( Swell Bar) and determined on my last night to feed them some biscuits. Thursday might is barbecue night at Exanadas, and you are served big chunks of pork and chicken. Wine and food less than 35 euro.
Porta Rosa in Achladies, was right on our doorstep but is worth the boat trip from Skiathos Town to eat there. Ensure you are hungry as they provide large portions and it was all too much for me. But the food is really delicious. People who had eaten there before us also praised the place.
The restaurants with the best views were the Olive Land and Platanias. Olive Land overlooks Achladies and the staff will provide a lift back and forth from the restaurant.
Platanias is a bit of a walk, on the way down to Skiathos Town from the monastery. Fantastic views. Take the bus up, look round the lovely monastery and then find your way to the restaurant for lovely pizza and Greek salad.
The Final Step Restaurant is well known in Skiathos Town and also has some great views also, but we were rather disappointed with the food. The duck was a little too rare. Starters were nice and I would recommend the mixed fishcakes. The crowning feature is the desserts to share – its difficult to put the sensation into words especially as my mouth us still watering at the thought of them.
The other great view was from a taverna on Kanapitsa as it looks out over a fabulous beach there. There is also a lovely taverna at the beach of Kolios where I ate my beloved sardines.. really delicious (unlike the awful ones served at Bakaliko Restaurant) .
The nicest staff were to be found at Swell Bar who kept us informed why our food was so late in arriving. We also enjoyed the banter of the waiter at the Sunset Beach Bar at Eleni Beach - a real character.
We also ate at Milos Taverna (great sardines) and at Maria Coccina, a very atmospheric Italian Restaurant. Both are in Skiathos Town.
The best beach gave us our ‘funniest’ experience. Tsougria is most like the Caribbean – lovely sand and warm waters (31 degrees) It is a 30 minute boat ride for 12 euro (return) and well worth it. The taverna there gave us great laughs. The hopeless waiters didn’t know what day it was. They didn’t know who had ordered, what they had ordered, who had paid and what they were paying for. It was a riot. Waiters came with bread, were sent away with bread, came back with bread ad infinitum. I got the wrong meal served twice but couldn’t complain for laughing.
Just to finish on a negative note: the buses were ‘hammered’ – much more than I had known before and the taxi drivers were cashing in and overcharging everyone. The taxi drivers are doing no one any favours. I certainly thought twice about going anywhere out of the way as the predatory taxi drivers would know you are sitting ducks. What a shame for those lovely tavernas off the beaten track who may suffer from the lack of trade, because of the taxi fayres.
Regardless, I will be back again but it won’t be next year as we have other plans: New York and Hawaii.
We stayed again at the wonderful Filokalia Apartments in Achladies. It’s worth staying in Achladies for both the romantic boats (water taxis) to Skiathos and the lovely bakery (in its vicinity) where you can sit and sip coffee and munch on baklava and French tarts.
The beaches are excellent and a great way to experience these are via boat trips from the harbour. For around 25 euros you can go on a Round the Island Trip. It visits many of the best beaches and includes a trip to Greece mainland where you can choose to eat at a family tavern serving great fish.
Another great trip, although more expensive, is with the sailing boat Lena 2. This boat sailed by two Brits visits various beaches en route to Skopeolos. They only take small groups. We were very lucky as the boat attracted a family of dolphin that stayed with us for over 15 minutes. The price includes all drinks and use of snorkelling equipment. The couple gave a great insight into the politics of the island.
It was a tremendous holiday focused on relaxation and eating (my research resulted in a restaurant list) but I must say we were let down by two restaurants.
Amfiliki (on my list): Okay if you are rich, famous, local, Greek or regulars. In which case you don’t wait over an hour for the main course and you get placed somewhere overlooking the sea. These were well looked after and served, whilst we mere mortals waited for our fish dishes to arrive. The excuse was “We pride ourselves on our cooking and make sure it is cooked to perfection”. I’m no Jamie Oliver but even I know that fish hardly needs to touch the sides before it’s cooked. To cap it all, they expected us to part with a shed full of euros for the privilege of sitting with the rich, famous, and local Greeks.
Marmita: (wasn’t on my list). This restaurant in the middle of Skiathos Town is both beautiful from the outside and beautiful from the inside. And, to be fair, they did try and make amends for forgetting a starter (came 30 minutes after the other) and serving stone cold mains and after another long wait. When it did arrive it didn’t taste good . Because of all this, they refused to accept payment. Let me add, though, people coming out of this restaurant could not praise it enough, and people who went the night after us couldn’t praise it enough. Our experience could well have been the exception.
Let me balance this with two great restaurants.
We stumbled across Exandas ( Not on my list but should have been) This taverna is worth visiting just for the atmosphere – it oozes it. It’s a ramshackle of a taverna; when you pass it at dusk it begs you to visit, despite our plan to definitely visit a specific restaurant in town. It was a fluke that we came across it as I had seen a few starving kittens on my way to a bar in the area ( Swell Bar) and determined on my last night to feed them some biscuits. Thursday might is barbecue night at Exanadas, and you are served big chunks of pork and chicken. Wine and food less than 35 euro.
Porta Rosa in Achladies, was right on our doorstep but is worth the boat trip from Skiathos Town to eat there. Ensure you are hungry as they provide large portions and it was all too much for me. But the food is really delicious. People who had eaten there before us also praised the place.
The restaurants with the best views were the Olive Land and Platanias. Olive Land overlooks Achladies and the staff will provide a lift back and forth from the restaurant.
Platanias is a bit of a walk, on the way down to Skiathos Town from the monastery. Fantastic views. Take the bus up, look round the lovely monastery and then find your way to the restaurant for lovely pizza and Greek salad.
The Final Step Restaurant is well known in Skiathos Town and also has some great views also, but we were rather disappointed with the food. The duck was a little too rare. Starters were nice and I would recommend the mixed fishcakes. The crowning feature is the desserts to share – its difficult to put the sensation into words especially as my mouth us still watering at the thought of them.
The other great view was from a taverna on Kanapitsa as it looks out over a fabulous beach there. There is also a lovely taverna at the beach of Kolios where I ate my beloved sardines.. really delicious (unlike the awful ones served at Bakaliko Restaurant) .
The nicest staff were to be found at Swell Bar who kept us informed why our food was so late in arriving. We also enjoyed the banter of the waiter at the Sunset Beach Bar at Eleni Beach - a real character.
We also ate at Milos Taverna (great sardines) and at Maria Coccina, a very atmospheric Italian Restaurant. Both are in Skiathos Town.
The best beach gave us our ‘funniest’ experience. Tsougria is most like the Caribbean – lovely sand and warm waters (31 degrees) It is a 30 minute boat ride for 12 euro (return) and well worth it. The taverna there gave us great laughs. The hopeless waiters didn’t know what day it was. They didn’t know who had ordered, what they had ordered, who had paid and what they were paying for. It was a riot. Waiters came with bread, were sent away with bread, came back with bread ad infinitum. I got the wrong meal served twice but couldn’t complain for laughing.
Just to finish on a negative note: the buses were ‘hammered’ – much more than I had known before and the taxi drivers were cashing in and overcharging everyone. The taxi drivers are doing no one any favours. I certainly thought twice about going anywhere out of the way as the predatory taxi drivers would know you are sitting ducks. What a shame for those lovely tavernas off the beaten track who may suffer from the lack of trade, because of the taxi fayres.
Regardless, I will be back again but it won’t be next year as we have other plans: New York and Hawaii.
Sep 25th, 2015, 04:59 AM
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I nearly choked when I saw the title of this post, because Skiathos is a major package holiday island with an international airport. It is a lovely island though, and you probably wouldn't encounter huge crowds unless you were there in July or August. The bus route between Skiathos Town and Koukounaries was overcrowded in high season even 20 years ago.
Sep 25th, 2015, 10:44 AM
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What I will do to get a response. I should have titled it Santorini and then said whoops I meant Skiathos in the message, then it would get read. The "less travelled" is aimed at Fodorites who seem to think that Greek Island means Santorini or Crete. There is probably not much difference between Crete and Skiathos as far as numbers, but I agree it is crowded in July and August. Isn't it the same for Santorini? I've never been there in the height of summer.
Sep 25th, 2015, 09:01 PM
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I have some extended family at Skiathos and I know many poeple who go to work there for summer season. And my brother has set the sound systems of many bars and beach bars there during the years-sorry! (many nightclubs are owned by people from Arachova and other mainland towns by the way as it is the case with Mykonos too),but for some reason I have never made it to the island... It is funny how our brain operates sometimes, but I remember some occasions where I had interviews to get a job in Skiathos and wages offered were rediculously low comparing with most parts of Greece even pro-crisis and this made me a really bad impression for the islands tourism industry at the time, so made me not wanting to visit the island for years. But I know it IS a beautiful island, Someday....
PS:VAT on taxi fares increased from 13% to 23% on 20th July this year, could this have something to do with the expensive taxi rides?
PS:VAT on taxi fares increased from 13% to 23% on 20th July this year, could this have something to do with the expensive taxi rides?
Sep 26th, 2015, 05:17 AM
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Skiathos has many things going for it, including beautiful beaches and Skiathos Town itself. It's easy to reach Skopelos and Alonissos from there, and even to make arranged day trips to the mainland via Agios Konstantinos.
Skiathos was one of the first Greek islands I ever visited (yes, in July), and got me started on a long love affair with Greece. Ironically it's almost easier to reach the island by direct flight from the UK than from Athens. The few domestic flights to Skiathos aren't always at convenient times, and the alternative is a bus ride to Agios Konstantinos and a ferry from there.
There are many charter flights arriving on Skiathos every day during summer. The island has its share of VIP visitors too (when I was there the Sultan of Brunei's huge yacht caused a tidal wave on Banana Beach when it passed near the shore). You should have seen the sunbathers scatter!
Skiathos was one of the first Greek islands I ever visited (yes, in July), and got me started on a long love affair with Greece. Ironically it's almost easier to reach the island by direct flight from the UK than from Athens. The few domestic flights to Skiathos aren't always at convenient times, and the alternative is a bus ride to Agios Konstantinos and a ferry from there.
There are many charter flights arriving on Skiathos every day during summer. The island has its share of VIP visitors too (when I was there the Sultan of Brunei's huge yacht caused a tidal wave on Banana Beach when it passed near the shore). You should have seen the sunbathers scatter!
Sep 26th, 2015, 10:13 AM
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Writing about Skiathos takes me back to 1992. I went to see a one man play about a former star who no longer pulled the crowds. There was only me and one other person in the audience, it was very powerful. Sorry to be obscure, but effortful writing on Skiathos is like whispering into the wind.
Sep 26th, 2015, 11:39 AM
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My indicator-word to detect which Greek islands are no longer remotely "Less Travelled" is when travel-forum inquiries about where to go contain the word "resort" -- i.e., "Which resort best on XXX (name of island)" ... To me it indicates that island has been taken up by the package-tourism industry in a big way. Before that, its a visit to an Island, that word to me means the askers are primarily interested in a "resort" experience.
Feb 18th, 2016, 05:14 AM
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Nice to have this post returned. Skopelos is indeed very beautiful, whether it is more beautiful is one of opinion, but beautiful it is. It hasn't as many beaches as Skiathos or villages. With the two being next to each other people often spend a week on both. Are you going to Skopelos this year?
