Milos best town as base
 

My husband will have 4 nights on Milos in mid-September. We prefer to stay on a nice beach with great swimming, within walking distance to a few good restaurants. We don't need night life. In the evenings we want to relax, have a few cocktails while watching the sun set and walk to dinner. We are OK with renting a car to travel around the island during the day. And will probably want to do a boat tour one day.

Pollonia looks like a perfect place for us, but our Greek friend suggested Adamas. There are so many places to choose from. We would like to stay in a mid-range hotel or apartment, family run, traditional Greek style accommodations. Any suggestions on what town to stay and place to stay will be much appreciated on Thanks!

The beach at adamas is not at all good, small, more dusty than sandy... Pollonia's is much better. I was in Milos both times in late may-early June, at that Time Pollonia had 2-3 tavernas active including a good fish place. About September, it's hard to know - Milos closes down more quickly than other Cyclades islands like Paros and Naxos, which have larger permanent population.

Pollonia imho has the kind of accommodations you're looking for, quite a choice -- Here is the village website - http://www.pollonia.com -- and if youclick on "rooms" it shows 4 - 5 places, all of which are nice, we stayed at Captain Stavros, but there are others that are right ON the beach... all quite similar, family-run 8-10 rooms. I like this website "Pollonia Photo Gallery" - the top has a good aerial view of the village & beach.

Adamas has the most choices of restaurants, but Like you, I like to relax with a couple glasses of wine at dinner and don't then like to drive in the dark on unfamiliar roads. So it's a dilemma.

DO go on a boat tour if they're still running -- the boats line up at the harbor before dinner & you chat with the owners & choose. We were very happy with the one large catamaran -- big enough/stable enough that it could be under sail much of the time ... on a windy day some of the small sailboats end up having to just drop sail & run on motors, no fun.

Here's a great photo album by a Fodor contributor, "Stanbr" --his pix are so much better than mine that (lazy me) I just suggest his links -- https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr...57634779985764 on that trip (late may) they stayed up in Kastro, but by mid-sept. it would really be VERY quiet, not much open.

We were on Milos in early October and were based in Adamas which we felt was the best choice for that time of year. Most everything was open, nice waterfront, lots of shops, markets and tavernas.

As jan stated the beach is not the best but is adequate. It was deserted when we were there. However, there are a lot o boats moored off shore, but considering everything worked for us.

We thought about Pollonia which is a very lovely seaside village with nice beach and a few tavernas and markets.

However, it was completely shut down for October, deserted beach, a couple tavernas and one small market.

I'm not sure about mid-September. I would ask accommodation owners what's open.

Adamas is really a nice town but a car rental would be recommended as bus service is very limited off season.

If it was me I would pick Adamas and do day trips to various beaches on the island which are some of the nicest in the Cyclades with fantastic rock formations.

Then you can return to a lively town with lots of options for dining and shopping but still have a nice Greek Experience.

Good advice from crazyh ... just look around for accommodations that are either far to the right or left of the ferry pier ... that's where better views are.

We have been to Milos twice in early June and stayed in Adamas first time primarily because it is the transportation hub and we couldn't rent a car. Jan knows the details of that tale.

Second time we had a car and we staed in Plaka. It is a much more traditional Greek Village and has mountaintop sunset views that are just as good as Santoirni. I can say that Milos transportation system is set up for locals with early morning departures and fast turn around times so a car is essential. So with a car it doesn't matter where you choose to stay you can easily get around.
Milos has a very short season that starts June 20 and ends at the end of August. Thats not to say there won't be tourists around just it will be quiet. Based on your stated needs then Pollonia is where you will want to stay. Adamas is probably a better choice for evening activity and you need to be there in the evening to book your round the island boat trip.

If I had to do it over again though with a car I would take Plaka every time.
Sorry I don't know which album Janet posted so I will post both. The first was our Adamas base and the second Plaka.

Milos 2011 http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr5...7632109429236/
Milos 2013 http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr5...7634779985764/