Hi all,

I'm looking to take the family on a short trip to Greece since they've never been. we'll probably spend a couple of days in Athens and a few more days on one of the islands.
I'm trying to pick an island they will enjoy and one that has a "Greek atmosphere". we're not really interested in the beach (maybe some strolling around but not swimming or sunbathing etc.) or partying.
my parents also can't do serious hikes so I need some *easy* walks.
we also don't want to fly so it has to be a reasonable ferry ride, lets say 4hrs max (I would prefer to depart from Pireaus and not Rafina).

I've been to Aegina and Sifnos in the past and going to visit Tinos & Syros this upcoming May (by myself) so would prefer to exclude those from our trip.
Paros seems like it can be an option but I'm wondering how busy and how touristy it is (I'm thinking of going in June/Sept of next year). Sifnos was lovely, very chilled back vibes but I know Paros is a lot more popular.
anyone here visited the island and can comment on the atmosphere?

if you have any other recommendations I would love to hear it.

June and September are both good months for Paros and Greece in general. Paros is 4 hrs from Piraeus on Blue Star ferries, probably Blue Star Delos at 07:25 or Blue Star Patmos at 17:30. There are highspeed catamarans that get you there about an hour quicker, but those two Blue Stars are a real treat, with a choice of cafes and shops, and an open deck where you can sit to take in the scenery. Have a look at the Blue Star Delos video:
https://www.bluestarferries.com/en-g...lue-star-delos

Paros has a huge choice of where to stay, from quiet villages to larger settlements. Since you aren’t interested in swimming or sunbathing, suggest you stay in Parikia, the port town and island capital. Parikia is the hub for bus services on the island, and has many interesting things to see itself. One of the things I always do on Paros is to visit the Ekatontapiliani (Church of 100 Doors). It’s absolutely beautiful inside, and one of the oldest churches in Greece, dating back to the 4th century. Behind the church is the Paros Museum, which has artefacts discovered on the uninhabited island of Despotiko and other islets around Paros.

From Parikia you can hop on a bus or rent a car to visit other parts of the island, including the hill village of Lefkes, once the island capital, and still unspoiled by tourism. A relatively gentle walk from there is the Byzantine trail, about 2 miles and mostly downhill, to another unspoilt village, Prodromos. If you go by bus to Lefkes you can catch another bus back to Parikia at Prodromos, so you don’t have to double back.
https://www.easyhiker.co.uk/byzantine-trail-of-paros/

I’ve been to Paros and Antiparos many times in both June and September. If you were interested in swimming I would suggest September when sea water is warmer, having been heated by the sun all summer. In your case I would suggest June, when days are longer and everything has a fresher feel.

Take a day and an evening to visit nearby Antiparos, an island only 20 minutes from Parikia on a small passenger ferry that leaves from the corner of the ferry dock. It’s also possible, if you have a car, to drive to Pounta for the main ferry to Antiparos at Pounta, a little port about 15 minutes drive from Parikia. It’s a landing craft ferry that leaves every 30 minutes and takes only 7 minutes to cross the narrow strait to Antiparos. You won’t need a car for Antiparos Town, but would be useful to get to the south of the island, the most beautiful part of Antiparos, and up to Kampos, the agricultural part of the island. Many people visit the historic stalactite cave, but your parents wouldn’t enjoy walking back up the stairs to the cave entrance.

oh, I was kind of hoping you'll comment on my post. I did a little search for Paros in this forum and your comments kept coming up. you seem to be a big fan of Paros, but Antiparos especially from what I've seen. if we end up going to Paros, Antiparos will definitely be on our list (if it was just me, I would probably split my stay between 2-3 locations since I'm a light traveler and don't mind to move around, but since there will be 3-4 of us, I'll pass on that idea).

we're not going to rent a car, just use the buses (I've read somewhere here else that there's a bus from Parikia to Pounta, am I right?).

Hi littlerunaway,

You flatter me! Actually I have never rented a car on Paros or Antiparos either. KTEL Paros has an excellent bus system with Parikia the hub. The bus station is next to the ferry docks, and also next to the kastro (old town) area with its maze of narrow passageways filled with shops and cafes.

The #4 bus runs to Pounta (Antiparos) every hour or so during the day, and until around 11 pm. There is another Pounta/Punda on the other side of the island near Golden Beach, and that’s why they include the name Antiparos on the #4 bus route. The bus pulls up at the landing craft ferry slip, so you never have to wait more than about 15 minutes for the next ferry. Antiparos now has four landing craft ferries, with two operating at the same time. When one is leaving Pounta you can see another making its way from Antiparos.

I always stay on Antiparos myself, but if you aren’t much interested in beaches Paros has more to do. In my first post I wrote “take a day and an evening to visit nearby Antiparos”, because the town is very sleepy during the day, when visitors are off to the beaches and many shopkeepers are taking their siestas between 2 and 6 pm. That period of rest in the afternoon enables them to keep their shops open until 9 or 10 in the evening when the town gets busy. Evenings are wonderful on Antiparos, when people promenade up and down the main street from the harbour to Kastro Square, or walk past the square to Sifneiko Beach to watch the sun dip into the sea.

I just watched the short video on the Blue Star Delos website. that is actually insane. it looks like a cruise ship, not a passenger ferry. suddenly those 4 hrs don't seem like a lot

The big misunderstanding, at least among Americans, is their vision of ferries. They think of littlle dinky boat tootling around a harbor, or open-deck people-movers for 3-4 miles, lilke hte Staten-Island ferries. The Greek "conventional" open-deck ferries like the Blue Star Line you reference are actually ocean-going ships. They accommodate from 1200 - 1800 passengers on 3 upper decks, including overnight cabins. Their vehicle deck accommodates 250 vehicles including huge 18-wheel trailer-trucks (and if these are from Naxos they're full of MARBLE). Onboard there are many cafes and coffee bars and outside deck seating. Sometimes they go 10+ hours nonstop (from Piraeus to Crete or Rhodes. Visits to Greece are all about discoveries like this!

Indeed some of the Greek ferries are ocean going vessels, while some are much smaller. When Blue Star announced Blue Star Delos, it was still being built in a Korean shipyard. After its launch in 2011 I followed it on marinetraffic.com, a real time ship tracker, through the Pacific and Indian oceans, and then as it passed through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea. A year later Blue Star Patmos made the same voyage from the Korean shipyard to Greece. There are lots of older conventional ferries that don’t have the same amenities as the Blue Stars.

Some people assume that highspeed ferries are the most modern, but that’s not necessarily true. Sea Jets Consortium has a fleet of highspeed ferries, the newest, Worldchampion Jet, built in 2000, and until 4 or 5 years ago served in the Baltic between Denmark and Sweden. Sea Jets also have smaller passenger only catamarans that struggle in rough seas, one of them nicknamed the Vomit Comet. With the high cost of fuel these days, highspeeds, which have turbine engines similar to jets, are very expensive to run.

Paros is absolutely amazing! My husband and I were just there in August of last year. Surprisingly there were not many tourists and we did not need reservations for most of the restaurants. It also has a great nightlife! You do not need to rent a car, the bus system KTEL there is great. I recommend you stay in the town of Naousa as it is a LOT prettier than Parikia and we found it more charming and quaint. There is a lot to do there and you can also take the little boats that ferry you around to other beaches for a few euro. We did a day trip to antiparos from there as well! There’s not much to do on antiparos besides the beach and a cute little street for shopping there’s also very nice traditional tavernas on antiparos
be wary of the ferries though with the winds! One day we were there it was too windy and all of them were shut down for the day..