Αctivities

Could it be the hour has come to polish up the paddle board or yank on the hiking boots? Do you have it in you to ride the waves, dive deep beneath them or scale a mountain? If you’re yearning to reboot your more vigorous, intrepid side this summer, the Aegean islands offer a bumper boost of adrenaline to put you on the right track. Maybe it’s surfing with the meltemi winds at your back, biking up outrageously steep slopes, free-running across the rooftops, horse riding through hidden villages, paragliding, kayaking, mountaineering…

You name it, and the option is there. Let nature pose the questions and put your body and mind to the test. So, for all you stamina busters and would-be record breakers who relish the beauty and raw power of the wild, here’s the chance to discover your limits. And when you’ve stretched every muscle, tapped every reflex, chided every nerve, your reward is that epic view, that euphoric union with the elements, not to mention immense satisfaction and a tale to tell the folks back home.

Take the plunge.

Recommended Islands

Milos

A woman of dazzling beauty, like the statue of Aphrodite which made the island famous all over the world: this is how Milos looks like if you circumnavigate it. White, green, pink, red, yellow colours inedibly paint the slopes and the volcanic rocks with the amazing forms and shapes. Turquoise and green-azure waters, caves, rocky islets, lacy bays, “syrtmata”, little ports that are left in the past, extraterrestrial… Sarakiniko, colourful Klima with the people playing backgammon next to the sea while the sunsets, both being the protagonists in a unique spectacle that unravels around them. The gaze and the cameras cannot manage to record such beauty, within so few kilometres of coastline; more time is needed and the will to…

Naxos

Naxos: a small, independent world, right in the middle of Cyclades, at the heart of historical development, fertile, rich in history, abundant in ancient, Byzantine and Venetian monuments, full of customs, music and festivals organized all year long. A hospitable place welcomes you with plenty of frangrances and flavors of cheece, wine and vegetable varieties able to captivate the most discerning diners. “Naxos surpassed all the other islands in prosperity”. Herodotus, Pindar, Archilochus of Paros, as well as the great writer Nikos Kazantzakis have written about the beauties of Naxos. And god Dionysus gracefully raised a glass of wine to its health… The castle of Naxos Chora is unique in the Aegean and inhabited for centuries. The island’s aristocracy was…

Paros

Call it cosmopolitan and you will be right. Call it famous in the Aegean, “birthplace” of water sports, gathering place for the young, favourite place of poet Seferis, and you will be right once again. Paros ignites people’s imagination since the pre-Historic times. Due to its abundant marble of high quality, it inspires artists. Due to the important religious monuments, with the most significant one being the pilgrimage of Panagia Ekatontapyliani, it attracts Christians like a magnet. As it used to attract the wanderers for six whole centuries, as well as the Venetians, the pirates and the Turks, today it attracts visitors from Greece and the whole world who enjoy its beaches, water sports with windsurf and kitesurf leading the…

Andros

Seafaring lifestyle, natural and material wealth, abundant water resources, Andros Chora with unique architecture and history, museums that attract summer visitors, exquisite sandy beaches, magnificent villages hidden amid the lush vegetation, monasteries with long history, castles, dovecotes, windmills and watermills. The second biggest Cycladic island after Naxos extends over a surface of 374km2 and it is only two hours away from the port of Rafina. This destination is not far from Athens, yet it is full of fascinating secrets waiting to be revealed by eager explorers. Some secrets lie at the threshing floors, the secluded beaches, the lighthouse of Fassa and the large network of dirt roads of the western part of the island. Other secrets lie along the paths…

Nisyros

Provided with full information about the volcano of Nisyros, the youngest of the volcanic centers of Greece, you wander dazzled by the special aura of this small island. Panagia Spiliani and the Venetian walls, Mandraki, Emporios and Nikia, the thermal springs and the impressive buildings of the baths, the black chochlaki and the «vastadia» become the protagonists of the routes in the island. Nisyros has originality and unusual beauty. The special landscapes and the hospitable people quickly enter your soul and they claim a place there for a very long time.

Rhodes

Rhodes, the Island of the Knights, as it is called, has much to offer to its visitors and it is hardly surprising that its economy relies to a great extent on tourism, since it is a timeless destination. The Rodini park, the ancient Kamiros and the ancient Ialyssos, the Valley of the Butterflies and the Acropolis of Lindos with the temple of Athena Lindia are only some of the places worth to be seen by every visitor. The Colossus of Rhodes may not dominate the island’s harbor nowadays, but certainly the glamour of antiquity has also surrounded today’s Rhodes, which –at the crossroads of two major sea routes of the Mediterranean, between the Aegean Sea and the coasts of the…

Karpathos

If you set out for Karpathos it means you have already made up your mind. You don’t accidentally hop on a boat and get off when you reach Pigadia, neither do you get on a plane and fool around until you land on the Afiartis runway. You have made your decision from the start and the island approves. So, if you start learning the ways of the island and following its rythms, it won’t be long before you discover a lost paradise that is yours and no one else’s. Such landscapes and natural beauty are hard to come by on other islands of the Aegean. You will find the relaxed summer you have been looking for to the south and…

Kastellorizo

The island of only 9 sq. km is a sea junction between Europe and Asia, on the edge of the Aegean. One and only, wonderful settlement, which impresses with its colorful houses of excellent architecture and its churches, is built upon the arid rock. Similar admiration is caused by the Blue Cave, one of the biggest and most beautiful underwater caves of Greece. Kastellorizo, by nature, is a destination for the few. And the select(ive).

Kos

The fact that Kos is among the first ranks of the most popular Greek vacation destinations is not a matter of chance. Its antiquities, its monuments from the early Christian times and its medieval castles alone are enough to place the island among the top spots of that list. But the Asclepeion, the Nerantzia Castle and the Antimachia Castle are not the only reasons why the island is swarming with foreign (mainly north European) and Greek tourists every summer. Beaches with cosmopolitan flair like Tigaki, Paradise and Mastihari, green valleys with hot springs and its traditional inland settlements are also among the main tourist attractions of the island. But, once again, that’s not all there is to Kos. The high…

Astypalea

What is a …Cyclades island doing in the Dodecanese? Or, better yet, what is a …Dodecanese island doing in the Cyclades? Well, one way or another, this is the physiognomy of Astypalaia. An island on the “borderline”. A cultural bridge between the two large island groups. An island located between Amorgos and Kos that never succumbed to mass tourism and still is an ideal place for a quiet holiday. Astypalaia has many advantages. First of all, the island’s centerpieces are its capital and its castle. There are organized and pristine beaches, renowned for their crystal clear deep waters. There are also caves, a waterfall and other natural beauties that are worth visiting and exploring. Finally, the island offers elegant accommodation…

Kalymnos

If one wants to talk about Kalymnos and be honest, should first get to know its sea and love it, because, as long as there is sea, we can talk about Kalymnos and its people. We can talk about a special kind of people who are passionately attached to a dry rock in the Aegean; because this is where their last and most desirable port exists. According to Herodotus, the first residents of Kalynda (this was the name of Kalymnos in the 4th century) were Dorians coming from Epidaurus. As soon as they set foot on this dry, rocky island they couldn’t find any recourse apart from the sea. The conservative and immovable spirit of Dorians stopped being attached to…

Rock climbing in Kalymnos island, Greece

Kite surfing at Koufonisi island, Small Cyclades