Want to see an unusual beach with strange rocks? Want to wander around a real maze or stand high up and admire the view? Then this is the guide for you!
Paros
Introduction
An island slap in the middle of the Cyclades. It wasn’t too crowded or too quiet when we went. And it wasn’t ... Read review
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
Advantages: Fantastic Scenery & Some Unique Sights to See Disadvantages: Having to return to the UK afterwards!
Want to see an unusual beach with strange rocks? Want to wander around a real maze or stand high up and admire the view? Then this is the guide for you!
Paros
Introduction
An island slap in the middle of the Cyclades. It wasn’t too crowded or too quiet when we went. And it wasn’t falling over itself to lure in foreign tourists which I also liked! I’ve mentioned two of my favourite highlights ... ...
Kolymbithres Beach
I was taking photographs like crazy here because I was so fascinated by the shape and texture of the rocks. Each rock has hundreds of mysterious holes carved into it, as if it is an egg cup holder for several eggs! Other rocks are smooth and tower upwards like dollops of ice-cream. Definitely one of the more unearthly beaches I’ve visited. Nice one if you like fiddling with your camera and using your imagination. ... more
Want to see an unusual beach with strange rocks? Want to wander around a real maze or stand high up and admire the view? Then this is the guide for you!
Paros Introduction An island slap in the middle of the Cyclades. It wasn’t too crowded or too quiet when we went. And it wasn’t falling over itself to lure in foreign tourists which I also liked! I’ve mentioned two of my favourite highlights below:
Paros – Attractions
Kolymbithres Beach I was taking photographs like crazy here because I was so fascinated by the shape and texture of the rocks. Each rock has hundreds of mysterious holes carved into it, as if it is an egg cup holder for several eggs! Other rocks are smooth and tower upwards like dollops of ice-cream. Definitely one of the more unearthly beaches I’ve visited. Nice one if you like fiddling with your camera and using your imagination. The sea around the beach is multicoloured and stripey, the colours ranging from greyish-white to acquamarine and deep blue. The water was lovely and warm and clear with plenty of shallow areas near the shore to explore the rocks and see starfish and small crabs.
Maze of Small Shops at Parikia If I hadn’t been with a Greek friend, I would have missed this altogether! Even she had a bit of a hard time trying to find the entrance to this thing, but we finally found it near the church at Parikia. Once inside, we found half lit, narrow, winding passages filled with tiny shops selling beaded clothing, flip flops, jewellery, trinkets, decorative ornaments, gifts, postcards …. Each turn into another corridor was full of new surprises. At one point, we wandered dreamily into yet another passageway and suddenly encountered a rocky wall towering, each nestling a pigeon or dove. Every so often we’d suddenly find we were climbing or descending a few steps, or there’d be an arch above our heads.
It proved just as difficult to find our way out of this maze as it had been to get inside it. The harder we tried to find the exit, the deeper we seemed to be swallowed inside! After much wandering, the exit appeared without warning. As we walked along the coast back to our accommodation and looked back at where we had just been, it seemed as if the place didn’t really exist at all.
This maze is worth exploring even if you’re not interested in buying anything. (Items for sale are interesting – carved wooden spectacles holders, skipping ropes with animal faces on the handles – but can be expensive). Pop in for a curious wander around. Here’s the challenge – if you can find it!
Antiparos I only saw Antiparos on a day trip so this will have to be a shorter entry.
You can reach Antiparos from Paros island easily enough to make a day trip there. It’s worth climbing up to the top of the ruin of the castle there to catch a panoramic view of the island made up of cubed white buildings with brilliant blue domes and an abundance of pink flowery trees.
Antiparos is quite a small island, so you can see two or three different beaches just by walking to them. It’s an easy island to see if you don’t have your own transport.
And yes… there is also the cave filled with stalactites, often quoted as being the main attraction on the island. Guess what? – I didn’t get to see it! Read more about it in my tips below.
Accommodation At paros we just “turned up” (which you can apparently do quite safely in June) and there were several people who offered accommodation as soon as we got down off our High Speed Dolphin. We took one of these – a self-catering apartment for 25 Euros per person per night. The apartment consisted of two spacious rooms with four beds and a kitchen. There was also a balcony with enough space to have your breakfast on it in the morning. The accommodation was located at Parikia with all amenities such as supermarkets being extremely nearby.
Tips and Advice for Travellers If you don’t have your own transport, get a place to stay at Parikia as all public transport links are easy to get to from here. If you want to see the cave at Antiparos, make sure you check out the cave tour times before you set out. I missed the last tour – Booooo! Sometimes the last tour is earlier than what you thought and can be surprising… If you are thinking about visiting the cave, do take some shoes and something warm to wear. With all that sun out there, it can be amazingly easy to forget this. If you like seeing colourful boats, do go and see Naoussa. There’s also a butterfly forest at Paros (I didn’t see it personally though), but make sure you check out what season is best to visit. Finally, if you found this guide useful and you do go there, don’t forget to let me know afterwards how you got on!
Advantages: nice places Disadvantages: Don't travel in August
If you want to see the best part of Greece,that is the place to first visit.There are so many islands :Mykonos,Santorini,Paros,Antiparos,Naxos,Ios,Kalimnos,Milos etc.
The first one it should be Mykonos.Very busy during the summer plenty of night life and the sea is just fantastic.
Santorini:The volcanic island with the small roads and the archoelogical sites offers one off the most spectacular sceneries in the Cyclades.There are no cars or motorbikes ...
antras 07.10.2000
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Cyclades (Greece)
Advantages: Paradise Disadvantages: Can only be reached by a small boat which means that they siometimes can't sail in bad weather (and you may miss your ferry home)
If you make it to Paros then you're just a boat ride from where you really should be! Anti Paros is a smaller island than Paros and far less spoilt. When I first visited Anti Paros about 15 years ago there were no roads and therefore no traffic. It was bliss for 2 weeks to be able to walk everywhere and get away from the rat race. Now there is a ring road but it is still relatively unspoilt. As you disembark at the harbour in Anti paros, there are ... ...greeted by people offering rooms. All accommodation on this side of the island is close to the amenities/beaches because you can walk from one side of the island to the other in about 20 mins. The beaches on the far side are wonderful and you can wear or not wear whatever you like! There is a campsite on this side which has good food. The bars are all located up the main street and around the square. There are a few nightclubs which are free to enter. ...
hillbilly1 09.07.2000
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Cyclades (Greece)
Advantages: Good for moving around Disadvantages: Can be expensive
These are a few personal opinions, and some gleaned from fellow travellers:
Sifnos- Small, with little sightseeing, but a pretty good beach at Livadiah, and cheap bars. The service is also Greek old-style. Accomodation also cheap compared to other cyclades, and plentiful
Serifos- Very pretty, and a good 2 days sightseeing. Take the guides seriously about booking accomodation, or you really wii have to pay up (I had to pay £24 for a double room, ... ...Adamas is noisy, dirty and expensive to stay in. If you are stuck for time, consider another island
Santorini/Thira- The sightseeing can be done in a day on the public buses, and I wouldn't recommend staying much longer unless you like volcanic-rock beaches
Paros- read the other chaps opinion-spot on
Amorgos- difficult to get to at the moment, and quiet and expensive. Nice, nonetheless
Naxos- much friendlier than Paros, and half the price to ...
LoxleyLozenge 02.08.2000
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Cyclades (Greece)
Advantages: A Bit Of Unspoilt Greece Disadvantages: None!
Having spent two weeks in Naxos last year we decided to do a two centre this year with a week in Paros to start followed by a week in Naxos. I must say that although Paros was beautiful I was itching to get to Naxos!. Paros's main town Parikia is a bustling port - with endless ferries coming into the harbour. The old town is a beautiful little maze, nice boutiques and expensive restaurants - sometimes well over our budget. We found an excellent fish ... ...have to say I would have prefered to have stayed in this resort, more condensed, a beautiful harbour - ( with squid drying) and lots to do. (Water taxis to excellent beaches).
Then to Naxos - the sunsets, the people, the food, the ambience, absolutely fantastic, we played backgammon watching the sun go down and enjoyed Greece coffee! Sheer bliss, I cannot describe it - a far cry from Mykonos or Paros. Cheap and cheerful you can find it and the people ...
gizmogizmo 22.12.2003
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Cyclades (Greece)
Advantages: Easy to get around Disadvantages: Busy Sundays +++
1.If you are travelling via Milos at any point- beware. The HighSpeed ferries did not seem to be running at all, stranding me there for 4 days, not a very pleasant prospect.
2.Whatever the rough guides of this world say, I had no problem in using the deck-class lounges, and I always found somewhere to sleep for an hour or so. The bluestar ferries also had cheap games machines
3.The difference in price between a cabin and a deck only ticket was ...
LoxleyLozenge 02.08.2000
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Cyclades (Greece)
Value for Money
Sightseeing
Shopping
Nightlife
Ease of getting around
Similar reviews »
Reviews which might be of interest for "Cyclades (Greece)"
Advantages: Best Party Island Ever !!!! Disadvantages: No Airport, but there is an airport on Santorini another island an hour and half cheap boat journey from Ios
...
amieturtle16 17.03.2004
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Ios (Greece)
Advantages: Close to The Beach Disadvantages: The Rooms in the Original Building are Quite Dated
The Choice...
My passion for browsing holiday brochures on cold dismal nights continued, the hubby fancied the Cyclades- a group of Greek Islands scattered across the Aegean sea of Greece - for a change from our usual choices of Crete, and Kos etc.- and as ever it was left to me to choose the appropriate dwelling for our two weeks.away. I decided on Naxos, only accessible by ferry via a chartered flight to Mykonos (if partaking in a package), the largest Island in the Cyclades..
The week before Christmas of 2004 I booked and paid a small deposit of £90 to Kosmar - a Greek holiday specialist in the UK - the balance of £600 was due the following June - plenty of time to save. The hubby wanted to book flights and accommodation separately but I like the security of a package holiday!
The Outbound Journey
We leave Brum ...
gizmogizmo 31.10.2006 (03.03.2007)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Hotel Spiros, Naxos
Advantages: beautiful scenary, black sand, Aegean sea, Vulcano, rich history Disadvantages: bus connections
I have spent a week vacationing on Santorini. The reason why I have chosen Santorini over the other 1400 Greek Islands, was my profesor who goes there rugularly and is completely in love with it. All his describing of the island made me decide to go there.
Santorini is a small group of volcanic islands located in the Aegean Sea about 200 km south-east from the mainland of Greece. The Greek islands are devided into island groups and Santorini belongs into the island group of the Cyclades. It's spread on 73 sq km and has a population of about 13,600 people.
1.) TRANSPORTATION
Buses: They were my main form of transportation for exploring the island.
The transfer between the airport (which is about 8 km away from Thira/Fira - »capital« of Santorini) was easy to find, there were plenty of buses that had hotel names written on them - so ...
