Are These the Most Scenic Islands in Greece?

27.08.2024 - 17:01 / nytimes.com

Arguably Greece’s most iconic island group, the Cyclades got their name because, if you squint, the 30-odd main islands form a circle, or , around the sacred island of Delos, birthplace of the twin gods Artemis and Apollo. In the southwestern curve of that circle sit Milos, Sifnos and Serifos, three Aegean islands that share a stark, wild beauty owing in part to the minerals that made them mining hubs well into the last century. (Mining continues on Milos, where it vies with tourism as one of the island’s main industries.)

All three also offer a number of excellent beaches, hiking paths, seafront tavernas and whitewashed hilltop villages dating to medieval times. But each island has its own flavor. Sifnos tends to attract food-focused visitors, who are drawn by the island’s culinary traditions and history. The birthplace of Nikos Tselementes, who wrote the first commercial Greek cookbooks in the early 20th century, Sifnos is home to Omega 3, the renowned seafood-focused restaurant founded by the chef Giorgos Samoilis, who has a Ph.D. in molecular biology. Serifos is beloved by hikers and bikers, while Milos, the largest of the three (with 5,000 year-round inhabitants), draws those who crave a livelier scene and are eager to pose on the moonscape of Sarakiniko beach.

Only Milos has an airport (the flight from Athens is just 40 minutes), but each island is accessible from Athens, and from the others, by high-speed Seajet and other ferries. (The Seajet trip from Milos to Serifos takes a little over an hour; to Sifnos from Milos it’s a little over half an hour; and between Sifnos and Serifos about 20 minutes.)

Whichever you visit, it’s vital that you hop on a boat to take in the islands’ dramatic coastlines, and swim off the uninhabited islet of Polyaigos. “There are a lot of interesting rocks, so it’s like sailing through a sculptural park,” says Natassa Kalogeropoulou, a ceramist living and working on Serifos. “And you’ll swim in the best waters you’ve seen in your life.” Here, Kalogeropoulou and three other locals and longtime visitors share their favorite spots on the three islands.