Skiathos in September

Dear friends,

I had fabulous time in Skiathos and recently I found out that not a lot of people know of this amazing island so I will share a little about it first.

The island is located in the Aegen Sea (south Greece) and is very very small but at each step you can find a purely beautiful beach! I loved it as the sand was amazing - almost none of the beaches had any stones and are mainly surrounded by forests so they're totally worth a visit!

So why September -to tell the truth, the weather was just perfect however the island was not crowded as someone would expect. The guy who fixed my car said that this was the perfect time to go since in August or July it is way too hot! So definitely would suggest the ninth month of the year as the best time to visit! Not to mention that the hotel fares are definitely lower as after the 15th of the month, it's no longer considered high season.

How to get there – one word – expensively. In theory I know that there is a ferry to the island, but in reality I had no idea it was this expensive compared to other Greek islands. The price for 3 people and a car (a standard one) was around 240 euros for both ways. To compare we only paid approximately 40 euro for 2 people and a car both ways to Corfu. Once you get on the ferry though, the travel time is around 2 hours and a half so it’s also longer, not only more pricey.

Where to sleep – I chose a hotel very close to the main town and harbor with the idea to be able to go there by foot which in reality was a successful choice. I knew that we were going to go beaching to a different place every day and by car so it didn’t matter that much if there was going to be a beach nearby.

An advice from my side – when going to the islands, choose a place which is relatively better priced and not close to a beach and get a car so you can see different beach every day – all islands I’ve been to are perfectly capable to offer daily alternatives and even though in Skiathos you can use the public transport, I’ve always found it more convenient to have a car and not to depend on someone else.

Where to eat – a number of places as expected. The prices are a bit higher than the mainland, but again – as al gods travel 2.5 hours by ferry to reach the island, I assume part of the transportation costs can be expected to be added in the price. Apart from this – it’s nice and delicious and there are many restaurants, some of which can even offer amazing view.

Skiathos is a bit hilly which is good if you want to climb the tiny streets where you have very little space to pass with cars and other pedestrians, to enjoy the views from up high and have long difficult walks to the hotel, however bear in mind most of the hotels are not directly on the road but up high.

And finally – what to do there. Well, apart from all the amazing beaches – I would recommend a boat excursion and visit to the old town. I skipped the old town as I wanted to spend all sunny days on the beach and spare the cultural trip for a day with bad weather but luckily, there wasn’t such.

There are 2 main groups of boat trips – one is dedicated to the amazing and also distant beaches and the other – to the Mamma Mia excursion which covers Skopelos where main scenes from the movie were shot. I only took the beach one as it was more interesting for me and on the other hand – I assume Skopelos is very beautiful itself, so maybe it’s a good idea to visit it separately for a vacation there instead of wasting one day of beach by traveling by boat to only 3 of its marvelous spots.

So this is my overview of the holiday which Skiathos can offer – I hope it’s useful and I hope you choose this curious island for at least one vacation as it’s totally worth it!