travel zone

Koufonisia

Koufonisia Islands are located on the south east part of Cyclades between Naxos and Amorgos Islands. They consist of Pano Koufonisi Island, Kato Koufonhsi Island creating a cluster of two islands, and they also include Keros, a Greek island without any habitants, where excavates have brought to light Cycladic civilization findings.

map of koufonisia - koufonisia map
Viagem para grecia

Pano Koufonisi Island

Pano Koufonisi Island is one of the smallest but really popular Cycladic islands with around 350 residents. There are not plenty of beaches on Pano Koufonisi Island but those few that exist compose great images with crystal clear water in different colours, such as green, azure, dark blue… Some of them, that one should definitely visit when going to Pano Koufonisi Island, are listed below:

harakopou or finikas beach

Koufonisi: Sand on the coast, shallow water and cafes and restaurants nearby. Ideal for families with young children!

Harakopou or Finikas beach: Long coast, the water is green and the beach is usually full of people as it is close to the village. However, there is a very small calm beach next to it. You can find rooms to let as well as a camp and one restaurant nearby.

Fanos beach: Long beach with crystal clear water and a snack bar. A small sandy beach is hidden in the cavernous rocks too.

Platia Pounda beach: Knows as "Italida" due to an Italian woman with which one of the habitants had fallen in love. Usually this beach is visited by nudists. One can head towards Pori beach and go to Pisina beach, before arriving at Pori. Pisina beach looks like a natural swimming pool surrounded by rocks while a small coast with white pebbles can be found closely.


fanos beach italida beach

Pori beach: White sand and clear water. The most far away from the port located beach used to be deserted in the past. Nowadays there is an asphalt roadway that drives people there as well as two restaurants.

Gala beach: A small rock that embraces both a small sandy beach and the sea, creating another natural swimming pool.

pori beach gala beach

How to go to the beaches

From the Port to Pori beach

There is a path along the sea that ends to Pori. A road that begins from the port and directs to the east ends to Harakopou or Finikas beach, in around 15 minutes. If you walk for another 5 minutes next to the camp, you will arrive at Fanos beach and some minutes further you will find Platia Pounda beach. Walking a little more, you will find the caves of Pisina beach on the right and after 5 minutes walking, Pori will show up. If you keep on walking up the Xilovatis peninsula, you will arrive at Gala beach.

Western

If you walk from the port to the west part of Pano Koufonisi Island, ideal walking during the evening, you will arrive at the boat-yard from where you will direct to Parianos fishing shelter and some minutes later you will see a junction. Turn on the left to visit Prophet Ilias church or keep walking straight if you prefer to have a view to Naxos Island while walking next to those impressive rocks, directing to the port. There is a path to Pori on the left.

The pirates’ neighborhood

Sea caves sculpted by the water decorate the north east part of Pano Koufonisi Island and a visit to them should not me omitted! According to a myth, pirates used these caves as a cache but presently local people find a rich fishing area in that sea. Small beaches for 2-4 persons show up among the rocks’ cavities.

 

A nice pebbled beach on the north west part of Pano Koufonisi Island, near Ftera region, can be accessed only by boat.

Some of the prettiest beaches of Aegean Sea are located on the south part of Pano Koufonisi Island and they are all easily accessed.

 

Kato Koufonisi Island

Kato Koufonisi Island is located under (south) Pano Koufonisi Island and is said to be an exotic island. It is almost uninhabited as seldom does somebody see any houses built on it. If you reach its port during the evening, you will see a big orange wall which, in fact is a tall rock turned to orange when the evening sunshine fell on it! Then, 3 rocks emerge from the sea creating a magic scenery that cannot be viewed anywhere else around the world. Local people call this place "The lake with the castles" but they also advise tourists not to swim in it because there are dangerous landslides.

There are no hotels on Kato Koufonisi Island but you can go camping there on Yanni’s Venetsanos field (he is the owner of the unique restaurant on Kato Koufonisi Island) who offers it for free! Following the path that passes through the camp, you will arrive at a really nice beach called Pezoulia. It takes around 30 minutes walking to go there.

The area with the few buildings of Kato Koufonisi Island is called Detis. You should visit the Panagia Church and definitely Yanni’s Venetsanos restaurant at Detis. If you own a boat, you can sail south west where you will see the impressive rocks of Ilias’s Yannos Caves and a few meters afterwards there is a nice pebbled sea. You should also visit the next beach called Nero, a very popular to boat owners beach, where you will see the second phoenix of Kato Koufonisi Island. Fikio is another easily accessible to boat owners beach, on the south, but you can also go there through a path.


Food

remetzo restaurant

The Atairiastoi restaurant tends to be one of the best restaurants in Cyclades. You can taste fresh fish, well cooked meat, fresh salads and of course you can drink traditional raki, or home made wine, all nice decorated and served by the pleasant staff of the restaurant. You can also eat at Remezzo restaurant where Mrs. Stella will prepare for you some delicious plates, such as fish soup or her famous pasta with lobster plate.

You can have a meal, seating on a balcony with a panoramic view to the port while listening to Greek music. We would also suggest you Lefteris restaurant for a tasty fish soup traditionally cooked by Mrs. Sofia, Nikitouri restaurant

for fresh fish and home made pies, Kapetan Nikolas restaurant where the cook has a big experience in fish cooking and the decoration consists of fishing nets, compasses and other sea related objects, Finikas restaurant where you can choose your food from a plate show case, pay for it and the enjoy it at the balcony of the restaurant, Kapetan Dimitrios restaurant for a big variety of plates and a nice view at the sea.

 

Melissa restaurant for real home made food in the small streets of Pano Koufonisi Island.

If you are on Kato Koufonisi Island you should visit Yannis Venetsanos restaurant, a really famous place with delicious food, live music, tasty raki. Many people arrive at Kato Koufonisi Island just to visit this restaurant!


Entertainment

en plo

There is a bar called Scholio the building of which used to be a school in the past. Nowadays, it hosts its customer in a friendly atmosphere, playing rock musing and serving raki, rakomelo etc. If you want to stay out all night long, then you have to go to Kalamia where you can drink rakomelo and even eat a sandwich. It is open in the morning too, serving home made sweets and coffee. One of the windmills of Pano Koufonisi Island has been turned to a cute bar, called Milos. There are tables on its yard with a view to the port and the staff serves rakomelo with cinnamon. At En plo you can listen to Greek music and even dance, at Helonaki which is located at the port, you can have some coffee and if you are at Parianou, you can go to Aneplora where they serve coffee in the morning and spirits in the evening.


How to go to Koufonisia

There is a boat from Pireus to Pano Koufonisi Island, every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. The trip lasts 8 hours. Moreover, Express Skopelitis boat leaves from Naxos to Pano Koufonisi Island everyday at 15:00.

Book online your ferry tickets to the greek islands and have them delivered at home easily.

twitter
plus google