Travel, Holiday and Visitor Guide for the Greek Island of Serifos, Aegean Greece.

Serifos is part of the Western Cyclades Island Group and with regular ferries linking it with Kythnos, Syros and Sifnos the island is ideal for a few days visit whilst on a Greek Island Hopping holiday.

Travelling to Serifos. Serifos's ferry port is located at Livadhi - the ferry ticket office is located right at the end of the jetty and there are also agents along the harbour front - note they are quite keen on just receiving cash for ferry tickets and not that fond of credit cards. There are Greek ferries visiting the island on a daily basis - both the large car ferries and the superfast versions leaving from Piraeus connect Serifos with it's immediate neighbours of Sifnos and Kythnos. If the plan is for a bit of Greek Island hopping for a few weeks then perhaps stopping at Sifnos, Serifos, Kythnos and finally Syros might be a good sequence since these islands are around 45 minutes from each other on a superfast ferry and do not take much longer on the cheaper but slower car ferries.

Tavernas - Accommodation - General Costs on Serifos. Serifos is for some reason considerably more expensive for just about anything you might need whilst on holiday compared with it's immediate neighbours. Where you would pay around 7 Euros for a main course meal in Sifnos you will find it will be at least 10 Euros - it's the same with the wine - with a litre jug of house red costing often 10 Euros compared with around 7 on nearby islands. Just as bad perhaps is the old convenient food choice of having a Greek Salad - a not so large helping of this was being sold for around 6 Euros.
Unlike some Greek Islands the accommodation/hotel owners on Serifos do not meet the ferries with the exception of Coralli Camping Bungalows. If staying at Livadhi you have to wander around looking for something appealing and go and ask etc. Livadhi is very popular even in early July before the holiday season really kicks off so it would be advisable to have a list of possible accommodation/phone numbers prior to arriving there. Rooms are not cheap in Sifnos - we actually did quite well since our 45 Euro per night room was located just off the harbour road and set in a nice garden. The accommodation (Marianna Studios) was reasonably large by Cyclades standards and the owners were extremely helpful and friendly.
There is an ATM located at Livadhi which is just inside the entrance to the Alpha Bank (just along from the harbour on the left hand side.)

Getting Around Serifos. At least in July and August there is a frequent bus service up to Hora however out of these months buses are few and far between. There is also a bus service running from Livadhi to Psili Ammos beach - the first bus is around 11:00 and the buses back from the beach were at 16:30 and 17:30. There are also bus stops dotted around various parts of the island but we never did see any actual buses whilst out and about and could find no information or times etc. The best way to get around - short of hiring a car - is just to use a taxi or of course just walk if your destination is only a few kilometres away (for instance Livadhi to Psili Ammos beach). Taxi prices seemed to work out at around 2 Euros to get in and then 1 Euro per kilometre - for instance Livadhi to Taxiarches Monastery cost 15 Euros one way as we walked back).
There is a map of the island you can get from the web - Anavasi Topo 25 series "Serifos" however our 2002 version did not show a main road which now continues from Psili Ammos to Kalitsos.

Serifos - Livadhi. The small port is very pleasant to stay in with quite a few tavernas, supermarkets, bakeries and souvenir shops plus their is a small fish market on the quay. The tavernas' tables are mostly situated on the beach so an evening meal is often accompanied by local island bugs - there are certainly quite a few mosquitoes around.
Livadhi does have a beach but it's not that fantastic and it is really full of bugs - especially many mosquitoes and sand flies. A much better beach can be found by taking the steps at the ferry ticket office end of the harbour - this goes up and over to reach Livadhaki Beach. This is a large sandy bay - heavily tree covered so half the day you are in fact in full shade.. - there are several tavernas plus one very noisy music bar at the start of the beach. It's best to go down the far end to avoid this racket (unless you like loud boppy music). Coralli Camp Site is located a little bit away from the beach - the site looked nicely landscaped and several campers we talked too said it was fine to stay there (at the time 17 Euros per night) with full facilities.
Two other beaches fairly near to Livadhi are Psili Ammos and Ayios Ioannis Beaches - as mentioned these are within a (fairly strenuous if it's hot) 45 minute walk or you can use the infrequent bus. Psili Ammos has a nice sandy beach which has trees to provide shade. There are two tavernas which seemed very reasonably priced and had good menu choices (cheaper than the Livadhi tavernas in fact). Ayios Ioannis beach is just a little further on from Psili Ammos but this is a wild scruffy looking beach with lots of seaweed on the shoreline - quite uninviting and totally empty.
To walk to Psili Ammos from the port (about 2.5kms) go along the road passing the tavernas and then the town beach and stay on the road as it winds up right into the hills then turns left and eventually right again to drop down to the beaches.

Serifos - Hora. Easily reached by frequent buses from Livadhi Hora is a typical unspoilt Greek Island town in that there are lots of winding alleys and streets - it's very quiet and there are quite a few churches and nice old houses dotted around. Perched at the top of Hora are the remains of a 15th century Venetian Castle with several churches clinging to the sides and houses built into the castle walls.

Hora has several tavernas which are located around the Square and Town Hall with a few others to be found in the alleys close bye. If there is any tourist accommodation available in Hora we could not identify it whilst we wandered around but probably one of the tavernas would be able to help find such. From the very top you get excellent views of Livadhi and also you can see inland against the hill-side a stone wall which starts from high up at the saddle and clings to the hillside as it heads down to Hora. This is actually a really lovely cobbled and low-walled mule path/kalderini. See below for a walk from Taxiarchon - or Taxiarches - Monastery to Hora and Livadhi which uses this nicely paved moni-path.

It is possible to walk from Livadhi up to Hora on a nicely paved path. From Livadhi harbour follow the main road towards Hora - turn right at a bridge and then shortly where the road bears left take the clearly marked cobbled path which leaves on the right. You cannot go wrong - just keep cutting across the road to reach the bottom part of Hora.

 

Serifos - Taxiarchon Monastery (Taxiarches Monastery). This lovely monastery was built in the 15th century and from the outside looks very much like a white fort which it nearly is in a way as it's a fortified monastery with very thick 10 metre high walls.

The monastery is located in the north of Serifos and reachable by hire-car/scooter or you can get a taxi up there for around 25 Euros return (i.e. the taxi waits for you for this price). An alternative is to be dropped off, look around the monastery and then walk back (see below).
Located in the centre of the monastery is the church of St. Michael and St. Gabriel and surrounding the church are 60 rooms - 30 of which were used by the monks and the other 30 use by lay brethren. We were made most welcome by the resident monk (Makarios) who apart from treating us to a nice cup of Greek coffee also showed us around the monastery and St Michael's + St Gabriel's church. The church is really interesting as it has lots of artefacts which have been donated over the years by various countries.

 

A Walk which might be of interest whilst on holiday on the Greek Island of Serifos.

Taxiarches Monastery to Hora - and the option of continuing down to Livadhi. (x miles x kms and really hot walking in the Summer). There is a fair bit of walking on undulating but very quiet roads to start with but the end of the walk takes you down the beautiful moni-path back into Hora - really worthwhile with not only the enjoyment of the path itself as it clings to the hillside through the rocks but also the excellent views of Hora and Livadhi. (There should be no problem with vertigo on this cobbled path even though it might appear so when you look at it's route from Hora - the path is quite wide and most of the way down has a low rock wall.)

From the monastery with the sea on your right continue along the main road which soon bears left - quite soon there is a sign for "Path 6" on the right. You can take this path if you wish - it goes right down into the valley via Ghalini village and then eventually regains the main road near Pirghos. However this is a seriously steep climb out and you would be walking through a very exposed valley. As we were walking during a very hot July we therefore continued along the road - this more or less keeps to the same height as it makes a huge curve round the valley. Eventually the road arrives above Panaghia - just after passing the village's bus-stop look out for a walled flagstone path which leaves on the left. This goes steeply uphill to arrive to the right of a house. Bulldozers have been at work and the exit is somewhat mutilated - cross the house's drive and bear right very steeply for just a few yards to get onto the tarmac road.
Turn left along the road and now follow it along for around 1.3kms as it goes over a low saddle and then alongside the next valley. At the road junction go straight ahead (sign-posted Meghalo Livadhi) - this climbs a little and then reaches the heli-pad road junction - go left here along what is sign-posted as Path 2 which is the path into Hora. When the tarmac road bends to the right go straight ahead on Path 2 which is now a "path" crossing rough rocky ground and heading towards the soon visible small church of Aghios Georgios. Just after the church the path turns into a really lovely moni-path/cobbled stoned path which as it descends offers fantastic views of Hora are the surrounding hillsides. Unbelievably for such an important Cyclades path the idiots with their bull-dozers have messed up the final few hundred metres - how Greek Island authorities allow such destruction and carelessness is truly unbelievable. Anyway just walk on past the mess and onto the road which goes to the bus-stop and then along the bottom of the old part of Hora.
To continue on to Livadhi follow the road then as it bends right leave the road by continuing straight ahead and passing a small cafe/taverna. There are many alleys just here but you can see a large blue domed church which you need to head for as the main kalderini to Livadhi starts from the left of this church. Follow the flagged path which is sometimes in original condition but occasionally has been "repaired" with stupid concrete - crossing the tarmac road several times - to end back on the road just outside of Livadhi (turn left to get back there).

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