Skiathos

Skiathos Beaches Guide.

How to chose and get to many of Skiathos beautiful beaches and Skiathos beach photos.

Finding Skiathos Beaches. The various coves, bays and beaches alongside the main coast road between Skiathos Town and Koukonaries are all served by very frequent buses or you can either walk or take a taxi to them if you wish. At the top of Skiathos island (at the end of the bus route) apart from Koukonaries beach there is also the famous Skiathos Banana Beach which is so well known by nudists but in truth the naturist area on the beach is not too big and gets badly packed especially in July and August. Generally speaking all of these beaches have full facilities like beach chairs and umbrellas and also tavernas and cafes are around. Perhaps much nicer and certainly more peaceful are the beaches on the other side of the island such as Mandraki - these Skiathos beaches are generally undeveloped and much wilder, available for use by nudists and do still have a few chairs/sunshades plus usually at least one taverna on them. This part of Skiathos Island and it's beaches are now reachable by a reasonably surfaced dirt track and when we last visited Skiathos these tracks had been scraped and were easily driveable even by car.
Beachwear - nudism naturism etc.. As mentioned Skiathos is well known for it's naturist beaches in particular "Banana Beach" (or Krasa Beach) however generally speaking nudists are not often seen along the main coast road beaches i.e. Troulos side of the island) apart from the odd person hiding away on tiny rock shelves/inlets - topless for men and women is of course quite normal on all Skiathos beaches.

The photos below are of some of Skiathos's beaches with various comments as necessary with the beaches shown in a clockwise direction starting at Troulos - we did not get to visit all of the beaches on the Island - there are after all quite a lot of them. Although we do not use sunshades/chairs at the time of our holiday a sunshade and two sunbeds was on average 12 Euros per set. Also note that especially on the Mandraki beach side of the island tavernas may not be open early in the season.

Troulos Beach - Bus stop 20. A really nice sandy family freindly Skiathos beach - several tavernas plus beach chairs and umbrellas.

Maratha - get off at Bus stop 22 and then it's a fairly short walk down the main road to reach the beach.
As is normal along the main coast road this sandy beach has chairs and sunbeds etc plus somewhere to get food and drink.

Koukounarie beach Skiathos - bus terminal (26) - quite a famous Skiathos beach situated in a fairly large bay - the sandy beach is full of sunshades and chairs (which are far to close together for our liking). All the usual amenities - the beach gets really busy in July and August as do the buses which take you to and from it

Strofilias Bay Beach - reached from the bus terminal you have to walk out of the car park and up the concrete road which heads towards Banana Beach however very shortly take a left hand small road on the left. Climb up the road to reach the derelict Xenia hotel - go to the right hand side of this concrete eyesore and then take a descending path and some steps to reach this lovely fairly secluded and treelined sandy beach - chairs and sunshades and a taverna available. The beach is an amazing contrast to it's big neighbour (Koukounaries Beach) and far nicer.

Krasa - Banana Beach Skiathos - from the bus sterminal (26) and then a very steep climb up a concrete road, then a hot and dusty walk down to the beach area via scattered even dustier olive trees. The naturist part of Krasa beach is on the left side of the beach after some rocks - this area is actually quite small so in peak season you probably need to get there early. In fact most of the beach area is sort of allocated/populated by non-naturists.

Aghia Eleni Bay - Bus stop 25 then turn off right on a tarmac road - perhaps a 10 minute walk. The beach is very popular with local Greeks and really busy on weekends.The beach has several tavernas plus sunshades and chairs are all available - we noted that one taverna plays loudish music at times particularly on Sundays. There is a fair bit of parking available but it's usually jammed out on weekends so you need to get there early.

Krifi Amos - Hidden Beach. The first of a series of really nice and wild Skiathos beaches. Although you still have chairs and sunshade the beaches are less populated and much more scenic. The beach is reached by a well graded dirt track which goes round the coast from near Aghia Eleni. The beach is known as hidden beach but it is sort of quite easily spotted - there is a steep path which takes you down to this beach. This beach is also popular with locals and gets busy on Sundays.

**Many people hire jeeps and cars to go over to the next couple of beaches but leaving a hire car/jeep parked whilst you spend the day on the beach is quite an expensive option. You can actually walk to Mandraki etc. easily enough from bus stop 23 - there is a shady path (in fact 3 of them) which cross the island and are more or less flat. Although sandy underfoot in places (perhaps use pumps rather than flip flops..) this is only a 20 to 25 minute stroll to reach the dirt road on the far coast.

Mandraki Beach. Further on round on the dirt track you arrive at one of the lovliest beaches on Skiathos - Mandraki Beach. The sand and part shingle beach has one taverna plus some beach chairs and umbrellas. The sea is beautiful to swim in and because of it's size the beach rarely gets very busy. On both ends of this beach expect to find naturists.

Elias Bay - the next large beach after Mandraki and another of our favourites to visit. One Taverna plus a few chairs - loads of room for naturists at either end of the beach which is mostly sand. The beach however can be very weedy especially after several days of rough seas and strong winds. The other issue is that this Skiathos beach did become very afflicted with wasps and we eventually gave up using it and used Mandraki instead which was a little better.

Agistros Beach - these nice unspoilt beaches just keep arriving as you go round Skiathos - again a sandy but smaller beach than it's neighbours and also this beach can be weed affected after high seas and winds. As with all the beaches on this coast there is a small taverna plus some shade/chairs.

Meghalos Aselinos - a beautiful Skiathos sandy beach surrounded by small cliffs covered in greenery - the beach never seemed to get busy when we visited from time to time even in the summer. It has a large taverna - probably because quite a few day-trip boats frequently arrive.

Mikros Aselinos
- as it's name suggests Mikros Aselinos beach is a smaller version of it's next door neighbour - it has a taverna where you can get a salad and a cold drink and there are a few chairs for hire - the sea is particularly colourful and nice to swim in on this beach.

Ligharies Beach - really scenic sandy beach with it's surrounding tree-lined slopes. During the week there is usually the opportunity for naturist swimming and sunbathing here since it's fairly quiet - and even quieter if you wander along the rocks to visit one it's several little beachlets.

Kechrias Bay Skiathos
- is pretty much the last beach reachable from the coastal dirt road - one end of the beach is shingle and the other has more sand.
The beach gets quite busy at times especially on weekends - there is a taverna plus beach chairs/umbrellas available.

Kastro Beach - ours are photos from above this stoney and fairly small beach since we were at Kastro as part of a long walk to view the old churches and ruins. With a significant walk down to get to the beach and a therefore even more significant climb back up we did not go this time. There is a small taverna on the beach and day trip boats arrive from Skiathos from time to time.

Limin-Skiathos Bay
- located on the far side of Skiathos Bay this tiny strip of beach is either reached by boat or you can walk on a small road near the runway and boatyard and shortly take a really nice path which wanders along just above the shoreline for a while. In fact this is a really small Skiathos beach and probably is not a beach when the tide is in.

Skiathos Town Beaches - a really long beach area starts from Sciathos Town often with the main coast road nearbye. There is lots of holiday accommodation and hotels located along here and the beach area gets busy - and therefore you will find plenty of tavernas available, jet ski and so on plus sunbeds and umbrellas for hire. Beaches along here are named Meghali Amos, Mitikas and Vasilias although they are all pretty much joined together in reality.

Tzaneria is where the beaches along the coast out of Skiathos Town become more coves rather than long open beach areas. This sandy Skiathos beach has all the usual amenities and there is quite a busy jet-ski, powerboat ride setup there too.
If you walk either side of the main beach there are various little beach areas which are a bit quieter.

Kanapitsa is the next (map) named beach along the coast out of Skiathos Town. This is a fairly small sandy beach and is well shaded one end with fir trees. As usual there is a taverna plus beach chair and umbrella hire available.

Vromolimnos Beach is yet another sandy spot and this tree-lined Skiathos beach is a little longer than Kanapitsa.
There is a taverna plus there are lots of sunbeds and umbrellas available for hire and also you can indulge in various watersports if you wish

Kolios Beach - another well-known Skiathos holiday beach. This beach is sandy and tree-lined in places for somewhere to hide out of the sun for a while and the water is very clear and does not get too deep too quickly. Tavernas, sunbeds, umbrellas are all readily available on this beach.

Aghia Paraskevi / Platanias Beach - probably this longish beach area is called Platanias Beach only but we have also named it after it's pleasant little church nearbye. It's a nice sandy beach with all the amenities you expect to find on this part of the Skiathos coastline.

Please also look at our Skiathos Tours and Beach Walks or our Skiathos Holiday Guides topic or our Skiathos Monastery Walks - or perhaps you may be interested in nearbye Greek holiday islands - Alonissos Holidays Guide and Skopelos Holidays Guide.