Skiathos Holidays Guide.

Holiday guides for Skiathos, Greece with information about the various things to do and see while on holiday on Skiathos.

Travelling to Skiathos. Many people heading from Northern Europe to Skiathos for their holidays get there by charter aircraft - the flight time from Gatwick England for instance is around 3.5 hours. The airport facilities on the island are quite limited - something you certainly notice when leaving since the queues of holidaymakers waiting to go through the various luggage scanners can be horrendous - they only have two scanners and everything has to be checked. The departure area only has perhaps enough seating for several 100 people at best and since the airport can only handle probably at the most 3 aircraft at a time this can be pretty congested too. For a start the landing experience at Skiathos is quite something - aircraft have to really slam on the anchors and use every inch of the small runway otherwise it's wet feet. Once through the usually quick passport control you are then shipped off by coach to your holiday accommodation. However it might be worth checking out the option of making your own way to your apartment rather than using the holiday company transit.

When you book a Skiathos package holiday it's worth checking some of the options to perhaps save a bit of money. If the meal on the flight is not included take your own sandwiches and remove the meal since generally food provided on charter flights is expensive and poor for the price - the flight to Skiathos is not that long really.
Another "removal" is the transit coach if it's an add-on since at maybe UK Pounds 8 per person each way this is expensive - instead just get a taxi. Skiathos is a small island with most accommodation close to the main coast road - for instance a taxi to Troulos Bay is maybe 15 to 20 Euros - no doddering about on the coach for ages - you will be there in 15 minutes. On departure you need to remember to book a taxi at least the day before leaving since on "fly days" they are often heavily booked and thus hard to find. The above is a nice relaxed way to start your holiday on Skiathos and you save quite a bit of money too.
(The information is based around our holiday on Skiathos a while ago - therefore where prices and bus times and so on are mentioned these apply to this period and obviously may change especially the "prices".)

Skiathos Beaches. Skiathos beaches are famous and one of the main reasons to go on holiday to the island - most people probably know of Skiathos Banana Beach because it's a nudist beach - at least part of this usually crowded beach is. In truth many of the Greek Islands have beaches with sections available for naturism - on Skiathos there are plenty of other - and we think much better - beaches for this apart from the "famous" one - please see our Skiathos Beaches topic.
Walks on Skiathos. There are not a lot of paths on the Island - we did as usual do a lot of hiking whilst on holiday in Skaithos but this was mainly on the tracks up in the mountains and hills. Although hot out there the lovely forests and often cool sea breezes did make walking really enjoyable and because of the amount of tracks available you can easily make circular walks from anything of 4 or 5 kms to 20kms. We have a variety of walking ideas which can be found via Skiathos Holiday Walks topic.

Getting Around Skiathos. Skiathos has an excellent bus service which runs along the coast road between Skiathos Town and the far end of Skiathos i.e. Koukonaries Beach and also where you can then walk to Skiathos Banana Beach - these buses start quite early in the morning and finish around 0100hrs with usually a bus every 20 minutes. They do get packed with typically busiest times Skiathos Town to Koukonaries between 10:00 and 11:30 and Koukonaries to Skiathos Town 17:00 hours through to 20:30hrs (the latter are people leaving the beaches plus others heading into Town for the evening). There is also a limited mini-bus service from Skaithos Town which goes up to the Monastery - we think this leaves at 10:15 most days but you need to check this further.
Taxis - ply their trade along the main road often driving just ahead of the buses as they try to get customers waiting at the bus stops - the fare is around 10 Euros but agree it first if you use a taxi. The taxi drivers will try to get as many other passengers in as they can (stopping at other bus stops on the way) and you have to be a little firm about this - if necessary tell them you will just get out again else you might find 6 or 7 of you packed inside.
Skiathos Car, Jeep & Scooter Hire and the Roads and Tracks. The main tarmac road on the Island runs from the airport to Koukonaries beach - the main hazard are the taxi drivers who seem to drive like maniacs at times but generally driving is ok. There are very well graded tracks which run round (and across) the island from Koukonaries through to the main beaches on the less populated parts like the lovely Mandraki Beach etc. - these are perfectly fine for cars to use as well as scooters. Lots of people do seem to hire the far more expensive jeeps as well (safari experience... certainly a very dusty experience..?) but with one exception the track surfaces are flatter and generally better than we find on our English roads around Oxfordshire - few potholes and broken surfaces- therefore cars are a lot more comfortable and of course you can leave things in a car out of sight in the boot. The one exception is the last couple of kilometres down to Kastro - this track is driveable by car but is pretty rough in places. In July we had a Saxo for one day which was 30 Euros with all insurances - we were also told a scooter would be around 10 Euros a day (many holiday insurances do not cover any accidents on scooters we believe so think on that before hiring a scooter). We understood jeeps to be around 45 Euros a day - whichever you chose we found that the hire companies were willing to negotiate a price especially where payment was in good old cash.

Food and Drink. The food and choice on offer on Skiathos we found to be excellent - with well cooked and presented main courses varying from lamb, beef, pork and veal through to various fish choices. The main courses were huge and we soon gave up thinking of having any starters though the temptation - although we were pretty full up - to have a nice Greek yoghurt with a good lashing of wild honey or similar proved a little irresistible at times. The house reds and whites were very drinkable too - note we mainly used various tavernas along the main road areas outside of Skiathos Town - in the Town prices especially on the front were quite a lot higher and in our view not nearly as good value. Typically a main meal plus sweet and then a jug of house red cost us about 30 Euros (expect to get your jug re-filled and maybe an ouzo or two as a gift as well especially on subsequent visits.)

 

Skiathos Town and Skiathos Harbour Guide plus Photos.

Skiathos Town itself is quite compact in shape with the sea front full of tavernas and cafes as well as many pavement stalls and shops selling items that vendors seem to think tourists are anxious to want to buy for some reason - i.e. lots of supposedly cheap t-shirts and other bric-a-bac. There is a street going from the harbour straight into the middle of the town which is for pedestrians only (except of course noisy scooters whizz about through it all the time) - this area again has a variety of tavernas and shops plus you will find the Bank of Greece a little way in where you will find an ATM.

If you care to wander a bit further away from the main tourist shops there are plenty of small streets and alleys to enjoy - these are often adorned with potted and veranda flowers and look quite picturesque.

Skiathos is on one of the main Greek Island Ferry routes - some boats coming in from the mainland and others linking the various islands. They come and go frequently - the way that a large GA Ferry Captain runs his ferry in and then just swings it round and reverses and parks is worth watching - lots of skill there. Another frequent visitor is the red Vodaphone ferry - the notable thing about this is the speed it goes - once clear of the harbour it's more like a power boat.
There are often quite a few people with suitcases/luggage wandering and waiting around the harbour area in Sciathos Town - the island provides international airport facilities for it's close neightbours of Alonissos and Skopelos - access to these islands for people coming on holiday is often via the Flying Dolphins which operate from Skiathos Town Harbour.

There is also a hydrofoil service operating - these "Flying Dolphins" which offer a fast passenger service to and from the neighbouring Greek Islands of Alonissos and Skopelos. There are also quite a few day trips which start out from the harbour - from trips out to the other close islands to round the island days out. The airport at Skiathos is quite close to Skiathos Town with the start of the fairly short runway located at the edge of Limin Bay and the airport terminal itself is around 2km. from the harbour. Taxis are usually available from near the main ferry terminal and the Island's main bus station is around several 100 metres further along the front.

 

Visiting and Wandering around Old Kastro whilst on Holiday on Skiathos.

Kastro is sat on a high cliff which protrudes out over the sea and is a natural fortress - it's located at the high northern part of Skiathos. It was originally settled during the 14th Century because of the threat from pirates on the lower coastal part of the island. Initially under the control of the Byzantine empire it was also occupied by the Venetians and then the Turks, then the Venetians again until the Greek State was formed. The town was also protected itself by the use of a drawbridge the remains of which can still be seen - eventually Kastro was abandoned around 1830. There are still many ruins scattered around the hillside showing that the population at one time must have been quite large. There were also a lot of churches in Kastro and several of these have now been restored with more slowly being sorted out as money permits.
There are two ways to reach Kastro - daily excursion boats leave Skiathos and visit Kastro as part of their itinerary. Note that the boats leave you on the small pebble beach (which has a small seasonal taverna) and you then have a considerable climb up a twisty steep path to reach the town itself which can easily take 20 to 30 minutes. In July and August you also need to take account of the high temperatures which makes stiff climbs twice as difficult. The other way to the Kastro is via road - well it's mostly track in fact and when we went to Kastro in July we did so reasonably easily by car. The most direct way is to use the road leaving the coastal road at Bus Stop 9 - this heads north almost directly towards Kastro via Aghios Konstantinos. The last 1.2 kilometres of track which descend into the parking area near Kastro are in quite a rugged state - if using a small car when you return you need to just probably get into first gear and simply keep the car going - any hesitation and you may get stuck on the loose surface. The last several 100 metres from the parking area are by a wide rocky footpath - remember to take a bottle of water with you when heading into Kastro itself since it always seems to be incredibly hot there.

Path to Kastro Gate	Kastro	Kastro Coastline	Cape Kastro	Kastro	Kastro Beach
Beach and Coastline Kastro	Kastro Drawbridge Ruins	Kastro Gate	Inside Aghia Marina	Aghia Marina	Aghios Nikolaos
Aghios Nikolaos church	Christos	Christos Courtyard	Christos Courtyard	inside Christos - Kastro	Church ruins
semi ruined church	Kastro Traditional House	Kastro Traditional House	Kastro Traditional House	Kastro Traditional House	Ruins

 

Please also look at our Skiathos Beaches Guide or our Skiathos Beach Walks  or our Skiathos Monastery Tours - also perhaps take a look at our Alonissos Holidays Guide and Skopelos Holidays Guide as both of these Greek islands are close to Skiathos and are just as excellent for Greek holidays.

Other Resources
Skiathos by Greeka
Skiathos Greece Travel Guide from Greek Island Postcards
Walking the Greek Islands Loads of Greek Island stuff on Harald's Site

 

Skiathos Holidays Guides for a Summer Holiday on Skiathos Island - from Foxy's Greek Holiday Guides