Symi Greece Holidays Guide.

Symi Beaches, Tavernas, Touring, Walks and Photos Guides and ideas on what to do and see while on holiday on Symi Island in Greece.

The tiny Holiday Island of Symi (sometimes spelt Simi) is located in the Southern Dodecanese area of Greece - it's nearest neighbour is Turkey which is only a few KMs away and the island is around 64km from Rhodes.  There is no airstrip on the island, just a helipad, so the normal way to go on holiday to Symi is by using the Rhodes to Symi ferry (catamarans/hydrofoils - 90 to 120 minutes approx) or by a much longer journey from Piraeus on the larger GA ferries. Most people tend to stay either near Symi harbour (Yialos) or up at Simi Old Town (Chorio), although there is a certain amount of Simi holiday accommodation in nearby Pedi. Apart from the towns of Pedi, Chorio and Yialos little Symi (it is only around 68 sq. km) is not very populated (at least by people although there are just one or two or so greek goats) with just a scattering of small villages and farms up in the hills - there is one military camp with the usual "no-photos" signs in the middle of the island.

Symi restaurants and bars. We stayed in the Old Town whilst on holiday on Symi - there are supermarkets etc which open most days and a butcher and baker (the latter not open on Sundays). There are several tavernas including the famous Georgios. For a main course plus a vegetable side dish plus wine the cost for two of us was usually around 25 euros. Down in the harbour there are lots of tavernas - this because the harbour receives tourist boats from Rhodes most days during the peak holiday season - these day-trips stop off for a visit to the monastery at Panormitis and then arrive in Yialos around midday where they stay for several hours - Symi harbour gets very busy. However one advantage of this influx is that the harbour contains lots of tavernas which therefore gives us folk who are actually staying on the island lots of choice in the evenings. Again there are plenty of supermarkets, fruit stalls and butcher/bakers here - the bakery does open on Sundays.

We found the Symi to be pretty good for walking - we have nine Symi walks described - mostly circular - with distances varying from 5km to 20km and all with lots of accompanying photographs and some of these walks visit several Symi beaches. For a quick look just at some of Symi's beaches please see our Symi Beach topic - more on the Island's beaches is also further down this page. Symi is remarkably hilly - especially if you start your day's walk from the harbour and have to meander up Symi's famous Kali Strata before commencing the next even longer steep climb to the saddle and into the centre of the island. This latter part of the climb is on a gorgeous moni-path which offers excellent views of the harbour way below - usually it's well populated with goats (some of these goats seem to take an enourmous delight in throwing rocks at you). Symi has some very nice paths to walk around on (we have lots of photos of the paths, walls and buildings) and also a few KMs of moni paths but some of these are in a very poor state.

One thing the island has plenty of (discounting the 10 million goats) and that's a plentiful supply of churches and monasteries - the latter including the huge monastery at Panormitis. As is seemingly always the case on particularly the smaller Islands we were pleased to find the usual friendliness of the locals exists on Symi - walk down the Kali Strata from Chorio to Yialos and most people you meet will speak at least offer a greeting. Go out into the countryside and as you get to the churches (out here many of the little churches have adjacent and inhabited small houses) - if someone is around you are greeted warmly, probably get shown round the church, invited to sit down and then offered coffee or ouzo or at least water.

Yialos: The harbour area (actually there are two harbours) is really extensive considering the size of Symi island, this because Symi used to be a major trading centre for the export of sponges and also for shipbuilding. Although some of the houses are now quite derelict you can see that once they must have been very grand - this is especially noticeable on the Kali Strata and towards the top. However these grand old buildings are gradually being rebuilt/refurbished/restored.


There is a regular ferry service between Rhodes and Symi plus the Island is also served frequently by the longer distance inter island ferries. The harbour area has loads of tourist shops, some fast food outlets and plenty of tavernas - this is because a lot of tourist escursions boats arrive on day trips from Rhodes during the holiday season.

Chorio: The Old Town at the top end of Symi's Kali Strata - there are lots of alleys and narrow streets etc but hardly any access to cars. There are still quite a few ruined houses and other buildings around but similarly to the Kali Strata they are being slowly renovated and restored. There are several tavernas and small supermarkets in Chorio which are mostly centred around the village square.

Pedi: A small Symi fishing village with a mostly narrow stoney beach, several tavernas and a couple of supermarkets. It's served by Symi Bus and also water taxis. Symi imports it's fresh water from Rhodes and the first photo shows the water boat in Pedi harbour.

Symi Wildlife Snakes - well they are around apparently but we only saw one (although we walked around 100 miles of tracks and paths) and that was sadly of the variety squashed and on a tarmac road. There were not too many lizards about either - this all may be due to the time of year and perhaps more are around/visible in the Spring. Apparently sea urchins can be a problem but since Symi beaches are all stoney/pebbly and quite often there are very large pebbles as well in and around the shoreline we had our jellies to protect our dainty little feet - therefore this was not an issue for us. We did see various hawks and larger birds of prey around but never close enough to identify - also there were plenty of smaller birds around. Symi has a variety of goat called a "beach-goat" - these goats are masters at raiding sunbather's bags and stealing any fruit/bread etc. they sniff out - they are very freindly and you can feed them by hand if you wish.

Apart from beach-goats there are also loads of "Symi Path Eating Goats" whose primary role in life seem to be to destroy the stone walls which line many of Symi's paths and moni-paths - there are also of course more better behaved goats about, as well as quite a few sheep wandering around all over the island.

Getting around Symi. (bus/water taxi/taxis/car-hire). Symi Bus simply does a shuttle between the harbour, the Old Town and Pedi - it is very reliable and continues the service up to 11PM. There are five taxis on the island based usually at the harbour - the furthest trip you can make from the harbour is to Panormitis down the other end of the island which is meant to cost about 25 Euros - as usual though it is a good idea to confirm the price with the taxi driver before leaving. Also the taxis are used to ferry passengers to and from their hotels etc. so if you want to use one check if a ferry is due in or out and maybe book it in advance. Water taxis run frequently out of the harbour to various beaches with Emborio, Ag. Nikolaos, Disalona and Nanou being charged at 5 Euros return - and Marathounda Bay at 10 Euros. There are plenty of "round the island" type day trips which start from the harbour as well. (These prices are just a guide and will have risen somewhat one imagines).

Symi Car hire is very expensive and varies apparently according to the time of the year - for instance we hired for one day so we could do a small series of walks and it cost 40 Euros - but two days previously the price had been 70 Euros (i.e. July+August rate). Considering there is, apart from the hop down to Pedi, just about only one tarmac road (to Panormitis) on the island there is not a lot to do in a car for more than maybe a couple of days at most. The tracks are quite often in a very poor state and looked to us to be only suitable for 4 wheel drive in most cases. The car hire company is by the bridge in the harbour - the petrol station is on the road along the front going towards Pedi and there is another petrol station on the left hand road nearly into Pedi.

Walking on Symi. Our several pages of holiday walking guides and photos for Symi are found via our Symi Holiday Walks topic. Symi has some very nice paths to walk and also a few KMs of moni paths but some of the latter are in a very poor state - not least because the numerous goats seem to take great pleasure in knocking down the walls. The centre and top of the island is quite well wooded and has some really pleasant paths to use whilst the area around Yialos is pretty barren. There is not yet an accurate map of the island although we think that Roads Editions may be re-issuing one sometime - the map we used to get our ideas for creating our walks was included with a "walks" book we purchased from Chilton - this large scale map is ok for showing the existence of paths and tracks but not so accurate on exactly where paths etc. start from and end up in some cases (says our GPS).

Beaches to try out on Symi. The beaches are mostly small pebble on the shoreline but quite often there are quite large pebbles to be found as you go into the water - therefore having jellies or similar on your feet is a distinct advantage - also of course the pebbles get pretty hot to walk on as you go in and out of the water. The sea is lovely and clear and the colours are brilliant - snorkeling is therefore excellent - and there are loads of colourful fish to spot and watch too. The most used beaches are on the east coast and are serviced by water taxis. More remote beaches often have to be reached by foot and are of course really busy - not... therefore ideal for naturists - for example our real favourite for globally warming ourselves was at Ag. Vasilios.

Main Symi beaches going clockwise round the island from Yialos:

Aghia Marina - served by taxi-boats and can be walked (Chorio-Pedi-Aghia Marina-Chorio Circular). Popular beach with sun beds on a concrete surface has a taverna. Once in the water you are on a sandy bottom. Good for snorkeling with really clear water. Overlooked by the monastery so certainly not naturist.

Pedi - quite narrow small shingle - several tavernas.You can walk to Pedi or get the bus. Please see our Chorio - Pedi - Chorio Walk

Ag. Nikolaos - beach chairs, a taverna, lots of goats, shingle - certainly not naturist - even women being topless seemed a bit of a no-no. You can walk to Ag Nikolaos via Pedi and it is also well served by taxi-boats. Shaded by trees, the end of the beach by the church is quite shallow and easy to get into for youngsters.

 

Ag. Georgios Disalona - can only be accessed by taxi-boat - no tavernas or beach chairs. No shade until the middle of the afternoon.

Nanou - shingle - taverna - beach chairs - more goats - accessed by either of a long walk or taxi-boat. There are also trees to hide under. The couple of times we went to Nanou it was ok for topless but no nudity.

Marathounda - shingle - taverna - beach chairs - more goats - accessed by either of a long walk or car/ taxi. One taxi-boat goes to this beach leaving (during our holiday period) at 11:15 and coming back at 16:00. Topless seemed ok but certainly not naturist.

Panormitis - narrow shingle along the front of the monastery and so busy with ferrys and day trippers walking by etc. that its not really comfortable / useable. Further along is another shingle beach. Absolutely minimum exposure of skin acceptable round here. Reachable by road.

Ag. Vasilios - our favourite beach. Mostly shingle but a few patches of sand. No boats* and no road, you have to walk across the island to this beach (Walks to Ag. Vasilios naturist beach). The walk involves walking along halfway up the side of an ever deepening gorge on a narrow but OK path, then just before the beach you have to scramble down the (nearly vertical) rocky and scree side of the end of the gorge. The Beach is quite long and does get quite busy, for example one time we visited it there were SIX of us on it - so enjoying some naturist swimming and sunbathing on this beach is fine since you can always pick your own bit to be on away from others if necessary. (* Sue and Dennis Orchard have advised that boats DO visit during the main holiday season - usually on a Wednesday.

 Skoumisa and Maroni Bays - access is via a longish but enjoyable walk (Vasilios Emilianos) - not aware of taxi-boats servicing the area but round-the-island boats do stop off at the monastery of Ag. Emilianos where there is a small shingle beach. The beach right inside Skoumisa Bay is shingle and not particularly inviting being quite scruffy with rubbish and old fishing gear scattered around. The two Moroni Bay beaches are also shingle and considering that much better beaches are available on Symi both are not really worth staying on for too long.

 
Toli - no taxi-boats but you can get so far by road and then have to walk the remainder (Chorio circular walks). There are several heavily shingled beaches here none of which seemed that appealing - lots of weed and some sea-debris around and of course totally deserted.

Emborio - reachable by road and served by taxi-boats - also several ways to walk there - please see our Symi walks to Emborio. A popular Symi beach with holidaymakers - it is a long shingle beach well populated with sunbeds and also has a taverna.

 Nos beach - allegedly the local (naturist) police chief is trying to make this the official naturist beach and has also renamed it Paradise beach or something. It is a series of sunbeds adjoining a taverna and situated with a road just above so perhaps not ideal for naturists - certainly never did notice anyone stripped off when we walked by it on several occasions. Easily reached since it is at the end of Yialos harbour on the Emborio coast road.

Our Symi related topics:- Symi Walks  Vigla Mountain walk  Symi Beaches  Vasilio+Emilianos  Chorio Circulars

Other Resources
Symi.gr A really good and informative site about the island
SymiGreece.com A site with an ever increasing amount of interesting information.
Symi Greece Travel Guide from Gree Island Postcards
Symidream Well worth a visit - lots about Symi on this site including a Chorio walk