Luscious green pine trees, crystal clear blue water, golden sandy beaches and wall to wall sunshine. This just about summarises our exciting last minute trip during August to the gorgeous Greek island of Skiathos.
We travelled directly from Birmingham to Skiathos by TUI Airlines. Little did we know that Skiathos Airport runway is one of the shortest in the world. So on the approach when the Pilot made a special announcement to warn us all that there may be some hard breaking to stop the aircraft in time but nothing to worry about it because they practice the landing all the time, it was still a little unnerving to say the least!
Booking again via www.booking.com we chose to base ourselves at Kolios Beach. It is a good option because it is only a thirty minute drive from the airport. In an elevated position, The Kolios View Apartments are situated in an excellent location just five minutes walk from the beach, supermarket and local restaurants. Our studio apartment, whilst basic had an excellent sea view and a lovely communal pool. The hospitality of the staff could not be faulted and we enjoyed the set healthy breakfast which was a pleasant surprise and different every day.
Things to do
- Skiathos Town – The island has an excellent, frequent and cheap bus service covering the south side of the island. It runs from Skiathos Town to the Koukanaires Beach and Nature Reserve. We travelled into town and enjoyed walking around the old streets and port. With a photo opportunity around every corner it is definitely a must for your agenda.
- Hiking in Skiathos – The whole island is a little known walker’s paradise and the tracks and trails are very well sign posted and generally easy going under feet. We enjoyed a day trek up into the hills above Kolios where we experienced amazing panoramic views. We didn’t see another walker all day just the odd quad bike and snake here and there!
- Walk a dog at the Dog Shelter – The island has a well supported dog rescue centre for sadly abandoned dogs which is run by volunteers. From our base in Kolios we walked on the trails to the shelter and arranged to take Elvis the dog out for a 30 minute walk. The shelter does an excellent job looking after and re-homing animals so do go and visit, leave a donation and walk a dog if you can. More details can be found here: SDWA
- The Panagia Kounistra Monastery – Nestling on the hillside 4k away from Skitathos Town, in a lovely setting close to the dog shelter, this tiny seventeenth century monastery is well worth a visit. It’s free to go and look around and it has a little café and shop. We combined a visit to the dog shelter and monastery and thoroughly enjoyed our day out.
- Boat trip to Scopelos & Alonissos – We stumbled across, by chance an advertising banner for AG.Nikolaos in Skiathos town down by the waterside cafes. The one day boat trip out to Scopelos & Alonissos was very good value for money and we can highly recommend it. For twenty five Euros each we sailed out for 1 ½ hours to Scopelos town which is very old and picturesque. Victoria our guide was very knowledgeable and she took us on an hour walkabout tour up into the narrow streets. The Island of Alonissos was our second stop just thirty minutes away on the boat during the afternoon. We chose to take a look around town and spent some time relaxing on the beach because the crossing was a bit choppy but there was also an option to take a short bus ride up to the old capital town for people who wished to do so.
Our favourite restaurants
The traditional Greek food and wine at the Tavernas in and around Kolios is exceptionally good. Our favourite restaurants which we would recommend are Green Park, Kalivi, Jimmy’s and Maistrali. We ate authentic Greek food every day and thoroughly enjoyed every meal we had.
