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Nafplio, Milos, Sifnos Tips/Thoughts

This forum is so helpful so I wanted to share a few tips from our trip! This might not be anything new, but in case anyone is heading to the same areas...we were there from May 25th through the first week of June.

NAFPLIO - what an enchanting little city! It took two hours to drive from the Athens airport and most of the drive is on a nice toll road (you can pay tolls by card). Rental car pickup is across the street from the airport (but grab your keys from the desk inside the airport). Palamidi fortess was a highlight. The path was in the shade at 8am. Entrance fee is now 20 euros, but our teens were free. yiayia brunch was our favorite breakfast place of the trip. Lovely people, lovely food, beautiful scenery, and many activities in the area. I would return here in a heartbeat.

MILOS - two months before our trip, most flights were sold out so we had a very early departure. Plan ahead if you want to fly. Highly recommend the flight as it's about 30 minutes. Milos is stunningly beautiful, but to see everything you will drive 20-25 minutes to most places on very narrow roads where people go fast and don't always yield. Sarakiniko and Kleftiko are two of the prettiest places I've ever seen and late May was not crowded. However, it was cold and windy (high 60s and 30-40mph wind) when we were there so not good for swimming (we live in Colorado for reference). There are so many things to see and do that the weather didn't matter, except we had booked a private boat in advance - definitely wait until you are there to feel the weather and then book a boat! The north side is windier, but the south side is still very windy (the ocean is just calmer in the south). Tsigrado was the most protected beach we went to, but it's very small. If I were there in warm weather I would rent a kayak from Milos watersports and explore the caves at Tsigrado that way. Paleochori was a pretty beach on the south side with nice tavernas. Plaka is a wonderful town with really great shopping (ceramica kymbe was a favorite) and we were glad we bought items here instead of shopping in Athens. O! Hamos! is a fantastic restaurant where we had the best lamb I've ever tasted (cooked in parchment paper with feta). While Milos was beautiful it was not our favorite stop because of the driving (we stayed in Pollonia but ended up mostly away from Pollonia) and the overall vibe of the island – lots of people posing for selfies. I don’t have social media, so I was unaware beforehand.

SIFNOS – Tied with Nafplio for our favorite spot. We took the slow Aegean Sea Lines boat from Milos and it was a very nice ferry. We stayed in Apollonia and could walk via a path to the center with restaurants and shops. The food here is incredible and Kelari was probably our best dinner of the trip. A few places were not open for the season in the first week of June (everything in Milos had been open). The village of Kastro and walk to the Church of the Seven Martyrs is idyllic and what we all think of before going to Greece. The wind died down while were here so we swam at Chrysopigi and Faros (I preferred the scenery at Faros, but you can pick a fresh fish to eat at the taverna in Chrysopigi). Both are very relaxed beaches with people sitting on towels in the sand. Platis Gialos has some fancier tavernas (we had yummy sashimi at Yalos) and chairs to rent. There are many other beaches we didn’t go to. There are lovely ceramic stores in Platis Gialos and in Kamares. I was very happy that I schlepped a few pieces home. The vibe on Sifnos was very relaxed. The roads are similar to Milos, but people are not rushing as much, so the driving was less stressful.

All of us would happily return to Greece. For us, it was worth it to be there early season and be a little cold but not have any crowds. The people were incredibly friendly and it's one of the most beautiful places I've been.

Posted by
217 posts

Hey, nice trip report and glad you enjoyed the Greek islands. We’ve never been to Napflio, yet, but we have been to Sifnos (2023) and Milos (2024). We enjoyed Sifnos a lot more than Milos. We always buy our plane tickets at least 3-4 months before our vacations because we know the prices go up, usually late February- early March. Sifnos was divine. We had some of the best food on Sifnos. We stayed in Fasolou, which is the tiny beach after Faros. We stayed at a beautiful property, which is basically a hotel/BnB with small apartments and a central area with a pool and bar where we had breakfast every day overlooking Chrisopigi church. Absolutely amazing. Last year we went to Milos and Folegandros. Personally, I didn’t find the driving on Milos bad at all. You mentioned drivers not yielding. That’s common in the Mediterranean. I don’t know how often you’ve traveled to the Med but it’s the same in Italy and Greece. I’m used to it having grown up in NYC and currently living in New England, which has some of the worst drivers on earth. this year we went to Rhodes and Symi. Both beautiful both very different. Glad you enjoyed your Greek vacation.

Posted by
25 posts

jonrossjan - I'm going on the RS Greece tour in March but would like to check out Sifnos prior to the tour. How many days would you recommend there and what is the name of the place you stayed in Fassolou? Thanks

Posted by
127 posts

Thanks for the trip report. We will be in Greece for October, 18 days in the Cyclades including 4 nights each in Sifnos and Milos. In Milos we booked at hotel in the Chora. Do you think a car is needed for the all 4 days? Where did you stay in Nafplio? We have a week for Nafplio, Delphi, Corinth and Meteors. Thanks for the tips!

Posted by
3552 posts

Daisy from Canada -- instead of piggybacking on an existing thread, why not start a thread of your own, with a descriptive heading with something about 18 days in Cyclades October 2025 -- a lot of people are going to miss your query at the bottom of another thread.

Posted by
10 posts

In response to the driving, I should clarify that Greek drivers are totally fine! In Milos we encountered a lot of tourists who seemed unaware that sections of road don't really fit two large-ish cars. At home we also drive a LOT (shuttling kids etc), so driving is a chore and we spent more time doing that than I'd like to on vacation in Milos, so that's just a personal preference.

I would love to hear about Rhodes and Symi! Although this probably won't get read by jonrossjan since the post originated with me...

daisycan - I'm not sure what the chora is in Milos, but if you're renting a car, I don't really see a benefit to only having it for part of the time, unless you can walk to the rental car shop, which you could do from Ademantas. We like to explore and are on the move all day, making a car necessary. If you don't want to see everything on the island, or are there for just a few specific sights, a car might not be necessary. I did not see buses or taxis (except tour buses) at the various places we drove to, so I would look into other transportation before deciding. On Sifnos we decided to rent a car at the last minute with no problem, so in October you probably have the flexibility to be spontaneous as well.

In Nafplio we stayed at an airbnb. It was an interesting place that I probably wouldn't stay in again, but the location was great (Papanikolaou 19). We parked in the free lots by the water and had about a 6 minute walk (no cars allowed in the old town), but were very central to the main part of town and the Palamidi fortress. I don't think you can go wrong if you're near the center of town.

Posted by
30 posts

Thanks for the summary! I'm so excited to visit Nafplio:) When you get a chance, curious if you walked up the Palamidi Fortress and if so how long it took you? I'm post-surgery and almost back to normal, but also curious if there are enough spaces for me to pull over and let others pass if needed. I don't want to be the slow poke holding everyone up hahahaha

Posted by
10 posts

jenbrer - we did walk up to the fortress and it was a highlight of Nafplio. The entrance fee is 20 euros and we hesitated (because 80 euros for four of us!!), but the attendant said our teenagers were free and it was well worth it. The views are even more spectacular once inside. To the back and right hand side you can go through a doorway that looks like you would drop off a cliff on the other side, but there are actually stairs and one of many stunning views. The walk up took us about 20 minutes, but I was following my teens who are very active. The walkway is not very wide, but there is enough space to pull over if everyone is going single file. We didn't come across anyone on the way up around 8:15am, but you could start before 8am and aim to be at the entrance when it opens at 8am.

Posted by
3552 posts

Jenbrer, for Palamidi, the other optioin is to drive (or taxi, or take a thing called the Happy Train) on the road that goes up the BACK way -- that's how the Nazis conquered the fort in WW II. You then take all the photos you want, and walk DOWN the 999 steps. When there's a Family with kids, 2 adults, with car -- you drive up, explore fort, then ONE adult accompanies children DOWN the steps, while the other drives the car back, to the foot of the steps where there's a lovely taverna with a little waterfall,. That adult (me) can have a coffee and read the paper while awaiting the downwalkers.

Posted by
30 posts

Thanks so much Sara K & Janet. Somehow I accidentally shut off my notifications for this site so just seeing this:(