The near islands, close and quiet
Kea and Kythnos are reached from Lavrio rather than Piraeus, which keeps this trip genuinely apart from the rest of the Cyclades even in geography. It moves from Kea's oak-covered hillsides and archaic lion, to Kythnos's thermal springs and sandbar, to Serifos, which remains largely undiscovered by anyone but Greeks.
- Length
- 6 days · 5 nights
- Months
- May – June, September – October
- Stops
- 4
The route on a map
1 · 2 nights
Ioulida, Kea
An amphitheatre village an hour from the mainland by sea, with footpaths leaving from its edge.
2 · A day here
Lion of Kea
A smiling archaic lion cut into the rock, twenty minutes on foot from Ioulida.
3 · 2 nights
Loutra, Kythnos
A small village built around the island's thermal springs.
4 · 1 night
Serifos Chora
A Cycladic hill town rising in tiers above the port, still quiet even in August.
Day by day
Day 1
Arrive Kea
Sleep · Ioulida
Forty minutes from Athens airport to Lavrio, then an hour by ferry; evening walk through Ioulida's stepped lanes.
Day 2
The Lion and the paths
Sleep · Ioulida
Walk to the archaic Lion of Kea, then down the old stone path to Otzias for a swim.
Day 3
Ferry to Kythnos
Sleep · Loutra
A local ferry between the two islands of roughly an hour; afternoon at the thermal springs in Loutra.
Day 4
Kolona sandbar
Sleep · Loutra
A boat or short drive to the double-sided sandbar at Kolona, swum from both sides before the afternoon wind.
Day 5
Ferry to Serifos
Sleep · Serifos Chora
Connecting ferry on the western Cycladic line, two to three hours; evening climb to the Chora's kastro.
Day 6
Depart
Departure
Morning ferry to Piraeus.