An easy coastal walk west brings you to the pebble coves at Kamini and then Vlychos, the everyday swims for anyone staying on the island.
Diagram by Greece Trips. Free to reuse with credit - CC BY 4.0.
Why “how you get there” is the organising fact
There are no cars on Hydra. The ban is imposed and policed by the authorities, and the mules move luggage, not people.
So the swimming sorts itself into three tiers by access, and that is genuinely the useful map:
- Right by the town, a few minutes from the harbour: Spilia and below Hydronetta, where you get into the water off the rocks and ladders and cut steps take you off the stone into the deep.
- An easy coastal walk west: Kamini and then Vlychos. The coastal paths west to Kamini and Vlychos are an easy-to-moderate walk.
- The quieter coves at the western end, Bisti and Agios Nikolaos among them, are reached mainly by water taxi, which is exactly why they stay quiet.
Vlychos is the far end of the middle tier. Water taxis run along the coast to the swimming coves and the hamlets you cannot easily reach on foot - so you can walk out and ride back.
Walk for nothing and see more of the coast on the way, or pay the boat to reach the far, empty ends quickly.
What kind of swimming this is
Swimming on Hydra is off rocks, concrete lido platforms and pebble coves. Vlychos is one of the pebble ones.
You will pack a towel and swim shoes rather than arriving with a beach-day plan the island cannot fill. That is our own guide’s line, and it is the expectation to arrive with.
The one honest exception is Mandraki, about twenty minutes’ walk east along the shore or a few minutes by water taxi, where the island’s only sandy beach runs as a serviced one, with sunbeds, parasols and food and drink brought down from the resort. If sand is what you want, that is where it is - and it is in the opposite direction.
The terrain, said plainly
Hydra is steps, slopes and cobbles almost everywhere, with no wheeled transport of any kind, so it is hard going for wheelchair users, for anyone pushing a pram, and for anyone who struggles with stairs.
If a specific need matters to your trip, check what your accommodation actually provides rather than trusting a page. Accessibility in Greece has the country picture.
Nothing here is certified safe or suitable. The path is described as easy-to-moderate by our own guide; that is a description, not a rating, and what the sea is like sets the expectation for the water.
Getting to the island at all
No airport. Arrival is by ferry, and the Piraeus route is served only by fast boats, about 1 hr 5 min to 1 hr 30 direct. It is also reachable via the Peloponnese ports (Ermioni, Porto Heli, Metochi) and the neighbouring Saronic islands (Poros, Spetses).
Common questions
Can you walk to Vlychos? Yes - the coastal path west past Kamini, described by our guide as an easy-to-moderate walk.
Is it sandy? It is a pebble cove. Mandraki, east of town, is the island’s one sandy beach.
Is there a boat? Water taxis run along the coast, which makes walking one way and riding back a normal plan.
Next
Our Hydra guide has the ferries and the no-cars rule, the beaches map the whole coast by access, and Hydra town covers the harbour and the mansions.