Beaches in Aegina

The honest answer first, because it saves a disappointed afternoon: Aegina’s beaches are modest, and they are not why anybody should come. This is a working island forty minutes from Piraeus with one of the best-preserved Doric temples in Greece on it, a farming interior and an emptied hill town of chapels. The swimming is what you do between those things. Judged that way it is perfectly good; judged as a beach holiday it is not.

Agia Marina, on the east coast, is the sandy one. It is also the resort end of the island, which on Aegina means something much smaller than the word suggests elsewhere. If you want sand and something organised behind it, this is where it is.

Marathonas and Perdika, in the southwest, are the smaller ones. Quieter, less developed, and closer to the character of the rest of the island. They suit an afternoon rather than a day.

Moni, which is the best swim here and is not on Aegina at all. Perdika is the fish-taverna village and the boat point for Moni, an uninhabited islet a few minutes offshore with clear water. That short hop is the answer to anyone who has read that Aegina cannot swim: the good water is just off the island rather than on it, and getting to it takes minutes.

How to plan a day around this. The temple, Palaiochora and a swim make a rushed day trip, so if the swimming matters, either stay a night or cut one of the sites. The island is small enough that Perdika in the afternoon works from anywhere, and it puts you in the right place for both the boat and dinner.

What the sea does here. This is the Saronic Gulf rather than the open Aegean, so it is sheltered water by the standards of the Cyclades, and the island’s own coasts face different ways. Read the water when you arrive rather than a description. What the sea is like covers the mechanism.

Getting around to them. Aegina is small, and the beaches are spread between the east coast and the southwest, so some transport helps if you want more than one. It is not an island where you need to hire something to have a good day, which is worth knowing before you pay for wheels. Which islands need a car is the general question.

Ferries and fast boats run from Piraeus all day, so a swim here is genuinely available to anyone in Athens with a free morning. Our Aegina guide has the island, things to do covers the temple and Palaiochora, and Athens to Aegina as a day trip covers the excursion.