Things to do in Antiparos

Antiparos sits across a narrow channel from Paros and is reached in minutes, which makes it one of the easiest island add-ons in the Cyclades. It is small, and what is on it is easy to describe honestly: a village on one street, a cave in the middle of the island, and a dig on an islet offshore.

The village, and the kastro inside it. Antiparos town is a single main street of whitewashed houses running from the harbour to a Venetian kastro, a fortified core built in the fifteenth century where the outer houses formed the walls. That is the same defensive idea you see at Emporio on Santorini and at Mesta on Chios, and it is worth walking into rather than past.

The street, and the reputation attached to it. It holds the shops, tavernas and bars, and it is busier in the evening than the size of the island suggests, partly because Antiparos has a long-standing reputation as a quiet retreat for people who can afford to be anywhere. That reputation is the reason the evening does not match the daytime scale.

The Cave of Antiparos, which is the headline sight. A large stalactite cave in the mountain at the island’s centre, entered down a long flight of steps into a single vast chamber.

Two things worth knowing before you go. It is a serious descent and climb on steps, several hundred of them, and there is no other way out: what you go down, you come back up. And the cave has been visited for a very long time, so the walls carry inscriptions left by travellers over centuries, which is either vandalism or history depending on how old it is.

Despotiko, the islet offshore. Off the southwest coast lies an uninhabited island where archaeologists have been uncovering an archaic sanctuary of Apollo for years. Boats run across from Agios Georgios in season, and the site is open ground with excavation in progress rather than a finished monument. It is the most interesting thing on the island for anyone who likes ancient sites, and it is genuinely quiet.

How to get here, and why the crossing you pick matters. From Pounda, on the west coast of Paros, a small car ferry runs the short hop across the channel very frequently in season, and that is the one to use with a car or scooter. From Parikia, the Paros port, a passenger boat runs directly to Antiparos village in season, and that is the one to use on foot. Neither needs booking in advance the way an inter-island ferry does, but both thin considerably out of season, and wind can stop the small boats.

How long it earns. A day trip works, and it is the standard Paros excursion: the boat over, the cave, a beach, lunch in the village, the boat back. If Despotiko is on your list too, give it more than that. Our Antiparos guide has the practicalities, the beaches cover the coast, and Greek island ferries explains how the wider system works.