Beaches in Antiparos

Antiparos is small, and its beaches match: sandy, mostly undeveloped, and close enough together that the island does not demand transport the way its neighbours do. That last point is the useful one, because it makes Antiparos one of the few Cycladic islands where a beach day can start on foot from your door.

Psaraliki, which is the easy answer. A pair of sheltered sandy bays a walk south of the village, shaded in part by tamarisks. Shade at the back of a Cycladic beach is genuinely rare, and being able to reach two bays on foot from the town is rarer still. If you have arrived without a car or a scooter, this is your beach and it is a good one.

Soros, on the east coast. A taverna and calm water. It is the one to aim for when you want somewhere to sit down at the back of the beach rather than carrying lunch.

Sifneiko, sometimes called Sunset beach. On the west side, facing the channel toward Paros. The name tells you when to go.

What “mostly undeveloped” means here. Small bays with little behind them. Carry water and shade for anything beyond Psaraliki and Soros, and do not assume a taverna is waiting.

Which crossing you took decides how much of this you can use. From Pounda on the west coast of Paros a small car ferry runs the short hop very frequently in season, and that is the one to use with a car or scooter. From Parikia a passenger boat runs directly to Antiparos village, and that is the one to use on foot. Arrive on foot and Psaraliki is your range; arrive with wheels and the whole small island opens up. Both crossings thin considerably out of season, and wind can stop the small boats.

Reading the water. This is the Cyclades, so the summer meltemi is the thing that decides a beach day, and a small island with bays facing different ways usually has a sheltered side. Read the sea when you arrive rather than a description written months earlier. What the sea is like covers the mechanism.

Where the best water actually is. Despotiko, off the southwest coast, is uninhabited, and boats run across from Agios Georgios in season. It is the quietest water within reach of this island and it comes with an archaic sanctuary of Apollo under excavation on the shore. Things to do covers that properly.

How long. 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. Our Antiparos guide has the practicalities and Greek island ferries explains the wider system.