An Ios itinerary: which Ios did you book

Which of the two islands you meet depends on two dials: the month you come and the base you pick. Three days does it. Everything else is in the Ios guide.

Before you book: the two dials

In August, Chora is a party that runs until the first ferries move again. In late September the same lanes are a silent Cycladic village with the sea still warm. Both are the real Ios, at different hours.

The base decision follows from that. Staying in Chora puts you in the middle of whichever version is running. Staying at Mylopotas below puts you a walk or a short bus from it. Staying further out puts you on a quiet island with a bus ride to the noise.

There is no airport, so you arrive by boat. If the going out is what you came for, the nightlife runs here and that page is written for it.

Day 1: Chora, and the walk up

Land at Gialos and go up. Chora sits on the hill above the port, a knot of whitewashed lanes, chapels and squares that is genuinely one of the better Cycladic hill towns and gets talked about far less than it should, because its reputation is about something else.

Walk up rather than take the bus if it is not the middle of the day: the old stepped path from the port is short and it delivers you into the town properly.

Spend the late afternoon in the lanes and climb to the windmills and the church above the town for the sunset, which is the best free thing on the island. What happens after that depends on the month.

Day 2: Mylopotas, and the long afternoon

Give a day to the beach the island is known for. Mylopotas is a long sweep of sand on the slope below Chora, organised at one end and quieter at the other, and it is a proper beach rather than a cove.

The rhythm here is simple: beach in the day, walk or bus up to Chora in the evening. In August that is the whole island’s rhythm and the road between the two is busy at both ends of the day.

If Mylopotas is too much, walk south along the coast path and the crowd thins quickly.

Day 3: the coast nobody sees

The day that separates a good Ios trip from a lazy one. The island is small enough to cross quickly, and the south and north coasts hold bays that the summer crowd never reaches.

Manganari in the south is the well-known one, a set of sandy bays a long way from the town by road, reached by bus in season or by boat from the port. Agia Theodoti and the eastern bays are the other direction and quieter still.

Take a scooter or the bus, bring shade, and accept that half the day goes on getting there. That is the trade and it is worth making once.

How to adapt this

Two days. Chora and Mylopotas. That is the essential Ios and it is what most visitors do.

In August, with an early night in mind. Base at Mylopotas or further out rather than in Chora, and treat the town as somewhere you visit rather than sleep. This is the single most useful piece of planning advice for the island.

In late September. The opposite problem: the town is quiet and lovely, some places are closing, and the sea is at its warmest. A gentler trip and a much cheaper one.

With Santorini. The obvious pairing, a short hop south, and the contrast between the caldera and this is the point. Santorini to Ios covers it, and Santorini vs Ios works through the choice.

Where this leaves you

Three days on Ios: the Chora and the sunset from the windmills on the first, Mylopotas on the second, and the far coast at Manganari or Agia Theodoti on the third. The month decides which island you are on and the base decides how much of it you get, so choose both deliberately. The town is better than its reputation, and the quiet coast is better than either.

Quick answers

How many days do you need on Ios?

Three: one for the Chora and the sunset, one for Mylopotas, and one for the quieter coast at the far end of the island. Two days covers the town and the main beach, which is what most visitors do.

Is Ios only a party island?

No, but the month decides. In August the Chora runs late and dominates the island. In June or late September the same town is a quiet Cycladic village with warm sea and much lower prices, and the far coast is empty at any time of year.

Where should you stay on Ios?

In Chora if you want to be in the middle of whatever is happening, at Mylopotas if you want the beach and a short walk to the town, and further out if you want quiet. In August that decision matters more here than on almost any other Greek island.

What is there to do on Ios besides the beach and the bars?

The Chora itself is one of the better Cycladic hill towns, the walk up to the windmills and the church above it is the best sunset on the island, and the southern and eastern bays are genuinely empty. Most visitors never leave the Chora and Mylopotas.