Beaches in Koufonisia

Koufonisia makes this the simplest beaches page on the site, because the beaches come in order along a single path and you walk between them. The south shore is the island: a path runs along it from the village east past a sequence of coves, each slightly different, and the walk out to the far end and back is a half day with swimming stops built into it. There is no need for a car and, in practice, nowhere to drive one.

The order, west to east. Finikas first, then Fanos, then Platia Pounta with its famous rock arch and pool, then Pori, the long one at the end. Walk as far as you feel like and turn around; there is no wrong stopping point, which is a rare thing on a beach coast.

Platia Pounta, which is the picture. The rock arch and the pool beside it are what put Koufonisia on lists, and unlike a lot of listed places it is a few minutes’ walk from the last one rather than a drive across an island.

Pori, the long one. The end of the path and the biggest sweep of sand here. It is the target if you want one destination rather than a sequence.

Why the water is that colour, and it genuinely is. The clear pale turquoise is not a filter: the sea bed here is white sand rather than rock, and that is what does it. Knowing the cause is worth more than any adjective, because it also tells you the entry is soft and shallow-looking rather than a drop off stone.

Kato Koufonisi, across the channel. A few hundred metres away sits the second island, uninhabited apart from a taverna and a church, with a small boat shuttling across in season. It has beaches and nothing else, which is the reason to go. If the main island’s path feels busy in August, this is the answer.

The August problem, said honestly. Chora fills in August in a way a place this size feels immediately, and a coast path with four coves on it concentrates that. Come in the shoulder season if you can, or walk further east than everybody else.

What to carry. The coast path is the whole infrastructure. Treat the walk as the day, take water and shade with you, and do not assume facilities at every cove.

Reading the water. Small, low island, coves along one shore: on a windy day this coast is what it is, and there is no far side to escape to the way there is on a bigger island. Read the sea when you arrive. What the sea is like covers the mechanism.

Two or three nights, longer if the point is to do nothing, which is a legitimate use of Koufonisia and arguably its best one. Ferries run from Naxos and through the Small Cyclades chain to Amorgos and Schinoussa; there is no airport, and that is a large part of why the island still feels the way it does. Our Koufonisia guide has the rest and things to do covers the village and the second island.