Things to do in Spetses

Spetses sits at the southern end of the Saronic islands, about two hours from Athens, and it is the green one: pine woods run down to the water around most of the coast. It is also the one where private cars are restricted. Horse-drawn carriages still work the front, scooters and bicycles do the rest, and the result is an island whose main town you hear rather than dodge. That restriction is the first thing to know, because it changes what a day here sounds like as much as what it looks like.

The town, which is two towns. Spetses Town runs along the north coast in two parts. Dapia is the modern harbour and the arrival point, with a defensive gun battery, cafes and the main square. The Old Harbour, twenty minutes east on foot, is the better half.

The Old Harbour, and why it is the better half. It is a working boatyard where wooden hulls are still built and repaired on the quay, with tavernas along the water and yachts moored between them. A place where wooden boats are still made is rare enough now that it is worth an hour of standing and watching, and it is the single most interesting thing on this island. The walk out from Dapia is twenty minutes and it is the walk to take.

The mansions. Between and above the two harbours stand the shipowners’ mansions that the island’s eighteenth and nineteenth-century wealth paid for. Several are still private. One, the Bouboulina museum, is open, which is the only way most visitors get inside one.

Laskarina Bouboulina, who the island never stops naming. Spetses is unusually attached to one person. Bouboulina was a shipowner who commanded her own vessels in the Greek War of Independence, and the island commemorates her heavily: a museum in her house, a statue on the front, and an annual reenactment of the naval battle of 1822 that closes the season. If you are here at the end of the season, that reenactment is the island’s biggest day; if not, the museum and the statue carry the story.

The ring road, which most people ride. A road rings the island and scooters and bicycles are how it gets used. That is the practical shape of a Spetses day: town in the morning, ride out to a bay, ride back. Water taxis run to the beaches from the town, which is often quicker than the road, and on an island with restricted cars that is a real transport option rather than a luxury.

The pine, which is the other half of the island’s character. Pine woods running down to the water around most of the coast means shade behind the beaches and a green island rather than a bare one, which sets Spetses apart from most of what is south of it.

How it fits a trip. Two nights is the usual, and it is one of the few islands that genuinely works as a weekend from Athens. Fast ferries run from Piraeus in about two hours, and Spetses also connects to Hydra and the Peloponnese coast, which is close enough to reach by small boat. Our Spetses guide has the practicalities, the beaches cover the pine-backed coast, and the group is the Saronic islands.