Port of arrival on Folegandros is Karavostasis, rebuilt in 2008 and lined since then with cafes and tavernas along an attractive waterfront. Two beaches straddle the finger of land that accommodates the port and its environs, the more westerly of the two being superior. After undertaking a short transfer of 10 minutes, you alight in the cliff-top village of Hora, a completely different world. It is no exaggeration to describe Hora as one of the most beautiful, traditional villages of its kind in the Greek islands. Non-essential traffic is barred from the inner village. Cafes and tavernas abound and prosper in this unusual environment, their location beneath almond trees and adjacent to the village church adding to the attraction. The village itself is perched on a sheer cliff, some 700 feet above the sea. The views are superb, exaggerated more so when the effort is made to climb that bit higher on the path from the village to the church of Kimisis Theotokou.
Local transport is restricted to the bus service between the port, Hora and the island’s only other settlement, Ano Meria. Along the way a stop is made at Agali Beach in Vathy Bay. From here it is possible to follow the coastal path to a second excellent beach at Agios Nikolaos. In fact, walkers will take full advantage of the many mule tracks that criss-cross the island, legacy of the days when the cultivation of barley was the local economy’s mainstay.
Folegandros can be combined with Athens, Amorgos, Koufonissia, Milos, Mykonos, Naxos, Santorini, Sifnos & Sikinos.
Ano Meria is the counterweight to Hora and worth the bus fare. Strung along the road rather than gathered into a village, it is a working settlement of small farms and scattered houses where the island’s agricultural past is still visible in the terracing and the stone walls. From the far end, paths drop to the beaches on the north-west coast, which take effort to reach and are empty as a result.
Hora, and why Folegandros is worth the crossing
The Hora sits on a sheer cliff some 700 feet above the sea, and non-essential traffic is barred from the inner village. Cafes and tavernas work beneath almond trees beside the church. The path up to Kimisis Theotokou above the village repays the extra climb with the view the island is known for. Folegandros has other things, but the Hora is the argument.
The Folegandros beaches
The Folegandros beaches take effort, which is why they stay empty. Two straddle the finger of land at the port, the westerly one the better. Agali in Vathy Bay is a bus stop on the road to Ano Meria, and from it a coastal path continues to a second good beach at Agios Nikolaos. Old mule tracks reach the rest. Nobody comes to Folegandros for easy sand, and the Folegandros beaches are the better for it.
How to get there
How to get there is the one thing to settle before booking anything else. The crossing from Santorini takes about fifty minutes, which makes it one of the shortest useful ferry legs in the Cyclades, and Santorini takes direct flights from the UK. From Piraeus it is a long day on the western Cyclades routes, so most people work out how to get to Folegandros via Santorini rather than direct. Working out how to get there before fixing the return flight, and how to get to Folegandros on the day the wind is up, is the difference between a calm trip and a tight one.
| Leg | By | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| London Gatwick → Santorini | flight | — |
| Santorini → Folegandros | ferry | 50 min |
Crossing times are the scheduled durations of the route, not a timetable. Sailings vary by season and operator.