the best things to do in milos
by kat & joe
yes to Milos?!
If you’ve booked your ticket to Milos or are assessing your options, then look no further! Planning a trip or figuring out your itinerary can be quite daunting. You want to make sure you give yourself the best holiday that you can (and deserve). To help you plan your dream trip, or convince you to buy those tickets, then our Best things to do in Milos guide is the perfect read for you!
#1: sarakiniko beach
Undoubtedly the postcard of Milos and probably the reason why we have all come to know this amazing island. Famous for its moon-like landscape and cliff jumping spots, visiting Sarakiniko is a reason in itself to visit Milos because where else can you go for a swim and feel like you’re on another planet?! It is such a unique spot and makes for some awesome photos. Just bear in mind that there is no sand or shade, so you will just be lying down on the rock – it’s rather smooth so it is absolutely fine. If you’re not the biggest fan of cliff jumping, then there are other areas of the beach where you can walk into the water or hop in at much lower levels. We spent A LOT of time here!
#2: sarakiniko sunrise
As you’ll see from your first visit to Sarakiniko, it can get quite busy. To take some amazing photos and have the beach all to yourself, we highly recommend a Sarakiniko sunrise session! You’ve come all this way so why not seize the day and experience this moment? Trust us…you won’t regret it! And if you’re not a morning person, you’re in Milos – you can always catch up on sleep at one of the beaches (you have 80+ to choose from). Unfortunately, the morning we went for sunrise was a little bit cloudy, which also happened to be the only time we ever saw a cloud covering the sun the whole time we were in Greece! Still, we were able to take some pretty cool photos. If you’re into your photography, you’ll have an absolute field day with the lighting and serenity. It’s a super fun outing when you’re taking these awesome shots.
#3: yanko's
It’s not often you’ll find somewhere to eat and go there 5 nights in a row…Yanko’s, we’ll be forever grateful for you. This place served up the best gyros’ for a little over 3 euro and when you’re travelling on a budget, you just can’t pass that up! Going to Yanko’s just once during your stay is a must. We weren’t exaggerating when we say we went every night for 5 nights. We’d grab our gyros and head somewhere new each night and looking back now, it gave us some of our BEST highlights. The first night we kept it local and ate on a beach by the port in Adamas, the next night we ate it on top of a castle in Plaka (more on that below), the third at the fishing houses of Mandrakia (again, more on that below), Klima for our fourth night and then our final night, where else other than Sarakiniko. Yanko’s is super cheap and fills you up with everything you need. Wholesome vibes.
#4: plaka
Plaka is the capital of Milos. It’s your typical Greek village, full of alleyways, the classic white-washed buildings and is located at the highest point of Milos. We visited just the one time but it is also a popular area to stay. If you’re thinking about where to stay you should read our Ultimate guide to Milos blog. We’re not too sure what the driving rules are in the area, but we couldn’t drive up to the main village and had to park in a large carpark at the bottom of the village and walk up. The main village area has no roads to drive on, so we assume if you’re staying in Plaka, you’d have to walk up each time but it’s nothing too difficult. Plaka has a beautiful view of the sunset, so we suggest coming for dinner at least once. We took our Yanko’s and walked up to the highest point on top of a small castle. At the time of writing, this was allowed with no signs preventing people from climbing on top. Tip for girls, make sure to bring a hair tie as it is super windy up there! We had our wine and gyros’ with the most stunning view over Plaka and of the sun setting. It was really starting to get quite busy leading up to the sunset, with no more spots on the castle shortly after we arrived. We arrived about 2 hours before sunset but weren’t actually planning on watching the sunset from the castle. However, when we realised we had the best seats in the house, we simply had to stay. We spent the rest of the evening wandering through the alleys, grabbing some gelato and then calling it a night.
#5: mandrakia
One of the most picturesque places in Milos, is the small fisherman town of Mandrakia. Full of colours, this was one of our favourite places. Super cute, quaint, bright and a much more chill vibe than Sarakiniko. We sat by the colourful sheds for hours and hours all alone one evening, apart from being joined by a very friendly furry local. The fishing sheds are a great place to grab those photos too. Another reason to visit Mandrakia is to have a sit down meal at Medusa. We can’t tell you about it ourselves as we didn’t manage to eat there but we wish we did! With tables set by the rocks and freshly caught seafood, it gives you the authentic experience that you come to expect when you decide to dine out in Greece. Something else that this beautiful area offers, is its own beach located to the left as you’re driving in. The beach is a decent size and a really nice, lowkey area to chill away from the crowds. There were only a handful of other people when we visited which was a nice change compared to Sarakiniko and Fyropotamos.
#6: fyropotamos
Less than a 10 minute drive away from Mandrakia lies the stunning beach of Fyropotamos, somewhere we didn’t know existed before we arrived as we sort of stumbled across this gem! Simply having “Greece” written all over it, Fyropotamos turned out to be one of our favourite places on the island. With your classic white and colourful buildings perched on the water’s edge, as well as being surrounded by cliffs, it is a must see. Get there early to secure your spot on the beach as it is only a small bay and certainly gets busier by the time it’s mid-morning. You can easily spend a large part of your day here just lying in the sand, swimming and exploring the nearby area. With a handful of docked boats, a jumping ledge and a church, you’ll find that this is one of Milos’ picturesque spots with unlimited photo opportunities!
#7: tsigrado and firiplaka
We’re taking you to a different part of the island for the first time. If you read our Ultimate guide to Milos guide, Tsigrado and Firiplaka beaches are located at the southern end of the island at the bottom of the “U”. We’re including these two beaches together since there’s not much else in the area and after venturing to these parts, it just makes sense, (you’ll see when you get there). Probably the second most photographed spot in Milos (after Sarakiniko) is the iconic ladder leading you to Tsigrado beach. You literally have to climb down a one-way ladder and with the help of some rope, you will make it to the beach. Tsigrado isn’t accessible by road and it takes a bit of work to get down there! It isn’t suitable for everyone as we saw a few people attempting to get down, only to have to give up as they weren’t able to manage the descent. It is quite a cool beach, very small and has the cliff face looming over you, but if it wasn’t for the ladder, there’s not too much else the beach offers. We know that there tends to be debris at this beach and when we visited this was all over the sand leaving the water okay for the most part. It’s not the best swimming spot and we can imagine it’ll get overcrowded in the afternoon. While we still think it’s definitely worth visiting and grabbing a quick pic if it’s not too busy, it’s probably best to spend the rest of your time at Firiplaka while you’re in the area. If you’re after a proper beach and a lie down in the sand with plenty of space, then Firiplaka is the place for you. White sand, low rolling waves, clear blue water, this is the place to park yourself up for the afternoon if you decide to visit the southern end of Milos.
Tip: Don’t get to Tsigrado too early. We thought we’d try to beat the crowds so that we could get a photo of the ladder so we headed off first thing in the morning only for the whole beach to be in the shade due to the overhanging cliff face. We lay around on a sand covered area on top of the cliff (thankfully this was in the sun) for over an hour waiting for the sun to hit the beach way down below.
#8: klima
A west-facing seaside village, Klima gives you another perfect sunset location. Drenched with afternoon sun, it is a popular spot to visit. We never actually swam at Klima as we only visited once during one of our Yanko’s dinner ventures, but there were lots of people around having dinner or playing games in the water. Similar to Mandrakia, Klima is full of colourful fisherman sheds which are set right amongst the shoreline, with some of these sheds being converted into some flats where you could choose to stay. There is a main restaurant set right on top of the beach which catches all the sun. We saw a group of girls sitting in for dinner but despite the gorgeous view, they were absolutely battling with the sun with there being no shade relief. It looked like a good combination of fanning themselves and eating. Overall, we think Klima is worth the visit. It has a nice local vibe and is very picturesque, with the colours of the fisherman sheds popping in your photos!
#9: papagragas caves
Another luscious spot, Papafragas is a small beach which we feel is best to describe as a cove. The beach is only narrow, with rock-like cliffs on either side of the water. This gives a great rock jumping spot, although the main area for this is located to the side of the beach where you can jump into a cave! A super fun place, somewhere which feels like you can only find in Europe, a visit to Papafragas is an afternoon well spent!
And while you’re here, it’s worth travelling slightly further down the road to Pollonia which is one of the main towns in Milos. We didn’t take a walk around ourselves but drove through on our ATV. There is a beach and a few bars and restaurants which gives you a nice local vibe. We just wanted to swim at a nicer beach and found that to be at Papafragas so turned around and headed back to where we had come from.
#10: kleftiko
A boat tour to Kleftiko is undoubtedly one of the most popular things to do in Milos. It’s hard to imagine our trip to Milos being any better than what it was, but a day out to Kleftiko could have well and truly added to our Milos experience which is actually quite hard to believe! The cheapest tour available for us at the time was at least €70 each and unfortunately this was a bit too steep for us at the time. We were only a few weeks into our big Europe trip and were already well over our spending budget after our first two destinations of London and Paris. These two cities really drained the cash out of us which was frightening as we hadn’t even started to properly travel yet! This will be one of the first things we do if we are lucky enough to go back to Milos! Keep in mind that Kleftiko is only accessible by boat.
Convinced?!
And there you have it! 10 amazing things to do in the magical island of Milos. This island is a beachgoers dream full of natural beauty and one of the best things about it is that you never have to drive over 30 minutes to get anywhere! We hope this guide gives you a better idea on what you can do at Milos, or helps you decide on what to do, or even convinces you to make this a stop on your Greek Island itinerary!
See you next time!
Kat and Joe