Things to Do in Sifnos

Best Beaches in Sifnos

The coast of Sifnos faces every direction, so there is nearly always a beach out of the wind. Some have sunbeds and a taverna behind the sand. Some are coves with no road in. You walk, and there is nothing there when you get down.

Platis Gialos, the family beach

About 700 metres of sand on the south coast, Blue Flag, one of the longest beaches on the island and the busiest. The water is calm and clear. Families come because the tavernas are right behind the sand and the bus stops at the beach. Omega 3 is the fish restaurant on the sand, with Yalos and To Steki along from it. Our house is 700 metres up the hill, 7 to 10 minutes' walk down.

Chrysopigi, the one everyone photographs

The monastery stands on its own rock at the end of the headland and the beach below it is two small coves. In July and August go early in the morning or late in the afternoon.

Vathi, the quiet one

A sheltered bay on the west coast with a small village and a handful of fish tavernas. The beach is never crowded, even in August. The water is shallow and calm, so this is where we send families with small children. 15 to 20 minutes from Apollonia by car or bus. On foot it is Sifnos Trail 5 from Apollonia, about 9 km, 3 hours 50 minutes one way.

Faros, for snorkelling

A fishing village with three beaches next to each other. The seabed is rocky and the water very clear, so it is one of the best places on the island to snorkel, with the rocks around Chrysopigi. The coastal path leads on to Glypho and Fassolou, the two quieter beaches either side.

Every beach on the island is in our beaches guide. See all Sifnos beaches →

Traditional Villages & Culture in Sifnos

The villages are joined by old cobbled paths, the same ones people used for centuries before the road. These are the three to see.

Apollonia, the capital

Apollonia is spread over three hills. The main pedestrian street is the Steno. After sunset it fills with people walking up and down past the boutiques, the galleries, the bars and the restaurants. The Folklore Museum is on the main square, and go into the church of Panagia Ouranophora while you are there. Artemonas begins where Apollonia ends and you will not notice the join.

Kastro, the medieval village

Kastro was the capital of Sifnos from antiquity until 1836, and people have lived there since the third millennium BC, longer than anywhere else on the island. The village you see today dates from the 14th century, rings of houses on a clifftop with narrow alleys and arched passages between them. Visit the Archaeological Museum and walk the old walls. Kastro faces east. Go for sunrise over the sea.

Artemonas, mansions and sweet shops

Artemonas has the neoclassical mansions and the pastry shops, and it is quieter than Apollonia next door. Buy amygdalota (almond sweets) at Theodorou, the old family sweet shop. The parish church is Panagia ta Kochi, and Panagia tis Ammou is a few lanes on.

The rest of the island is in our Sifnos guide. Read the full Sifnos guide →

Hiking Trails in Sifnos

Sifnos has over 100 km of signed footpaths, one of the best kept networks in the Cyclades. The paths link the villages to the monasteries and the beaches, with stone walls on either side and wildflowers in spring. They are graded from easy to hard. The easy ones are short walks between villages. The hard ones are long and steep, on rocky ground, so check the grade before you set out. Walk in April to June or September to October. In July and August stay off the paths in the middle of the day.

The old Sifnos Trails app has gone from the app stores. Download Topoguide Greece instead (iOS and Android) and add its Sifnos guide for offline maps, or buy a printed trail map on the island. Take water, a hat and proper shoes. The ground is rocky in places. And ask us before you go. We will tell you which walk suits you.

Sifnos Food & Gastronomy

Sifnos is the food island of the Cyclades. The cooking here is slow, in clay pots made from the island's own clay (the lidded one for chickpeas is the skepastaria), with local herbs, capers and good olive oil. Nikolaos Tselementes was born on Sifnos. People call him the father of modern Greek cooking, and his cookbook from the 1920s is still in Greek kitchens.

The Tselementes gastronomy festival runs in Artemonas from 17 September to 19 September this year.

What to eat

• Revithada. Chickpeas baked slowly overnight in a wood-fired oven. The island's dish, and traditionally a Sunday one.
• Mastelo. Lamb or kid goat roasted slowly with dill and wine in a sealed clay pot.
• Kaparosalata. Capers and caramelised onions, bound with Sifnos olive oil and a little vinegar. No tomato in it.
• Amygdalota. Soft almond sweets dusted with icing sugar. Bakeries all over the island sell them.

Cooking Classes in Sifnos

Several chefs on the island run cooking classes where you make the traditional Sifnian dishes with what is in season. A class runs about four hours. You usually start with a visit to a farm or a walk to gather ingredients, then you cook, then you sit down and eat what you made with local wine. Ask us and we will tell you which chefs to contact.

Pottery Workshops in Sifnos

Sifnos has made pottery for some three thousand years. The island has good clay and plenty of it. The potters made cooking pots and storage jars and sold them across the Cyclades, and several of the old workshops are still going.

Go to the workshops in Vathi and Kamares. The potters show you how they throw on the wheel and let you try, and most sell what they make, cooking pots and decorative pieces, at fair prices. A hand-thrown Sifnos pot is the thing to take home.

In Artemonas the Sifnos Pottery Museum, in the old Dragatsis school, is open daily from June to September, and the potters' association shows members' work there through the summer. Pottery demonstrations are also part of the three-day Nikolaos Tselementes Cycladic Gastronomy Festival each September. The Archaeological Museum in Kastro has the ancient Sifnian ceramics.

Cooking classes, the wheel and a boat day are booked through people we know. They are on the experiences page. Experiences

Monasteries & Churches of Sifnos

Sifnos has 237 churches and monasteries, more per square kilometre than almost any other Greek island. Big monasteries on the hilltops, tiny whitewashed chapels on a cliff edge. Go into at least one.

Boat Tours from Sifnos

A boat is the only way to see the islands around Sifnos and the stretches of coast with no road to them. Boats go out from Platis Gialos and from Kamares through the summer, for a full day or a half day. A La Mer, the company we send guests to, is based in Platis Gialos.

Most people go to Polyegos, the largest uninhabited island in the Aegean, for the sea caves and the swimming. Kimolos is next to it and has the hot springs and the volcanic landscape. Some boats go round Sifnos instead, to the beaches you cannot reach by land.

These are the private and group boat tours we point our guests to. See our boat tour options →

The island radio station

RadioActive has broadcast from Artemonas on 91.3 FM since 1999. It is non-commercial, it plays rock, dance, funk and jazz, and its signal carries well beyond Sifnos. Every August it holds a street party in the lanes of Artemonas, an island fixture since 2007. You can listen from home on its own stream.

Where to Stay in Sifnos

Stay on the south coast, near Platis Gialos. You can walk to the beach, Apollonia and Kastro are a short drive, and the walk to Vathi starts here.

Villa Olivia Clara is our house, on the hillside above Platis Gialos. Four bedrooms for up to 8 guests, a 12 by 5 metre private pool, and the sea in front of every terrace. We host it ourselves, so ask us where to eat, or which beach is out of the wind that day.

Frequently Asked Questions About Things to Do in Sifnos