Milos

About Milos

By the ULTIMATE Athens City Guide Editorial Team

A volcanic island of extraordinary landscapes: the white moonscape of Sarakiniko, the sea caves of Kleftiko, painted fishermen’s boathouses, early Christian catacombs, and the place where the Venus de Milo was found.

The back story

Milos was shaped by volcanoes, and its geology has made its fortune for thousands of years. In prehistoric times its black volcanic glass, obsidian, was traded across the Aegean for making blades, and the Bronze Age town of Phylakopi grew rich on it. Today the island still mines minerals such as bentonite and perlite, and the old mines and loading quays are part of its landscape.

In 1820 a farmer named Yorgos Kentrotas found a marble statue of a goddess in a field near the ancient theatre, below today’s village of Plaka. Bought by a French naval officer, she became the Venus de Milo, the Aphrodite of Milos, one of the most famous sculptures in the world, now in the Louvre in Paris. A copy and a plaque mark the spot.

In 1820 a farmer named Yorgos Kentrotas found a marble statue of a goddess in a field near the ancient theatre, below today’s village of Plaka.

Near Trypiti, the Catacombs of Milos, carved into the soft rock in the early Christian centuries, are among the most important in the Greek world and can be visited.

Plaka and the fishing villages

Plaka, the hilltop capital, is a lovely village of white lanes, and the climb to the old castle above it gives one of the best sunset views in the Cyclades. Below, the fishing villages of Klima, Firopotamos and Mandrakia are famous for their syrmata, boathouses cut into the rock at the water’s edge, with brightly painted doors and fishermen’s rooms above.

Beaches and boat trips

Milos has around 70 beaches. The most photographed is Sarakiniko, where wind and sea have carved the white volcanic rock into smooth, lunar shapes, and Firiplaka, Tsigrado and Papafragas are all memorable. Many coves are best reached by boat: day trips from Adamas sail around the coast to Kleftiko, a group of white sea stacks and caves once used by pirates, with swimming stops in turquoise water.

Getting there

Milos has a small airport with flights from Athens of about 40 minutes. Ferries from Piraeus take roughly three to three and a half hours on a high-speed boat and up to about seven on slower ferries that stop at other islands, arriving at the port of Adamas. Milos is easily combined with Sifnos, Serifos, Kimolos and Folegandros.

Milos at a glance

Ferry times are typical and change with the season, the boat and the number of stops; check current timetables with the ferry companies or Ferryhopper before you travel.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Milos before you go.