Sifnos

About Sifnos

By the ULTIMATE Athens City Guide Editorial Team

A green, walkable island of whitewashed villages, potters’ workshops, a chapel on a rock in the sea and some of the best cooking in Greece, famed since antiquity for its gold and silver.

The back story

In antiquity Sifnos was one of the richest islands in Greece thanks to its gold and silver mines, and around 525 BC the islanders built a lavish treasury at Delphi to hold their offerings to Apollo; its sculptures are among the masterpieces of the Delphi museum. Legend says the god punished them when they stopped sending him gold, and the mines flooded.

Later, Sifnos became known for its potters and its cooks. The island’s clay made it a centre of pottery for centuries, and many famous chefs came from here, above all Nikolaos Tselementes, whose early 20th-century cookbook became so famous in Greece that his name is still a word for a cookery book.

The capital, Apollonia, spreads along a ridge in the centre of the island, its lanes lined with white houses, flowering courtyards and small cafés.

Villages

The capital, Apollonia, spreads along a ridge in the centre of the island, its lanes lined with white houses, flowering courtyards and small cafés. Kastro, on a rock above the sea on the east coast, is a medieval fortified village whose outer houses form the wall, with Venetian coats of arms, ancient fragments and a dramatic setting. Artemonas has elegant mansions, and Kamares, the port, has a long sandy beach.

Food and pottery

Sifnian cooking is famous across Greece. Try revithada, chickpeas slow-baked overnight in a clay pot in a wood-fired oven, mastelo, lamb or goat baked with red wine and dill, and the local cheeses and almond sweets. Potters still work in villages such as Platis Gialos, Kamares and Vathy, and a handmade Sifnian pot makes a lovely souvenir.

Beaches and walks

At Chrysopigi, a white monastery of the 17th century stands on a rock islet joined to the coast, one of the most photographed sights in the Cyclades. Vathy, Platis Gialos and Faros have sheltered sandy bays. Sifnos is also a walker’s island, with a network of marked paths linking villages, monasteries and beaches, at their best in spring and autumn.

Getting there

Sifnos has no airport. Ferries from Piraeus take roughly two and a half to three hours on a high-speed boat and about five hours on a conventional ferry, arriving at Kamares. It is easily combined with Milos, Serifos, Folegandros and Paros.

Sifnos 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 Sifnos before you go.