Sunning and Sanding in Folegandros

While we were planning this trip, we asked a Greek friend of a friend where we should go that wasn’t just Athens or Santorini. She shared lots of useful pointers, among them something along the lines of “Folegandros has the bluest water I’ve ever seen”. That, combined with its proximity to Santorini (which we just weren’t going to miss), meant we ended up visiting!

Folegandros is by far the smallest island (both geographically and population-wise) that we visited on this trip. Back in the Roman day it apparently was home to tens of thousands of people. Today, the year-round population is probably in the hundreds, with a large boost for the summer tourist season. It’s (/can be) easy and economical to visit Folegandros by ferry, which is probably why there were more actual Greek vacationers here than any of the other places we visited. Also, it’s beautiful – that helps.

The island has three towns, one of which is the main town, and many beaches. You choose which beach to visit based on the prevailing wind direction (important if you want the crystal-clear water experience) and how hard it is to get to. Some are only available via water taxi, which is how we discovered Elisse’s new favorite way to do a beach day: start at one, water taxi to the next one, hang out for a bit, water taxi to the next one, and so on. It’s relaxing and sightseeing at the same time! We spent a lot of time going to beaches, roving around the island on the 4×4 we rented, going to restaurants in town, and just hanging out at our hotel and enjoying the pool and sunshine. We had an absolutely beautiful and delicious dinner our first night, in a large square in the town under big old trees decorated with twinkle lights.