Why Syros?
I’ve written a lot about Greece over the years. It’s our favorite country after all. I first visited in 1990 and 1992 with friends in college (Athens, Olympia, Delphi, Hydra, Poros, Aegina and Mykonos) and then my wife and I traveled to Athens and Santorini in 2009. We stopped at several islands in 2014 off a Disney Cruise (before we knew that cruises were a terrible way to see the islands). Then in 2015 we started taking annual trips to the islands. We’ve visited Naxos, Paros, Mykonos and Santorini several times, and Antiparos and Crete once each.
I’ve said it before, but Mykonos and Santorini aren’t enjoyable in the summer. Mykonos Town is still charming despite all the upscale shops, but not when there are 10,000-15,000 people in town off cruise ships. And Santorini still has one of our favorite restaurants, but Oia gets so crowded with day-trippers that it’s not worth visiting anymore.
The other islands of the Cyclades are much calmer – because they don’t get cruise ships. Naxos is our favorite island, but it’s a little repetitive to go back every year. So this year we switched to Syros. It’s close to everything else, but definitely in a lower tier of Greek island tourism.
Traveling to Syros
Syros and a lot of other smaller islands have airports, but they don’t get a lot of flights, those flights are mostly just to/from Athens, and they don’t always connect well to international flights. The alternative is to fly into Mykonos or Santorini, which are far better connected, and then take a ferry to neighboring islands.
Mykonos is easier than Santorini, simply because the main town is also near the airport and ferry port. This year we flew from Florence to Mykonos via Munich. Given the likelihood of flight delays, and the traffic on Mykonos, I’m always hesitant to book a flight followed by an immediate ferry. And sure enough, our Discover Airlines flight arrived late. Instead we booked two nights in Mykonos Town. I purposely chose days with only 1-2 smaller ships in port (you can see cruise arrivals here), and we had an enjoyable time on the island. FYI, I highly recommend staying at Matina Hotel in town – great location and not expensive. We rented a car for a day to explore the rest of the island, which wasn’t exciting, but lunch at Kiki’s Tavern made the excursion worth it.
Then our last morning we walked to the harbor and took a 10-minute Sea Bus (€2.50/ticket) to the port and hopped on the 45-minute ferry to Syros. Super easy trip.
Where to Stay on Syros
We always want to stay in, or within easy walking distance to, the main town on any Greek island. And we opt for family-run boutique hotels over chains or fancy places. I found Arion Boutique Hotel on TripAdvisor and it seemed perfect. It’s a few minutes’ walk from town, but we never mind a little walking, and it turns out that the location was perfect. It’s near a couple of beaches and restaurants and near the swimming spot, and it’s close to a parking lot, which made renting a car multiple days really easy. I wrote to the hotel with our needs – two rooms, one with a single bed, one with two beds – and they suggested a setup which worked perfectly. Our kids were downstairs in a large room with a great patio and view. We were upstairs with an even better patio and view! Whenever we went into town we met in front of the hotel.
Our rooms included breakfast. Every day we had fresh eggs, fruit and bread, with pastries and Greek yogurt. Plus coffee. Excellent food and service. And the hotel also picked us up from the ferry when we arrived. When we departed six days later, we simply walked from the hotel to the ferry – downhill, and by that point we knew exactly where we were going.
I booked directly with the hotel for the best rate.
What To Do on Syros
Exploring Ermoupoli
Syros is a Greek island for the Greeks. Most tourists were Greek. We heard very little American English. All of that was nicely refreshing. The flip side is that there really isn’t much of a tourism infrastructure, there aren’t many tourist activities per se, and the shops in town are mostly for locals. There are a couple stores with local products, but not many artisans. Naxos and Paros, and even Mykonos, are better if you’re looking to take home ceramics, olive wood items, etc…
We relaxed a lot, with leisurely walks into town for coffee in the late morning, lunch, and dinner. We walked all of the shopping streets many times, even if we didn’t buy much. Ermoupoli (aka Ermoupolis or Hermoupolis) is a great town to simply wander around.
Exploring the Island
We rented a car for two days, organized by the hotel. The first day we drove to Galissas Beach, which wasn’t exciting. We then did some quick online research and headed over to Vari, which was much better. Not only was the beach more enjoyable to spend time at, but there were SUP and kayak rentals. My daughter hopped on a paddle board for an hour, while my son and I rental a clear-bottomed kayak and went towards Antiparos. In reality we made it just to the open Aegean in half an hour and turned around and headed back for the beach. We dined at one of the beach restaurants, which was very good, and drove back to town.
That night we drove to Plakostroto restaurant, which was one of the things that had really been recommended to us by locals. The restaurant is perfectly situated for sunset, and as we watched the sun go down over the islands of Kithnos, Kea and Giaros, we had maybe our best meal of the trip. Highly recommended. My son called and was able to make a same-day reservation, but it’s better to book earlier than that.
The next day we took the car over to Kini, which didn’t excite us. Apparently it’s a great beach to watch the sunset from. We had lunch there and headed back to town, feeling comfortable that we had gotten our money’s worth from the Syros rental car.
Swimming
Swimming was a highlight. I should note that the swimming spots near our hotel weren’t sandy beaches. Walking directly down to the water from our hotel, there were two rocky coves. We went down a couple times, but the much better spot was a concrete landing, Vaporia Beach, roughly a five-minute walk towards town. If you want a Greek island summer vibe, this is the spot. Bring a towel, find a spot for it and then jump in the water. The water’s not Hawaii-warm, but it’s a lot better than California, and it’s super easy to float. It was easy to spend hours there – with sunscreen of course.
Ano Syros
Ano Syros is above Ermoupoli and looked cute in Instagram stories. Mapping a walking route, it looked fairly easy – uphill, but only about 20 minutes from our hotel. So we walked up and…regretted it. It was hot and the walk was exhausting, with A LOT of stairs. We explored a church and sat at a cafe for a while, but really there isn’t much to see there. Skip Ano Syros. Or go, but don’t walk up!
The Cats of Syros
Like other Greek islands, Syros has a lot of cats – which was the highlight for my teens! We got to know a lot of cats over the course of our six days on the island, feeding them and naming them. Randy, Popcorn and Scuba were our favorites. They like Temptations and Purina more than the healthier cat food that the stores in town will try to sell you.
Where to Dine on Syros (Syros Restaurants)
My friend Kat (Traveling Greek) is from Syros and gave us a long list of restaurant recommendations. We made it to most of them. I should note that a lot of menus are similar, and just like on other islands, most restaurants are good. It really is hard to go wrong. The nice thing about Syros is that our meals were roughly half the price of Mykonos, Santorini, Paros or Naxos. Our average tab was around €50 for appetizers, three main courses (we always order one less meal than the number of people, since portions are huge) and wine, and usually dessert is thrown in free.
Our best meals were at To Petrino and Ιθάκη του Αή in town, and at Plakostrato 15 minutes away (with the rental car). Lunch at Vox Grill in Vari was great. When we wanted to have something other than Greek for a night, we went to Kin Khao for Thai, which was excellent. Also had dinner at Mammo Food and Wine Bar at the harbor, which was good but the portion sizes were ridiculously large. We could have ordered just two things for the four of us.
Our last night on Syros we went to Astakos, near our hotel and right above the Vaporia Beach swimming spot. The food was good. Loved the setting and service.
We also went to several cafes and coffee spots in town. Box of Bush was our favorite.
Departing Syros
I mentioned above that we really don’t like to book ferries and flights back-to-back, since it’s risky if there’s a delay. However, we didn’t want to spend the night on Mykonos again when we were leaving, so I took a chance. Our Blue Star Ferry was supposed to arrive in Mykonos at 1:20pm and our flight to Munich was at 4:05pm. That seemed safe. And just to be extra sure, I booked a port-airport transfer (through Welcome Pickups). That turned out to be the smartest thing I did. When we arrived in Mykonos half an hour late, there were 80+ people in line for taxis, and there were no taxis. We would have missed our flight. Instead our driver got us to the airport around 2:40pm, even with considerable traffic, so we had plenty of time.
Syros – What We Spent
The Arion Boutique Hotel was €530/night for two rooms and breakfast. Some meals where as low as €15 if we just grabbed food from a bakery, otherwise lunches and dinner averaged €50-60. Our amazing meal at Plakostroto was €90. Our rental car was €100.
Matina Hotel on Mykonos was €430/night for two rooms. Our rental car was €50. The Sea Bus transfer to the port was €10 for all four of us. Round-trip ferries between Mykonos and Syros were €180 for all of us – on Seajets going over and on Blue Star coming back. Lunch at Kiki’s was €110 and worth it.
Our transfer between the Mykonos port and the airport was €61 (through Welcome Pickups), and I tipped €20 since our driver had to wait half an hour extra for our late ferry, and then he hit a lot of traffic.
Syros – Final Thoughts
I really enjoyed Syros. If you want a laidback Greek island experience without the expense of the other Cyclades and the crowds (and influencers) of Mykonos and Santorini, it’s a great choice. Ermoupoli is charming, but not as Instagrammable as Mykonos, which I really appreciated!
