Karpathos Beaches
Karpathos has beaches for every taste, from the celebrated bay of Apella - rated among the most beautiful in the Mediterranean - to the family sands of Amopi and quiet, hard-to-reach coves in the south-east. Many of the best beaches are scattered along the coast and awkward to reach without your own transport, so a hire car or a rented villa makes exploring far easier.
- Best beach
- Apella
- Apella from Pigadia
- 15 km
- Busiest
- Pigadia town
- Naturist beaches
- Several
Pigadia town beaches
Pigadia has three beaches - Afoti, Ammos-Xenonas and Vrontis - and its town beach is the busiest on Karpathos, backed by many hotels. The sand lies in the south and pebbles in the north, with umbrellas, sunbeds and tavernas along the shore. Vrontis, about 1 kilometre from Pigadia, is not the prettiest but is the longest beach on the island.
Amopi
Amopi, south of the capital, is one of the most popular beaches on Karpathos, served by a local bus that stops once a day in summer. It has three bays - a pebble beach, a sandy beach and a small cove - known as Micro Amopi and Megalo (large) Amopi or Votsalakia. The sandy beach has a taverna and rents umbrellas and sunbeds, and its shallow water makes it popular with families.
Apella
Apella is regarded as the most beautiful beach on Karpathos, ranked among the finest in the Mediterranean and on lists of the world's best beaches. It lies on the east side of the island, 15 kilometres from Pigadia, in a bay ringed by mountains with azure water. You can now reach it by road, though the surface is poor in places; the easiest way is the boat that leaves Pigadia port each morning and takes about 45 minutes. Sunbeds and umbrellas are for rent on the beach.
Achata & Kyra Panagia
Achata lies 12 kilometres from Pigadia, south of Apella - a quiet beach of white pebbles and sand ringed by green hills, with emerald water, sunbeds, umbrellas and a taverna, but no accommodation on the beach itself. Kyra Panagia, 14 kilometres from the capital between Achata and Apella, sits in a mountain-ringed bay of white sand and smooth pebbles. You reach it by car, motorbike or boat from Pigadia; it has a taverna, a hotel, an apartment complex and rooms to rent nearby.
The south-west beaches
Damatria lies 13 kilometres south-east of Pigadia, a shallow beach of sand and fine pebbles reached by the airport road and a 1 kilometre unpaved path. Diakofti, in the south-west near the airport, is very quiet and split by a sandstone rock, though sea-borne clutter is sometimes blown in. Beyond it, Pounta beach and its neighbouring bay draw naturists. Arkasa, also called Agios Nikolaos Beach, has a sandy beach crowned as one of the cleanest in Greece, but the sea is often rough with high waves and some current on the left; it has umbrellas, sunbeds and a taverna, reached by car or bus from Pigadia. Throughout the south-west, quiet coves reward anyone who follows a road to see where it ends.
Finiki & Lefkos
Finiki, 21 kilometres west of Pigadia, has a beautiful sandy beach beside the village, with hotels and tavernas close by. Lefkos, 33 kilometres north-west of the capital, has three bays of sandy beach and some rooms to rent in the village. Further afield lie more beaches, such as the remote Psoraris (no facilities) and the long pebble beach of Valias, good for windsurfing, both in the south-east.
Naturist beaches
Karpathos has plenty of choice for naturists. At Amopi, near the Lakki Beach Hotel, two of the four beaches are used for nude bathing and rent sunbeds and umbrellas. Golden Sands is a naturist beach with no facilities, so bring your own food and water. Near Lefkos, a path from the last beach by Hotel Sarris reaches a naturist beach after about 10 minutes, with a second small nude beach 5 minutes on. Near Kato Lakos in the east, four beaches include naturist stretches, the third the finest, with no taverna. The hard-to-reach Agontia beach, off a rough road between Spoa and Olympos, mixes naturists with swimwear, and a small bay next to Pounta beach near the airport can also serve as a naturist spot.