Kos Beaches: From Kos Town and Tigaki to Kefalos
Kos has good beaches all round the island, but the crowds and its international airport make most of them textile beaches in July and August, while quieter, larger beaches leave room for naturists. There is an official nudist beach at Tropical Beach near Kardamena and an established naturist area at Tigaki by the Alyki salt lake. This guide runs round the coast in five stretches, from the organized beaches of Kos Town to the longest, quietest beaches near Kefalos. For towns, sights and getting around, see the Kos island guide.
- Group
- Dodecanese
- Longest beaches
- Kefalos area
- Official nudist
- Tropical Beach
- Windsurfing
- Tigaki & Troulos
Beaches around Kos Town
Around the capital, Kos Town, the beaches are busy and organized. Theodorou Beach is the town beach itself, north of the port, with sunbeds, parasols and watersports; just south of the new port, Agios Gabrill Beach is a string of small sandy beaches renting umbrellas and beach beds. Lambi Beach, a few kilometres north and walkable, is a long organized sandy beach with tourist facilities, restaurants, accommodation and a shallow, child-safe sea, and parts are used by naturists outside high season. Psalidi Beach, 3 kilometres south, is a long sandy beach with luxury hotels, many restaurants and accommodations, watersports and a regular bus from the capital. Agios Fokas Beach, 8 kilometres south of Kos Town, is a long beach of sand in places and black sand and pebbles in others, organized but with a naturist stretch on the left where there are no beach beds. Thermes Beach (Embros Therme), about 13 kilometres south, is a beautiful pebble-and-sand beach below high cliffs with an artificial circular pool of hot volcanic water at 40 to 50 degrees mixed with the sea, smelling of sulphur and said to be medicinal, with a taverna and a bus from Kos Town.
Tigaki and the salt lake
Tigaki (Tingaki) Beach, 11 kilometres north-west of Kos Town, is one of the island's most beautiful beaches, about 10 kilometres long, with excursion boats in high season to the island of Pserimos. It has long been partly nude beyond the organized area, and since 2002 the stretch by the Alyki salt lake and beyond has been an official naturist beach; it is so large it never feels crowded, with a shallow sea and watersports. The Alykes lake behind it is a protected wetland where birds breed and flamingos winter, and between Tigaki and Marmari stands the Agion Anargiron church with its square white tower and white roof.
Kardamena and the beach-hotel resorts
Kardamena is one of the island's biggest resorts, a mostly new, hotel-filled village with discos, tavernas, a crowded beach and a harbour of excursion boats. About 3 kilometres west lies Tropical (Natural) Beach, the only official nudist beach on Kos, a small beach of clean, shallow water with beach beds, umbrellas and a beach bar. Further west towards Kefalos are the large organized sandy beaches named after their hotels: Portobello Beach by the Porto Bello Hotel, Mitsis Norida Beach by the Mitsis Norida Hotel, and Blue Lagoon Beach south of the airport by the Blue Lagoon Village Hotel.
Mastichari and the north coast
Mastichari is the largest village on the north coast, quieter than Kardamena, with a good sandy beach, the best of it west of the centre and the large hotels to the east, and a naturist area in the middle between the village and the hotel at the end. Northeast of Mastichari lie Nea Alikamassos, Troulos, Bravo and Marmari beaches: Nea Alikamassos is a 3 kilometre sandy beach with facilities, the long, wide Troulos is the island's windsurfing centre, Bravo is a long sandy beach with sunbeds and a restaurant, and Marmari, on the west side of Lake Alyki, is organized with beach beds, restaurants and accommodation but tends to catch the wind. West of Mastichari, Agios Ioannis Beach, named after a nearby early Christian basilica, is a long, partly narrow sandy beach ringed by cliffs, and Lakos Beach is another long, narrow beach; both can gather seaweed.
Kefalos and the southwest
The best beaches lie near the village of Kefalos, 45 kilometres from Kos Town, in the most fertile, quiet and relatively unspoilt part of the island. The largest beach is at Kamari in the south, which also has the remains of an ancient agora, while nearby Agios Stefanos Beach sits by an early basilica opposite the islet of Agios Nikolaos with its chapel. East of Kefalos, reachable by boat, bus or the main road, run Magic (Polemi or Exotic) Beach, the first beach from the airport, partly organized with room for naturists; Psilos Gremos or Sunny Beach, the same stretch of sand with a taverna set back about 200 metres and room for naturism; and Markos and Paradise Beach, each with its own exit, both organized with tavernas, where Markos allows discreet naturism and Paradise has a patch of sea bubbling with gas from the nearby Nisyros volcano, earning it the nickname Bubble Beach. Camel Beach, in its own cove of sand and pebbles, has beach beds and a small neighbouring beach for off-season naturism, while Agios Stefanos and Kamari beaches nearby do not allow nudism. In the far west, 7 kilometres southwest of Kefalos, Agios Theologos (Sunset or Wave Beach) is reached through rough terrain past the cemetery and has tavernas and room for naturists; Cavo Paradiso Beach, in the extreme southwest by a monastery with an FKK sign, has a taverna, beach beds and a poor access road, and nearby Kata Beach is a long, unorganized sandy beach down a dirt track, suitable for naturists with a shallow, sandy entry. On the northwest side, reached north from Kefalos, lie Sikofa and Dafni beaches, and Limnionas (Limionas) Beach, about 5 kilometres from Kefalos, a quiet, deserted sandy bay with fishing boats that still has beach beds for hire in high season.