Alonissos
Alonissos requires effort to reach. Most travellers fly to Skiathos, ferry to Skopelos, then ferry on; the journey takes the best part of a day. That filters who comes, and it is part of why the island still feels closer to itself than its busier neighbours.
The surrounding waters were declared the National Marine Park of Alonissos and the Northern Sporades in 1992. It is Greece's first marine park and one of the largest in the Mediterranean. The park's caves and uninhabited islets shelter what is probably the most important breeding population of the Mediterranean monk seal, Monachus monachus, whose total worldwide numbers are estimated under a thousand. Glass-bottom-boat day trips from Patitiri, the principal port, run through summer; landings on most of the smaller islands are restricted by zone, and you should not expect to see seals at close quarters. They have learned to avoid people.
The inhabited part of the island is small. Old Alonissos, the hilltop capital, was largely abandoned after the 1965 earthquake when the residents were rehoused at the new port of Patitiri below. In the past three decades the village has been quietly bought up, restored, and reoccupied as a residential settlement of stone houses and a handful of small pensioni. The walk up from Patitiri takes around forty minutes; the road brings you in faster.
In 1985 divers identified a wreck off the islet of Peristera carrying a cargo of fifth-century BC amphorae. It is now Greece's first underwater archaeological site open to the public, accessible to recreational divers with a guide and to non-divers via a virtual exhibit at the Patitiri museum. Three nights, with at least one full day on the water, and aim for May or late September.
House Notes
Arrival
From Athens to Skiathos by air, then onward by sea. SeaJets's catamaran Eagle Jet 2 and the Aegean Flying Dolphins hydrofoil Erato run the Skiathos – Skopelos – Alonissos route through summer — passengers only, the better part of two hours. Hellenic Seaways calls year-round from Volos. Patitiri's harbour takes small yachts and tenders; deeper draughts moor at Steni Vala on the east coast.
The address
Liadromia at Patitiri — 14 rooms and six studios in a renovated stone cottage above the port, family-run, with the bay view across the harbour — is the considered hotel address. For a private villa, Alonissos Poikilma at Raches holds four houses (Thalassa, Ouranos, Petra, Elia), each with a private infinity pool and a view across the pine to the sea.
Tassia's
At Steni Vala's small port, Tassia's has been the family kitchen since Paul and Nausika Drossakis opened it — their son Stamatis runs it now. The signature is astakomakaronada, the recipe the founder's; the scorpion-fish in lemon is the kitchen's quieter pride. The fish comes in by the family that night; the menu turns on what the boat has brought.
The Underwater Museum
The Alonissos Underwater Museum, opened to the public in August 2020 as Greece's first, sits at 25 metres' depth off the islet of Peristera — a 30-metre Classical-era merchantman with around 3,000 amphorae that once carried the wines of Mende and Peparithos, dated 425–420 BC. Recreational divers go down with a guide; non-divers see the wreck through the Patitiri shore museum. The 'Parthenon of Shipwrecks.'
The seals
The 2026 census in the National Marine Park of Alonissos and the Northern Sporades photo-identified 21 newborn Mediterranean monk seals — chiefly on the islet of Piperi — the highest count across nearly four decades of monitoring. Greece now holds about half the world's Monachus monachus population; MOm's rehabilitation centre runs out of Alonissos, the Hellenic Society's facility for orphaned and injured seals.
The trail
The Alonissos trail network runs 14 signposted routes across 35 kilometres — from coastal paths under Aleppo pine to the climb of Mount Kalovoulos, the southern cape that rises 325 metres above the sea. Difficulties span easy to hard; only one route earns the hard grade. The path from Patitiri to Old Alonissos is the cardinal walk for guests arriving with one full day.
The beaches
Chrissi Milia — 'golden apple tree' — is the family swim on the east coast, soft sand under pine. Megalos Mourtias, 5 km from Patitiri, is the sheltered pebble cove of the locals — calm under most winds. Vrysitsa is reached by the kilometre footpath down from Old Alonissos: sand at the bottom and no road to it.
Kokkinokastro
Kokkinokastro — 'red castle' — is the cliff-and-cove site of ancient Ikos, one of two cities of the Classical-period island on the same peninsula. The ochre cliffs above mark the headland; the city's fortification walls survive on land, and geological subsidence has carried sections of the peninsula under shallow water. Bronze Age pottery has been recovered from the slope above.
Steni Vala
The small natural port of Steni Vala on the east coast is the working fishing village of the island — opposite the islet of Peristera, sheltered all summer from the prevailing winds, the overnight stop for sailing yachts running the Sporades. The kitchens above hold the daily catch; the harbour stays the village's harbour, not a resort's marina.
The Mavrikis Museum
The Historical and Folklore Museum at Patitiri, founded by Konstantinos and Angela Mavrikis in 2001 in a stone house above the harbour, is the largest private museum in island Greece. The ground floor holds the amphorae and the maritime collection; the basement is the folk register — costumes, beekeeping tools, an olive press. The serious counter-weight to the beach-and-boat afternoons.