Andros

Andros is the greenest island in the Cyclades, and one of the easiest to reach from Athens. Most travellers pass it by on the way to Mykonos and Santorini, and that neglect is its quiet advantage. The island has water where its neighbours have only wind: chestnut and plane trees, ravines that end in waterfalls, streams running past Venetian watermills in the Dipotamata valley.

Wealth here came from shipping. In the nineteenth century, Andriot captains and shipowners built fortunes that reshaped Hora, the capital. It is a long, slender town set on a peninsula between two beaches, with neoclassical houses, marble streets, and the Goulandris Museum of Contemporary Art at its heart. The museum was founded by one of those shipping families; its summer exhibitions draw visitors from Athens specifically to see them.

The island is best understood on foot. The Andros Route, a restored network of around a hundred kilometres, links inland villages with coastal monasteries and beaches that no road reaches. Spring and autumn are the seasons for it: streams are running, the heat has gone, and the trail through the Pythara gorge is at its most generous.

A few practical things. The cheeses petroti and volaki are still made in small quantities. Fourtalia, a herb-and-potato omelette, is on most village tavern menus. The ferry from Rafina is two hours, and the last one back is unforgiving. Three nights is the minimum we would recommend.

House Notes

  1. The address

    Onar, in the Ahla Valley — independent stone houses and villas inside the Natura 2000 reserve where the river meets the sea, a remote corner of wild Andros. May, June, and September are the quieter months on the property's calendar.

  2. The Goulandris

    The Basil & Elise Goulandris Museum of Contemporary Art in Chora was inaugurated in 1979 by the Andriot shipping family, with a New Wing added in 1986 — built in marble and stone to harmonise with the island. Its core was the bequest of the Andriot sculptor Michalis Tombros, whose work the museum was raised to house.

  3. The Andros Route

    The 100-kilometre Andros Route was certified Leading Quality Trail – Best of Europe in 2015, the first island trail in Europe recognised by the European Hiking Federation. The Foundation behind it leads maintenance walks every second weekend in spring, autumn, and winter, open to all and often paired with cultural side-events.

  4. The kitchen

    Endochora, on the pedestrian street of Chora — Mediterranean cooking with Andros produce. The lamb shank, the octopus, and the zucchini meatballs are the dishes the kitchen is recognised for; the wine list runs through Greek boutique cellars. Reserve directly with the kitchen and ask for a table away from the door.

  5. The pantry

    Andriakon Pantopoleion at Karavostasi, the harbour at Gavrio (postal code 84501) — local cheese, thyme honey, capers, dry pasta, and natural Greek wines, with homemade spoonsweets and fair-trade goods alongside. A useful provisioning stop on the drive in from the western port.

  6. The dynasties

    Hora's shipping pedigree sits in one room. The Maritime Museum of Andros, founded 1972 through a donation by the family of Nikolaos I. Goulandris, holds uniforms, ship's logbooks, manifests, and the captains' portraits and ship models. Open during the summer only.

  7. Kourtesis

    Kourtesis Wine Estate works terraced vineyards at around 100 metres above the sea, the meltemi salting the fruit. The planting is Cycladic — Mavrotragano, Malagouzia, Assyrtiko, Mandilaria, and the indigenous Potamisi — vinified in a cave winery cut into the rock. Tastings are arranged on request; the concierge sets the visit ahead of the crossing.

  8. The Hermes

    The Hermes of Andros, a Hellenistic copy of the Praxiteles found at Paleopolis in 1833, is the headline of the Archaeological Museum at Theofilos Kairis Square in Chora — founded 1981, designed by Stamos Papadakis. Open daily April through October, closed Mondays.

Anchorage Notes

  1. Gavrio

    Gavrio, in the island’s northwest, is the main port of Andros, where the ferries from Rafina make land — one or two a day in winter, as many as six in high summer — with the Tinos and Mykonos boats besides. A yacht lies here among the ferry traffic: it is the working gateway of the island, the bus running from the quay to Batsi, Chora and Korthi.

  2. Batsi

    Batsi holds the west coast, the island’s most visited fishing village — hotels and tavernas around the harbour, and the beaches that made it Andros’s resort. The Port Fund administers the harbour, and a yacht lies off the town for its sand and its dinner: the busy side of the island, a short run down the coast from Gavrio.

  3. Chora

    Andros town — Chora — keeps its harbour on the east coast, used, in the municipality’s words, mainly as a marina for private boats and fishing vessels. At the end of the headland lie two islets: the first, reached by a stone bridge, carries a ruined Venetian castle; the second, a lighthouse. A yacht lies below the marble town, the castle and its light standing out into the sea before it.

  4. Ormos Korthiou

    Ormos Korthiou holds a wide bay in the island’s southeast, its village strung along the front with hotels and tavernas, and the beach of Tis Grias to Pidima — the Old Lady’s Leap — close by. It is the quiet southern call, an hour by road from Gavrio and a world away from the ferry port’s traffic: the corner of Andros a yacht comes to for the stillness.