Antiparos

Antiparos is a five-minute car ferry ride from the southern tip of Paros, and it is tempting to treat it as a day trip. Stay the night instead. The island comes into its own in the evening, when the day-trippers have gone back across the strait and the small main square settles into the slower rhythm the place is known for.

The village is built around a fifteenth-century Venetian Kastro, or castle, one of the best-preserved fortified settlements in the Cyclades. Its outer ring of houses forms a continuous defensive wall, with a single gate into a courtyard now occupied by cafes and small boutiques. At the centre is a square of bougainvillea and tamarisk, where most of the island’s evening conversation eventually happens.

The oldest reason to come is the cave. The Antiparos Cave, on a hillside in the centre of the island, is a chamber of stalactites that descends nearly 100 metres into the rock. Greek inscriptions on its walls date to the fourth century BC, and Alexander the Great is said to have visited. The French Marquis de Nointel celebrated Christmas Mass inside it in 1673, with a congregation of hundreds. A guided visit takes about an hour.

The island’s modern reputation, helped by Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson spending their summers here for decades, is light bohemian luxury rather than a full-scale resort. The beaches are short and quiet, the water is shallow, and the island is small enough to walk around in a day. Two nights is enough to do it justice, and three lets the rhythm sink in.

House Notes

  1. Arrival

    The car ferry from Pounta on Paros takes 7 minutes and runs every 20 to 30 minutes through the day. The longer option is the 30-minute passenger boat direct from Parikia. By helicopter, fly to Paros airport (PAS), then take the car ferry across. In August the crossing queues at Pounta at midday.

  2. The Rooster

    The Rooster has 16 separate houses in the green hills above Livadia Beach, each with a private pool, a lounge area and an outdoor terrace. They sit on organic farmland that supplies the kitchen. The hotel is built around wellness, and its owner, Athanasia Comninos, sets out to slow the guest down.

  3. The Beach House

    The Beach House is the relaxed, low-key sister of The Rooster: eight suites on the shore at Apantima Beach, owned by Athanasia Comninos, with the same farm-to-table kitchen and the same focus on wellness. It opens from late spring to early autumn. It suits guests who want a small hotel at sea level rather than on the hill.

  4. The kitchens

    Captain Pipinos at Agios Georgios serves grilled octopus and the catch of the family caique, a traditional wooden boat. With the Sanctuary of Apollo on Despotiko across the strait, it is arguably the most photographed table on the island. Yam, off the pedestrian main street of Antiparos town, serves brunch from 9.30am and a more international evening menu from 7pm. Both opened long before the newer places, and both have held their standing.

  5. Despotiko

    Despotiko, the uninhabited island west of Antiparos, holds the Sanctuary of Apollo, founded by Paros in the mid-6th century BC. Its architecture is almost as developed as that of Delos. Yannos Kourayos and the Ephorate of Antiquities of the Cyclades have excavated it systematically since 2001. The temple columns have been restored step by step, the scaffolding is gone, and the site is now being prepared to receive visitors. A small caique crosses from Agios Georgios.

  6. The beaches

    Soros, on the eastern coast 8 kilometres from the port, is the largest beach, with fine pebbles and deep water. Apantima, past the turning for the Cave, is sheltered from the summer winds and has the Beach House sunbeds. Sifneiko (Sunset Beach), 500 metres from the main square, faces west for the sunset. Livadia, on the western coast 17 kilometres past Kambos, has no facilities and is seldom busy.

  7. Vassilenas Blue

    Vassilenas Blue is the island outpost of the Vassilenas family, whose Athens restaurant opened in 1920 in the Agia Sofia neighbourhood and is now run by the third generation. It opened in June 2022 in Chora, high over the port with Paros across the strait. The signature taramosalata, a fish roe dip, follows the original recipe. The rest of the menu uses every part of the fish and wastes none of the catch.

  8. The window

    Antiparos opens late. The Rooster opens from June, and both hotels close from October to May. Rooms for August book six months ahead. Come in June or September: the evenings keep the same rhythm as in August, but far fewer day-trippers come over from Paros.

Anchorage Notes

  1. The town quay

    Antiparos lies 0.8 nautical miles southwest of Pounta on Paros and 4.8 from Parikia, and the small car ferry crosses the sound all day. The harbour on the eastern side of Chora is kept by the Municipal Port Fund of Paros and Antiparos, the public-law body based at Parikia. A berth there is applied for: owners and operators submit a berthing application to the Fund, whose counter opens for two hours at midday, and water, power, a slipway and wifi reach the quay.

  2. Despotiko

    Despotiko is the uninhabited islet 700 metres west of Antiparos, administratively part of its community and within its water. The Port Fund records that the ancient Parians chose it as a religious centre and a naval base; the Sanctuary of Apollo they founded there is still being excavated and restored, and the islet has no road, no services and no transport. Boats reach it only from Antiparos, and it is a day anchorage rather than a landfall to stay at.

  3. Agios Georgios

    Agios Georgios is on the island’s southern arm, a hamlet at the water’s edge with a pier and no port, and the chapel that gives it its name looks across at Despotiko. The boats to the islet leave from here, and the fish tavernas stand along the shore behind them. It is the only address on the Antiparos coast that faces the sanctuary, and the reason a vessel comes down this side at all.

  4. Panagia

    Panagia lies 1 kilometre south of Chora and is the first quiet water below the harbour, with fine golden sand, tall trees for shade and a single traditional taverna behind them. It is the nearest bay on the east coast for a tender and an afternoon. It stays quieter than the larger beaches further south, and that is its whole appeal.

  5. Glyfa

    Glyfa is 3.5 kilometres south of the town, on the coast that looks back at Paros, with soft golden sand and natural shade. The organised facilities it once had are gone: the café has closed, and the windsurfing school with it. It suits a vessel that wants nothing arranged, and it is near enough to the harbour for the tender to be back before dinner.