Ikaria

Ikaria runs on a different clock. Shops open when the owner chooses, not when the sign says. Dinner reservations are a hope rather than a plan. The afternoon nap is a real institution, so do not expect service in a village between 2pm and 5pm. None of this is put on for visitors. The islanders live this way, and you either adjust or do not enjoy your stay.

Ikaria is one of the world’s five Blue Zones: regions where far more people live to 100 than the global average, and where researchers go to ask why. The local answer includes the wild greens and herbal teas that grow on the slopes, unhurried working hours, daily walking on hilly ground, close extended families and, for what it is worth, the local wine. The Blue Zone reputation has begun to bring some wellness tourism, but the islanders are wary of the label, and most older people have not changed their habits to suit it.

The other reason to come is the panigiria. From May to September almost every village holds at least one all-night feast for its name-day saint. Trestle tables fill the square, goat cooks slowly over fires, raw red wine comes in jugs and the Ikariotikos circle dance runs from midnight until dawn. Anyone who turns up is welcome, and the feasts are not arranged for foreign visitors. The crowds are local, the music is local, and the night ends with dawn light over the sea.

A practical word. The island lies between Samos and Mykonos with limited ferry connections, and a small airport in the north-west has flights from Athens. The radon hot springs at Therma, on the eastern coast, have been in use since antiquity; radon is a naturally radioactive gas. Stay at least three nights, four if you plan to attend a panigiri. Bring loose clothes, patience with vague timetables and a willingness to drive slowly.

House Notes

  1. Arrival

    The flight from Athens takes 40 minutes into Ikaria National Airport ‘Ikaros’ (JIK), at Faros on the eastern tip, and Aegean Olympic and Sky Express fly the route. By sea, the Blue Star Mykonos calls at Evdilos on the north coast and Agios Kirikos on the south coast, on the line from Piraeus via Syros, Mykonos and Ikaria to Samos. For Armenistis, land at Evdilos: the road from Agios Kirikos is the longer one.

  2. The address

    Cavos Bay at Armenistis, built in traditional stone and timber, sits on the cliff at the edge of the bay. It is the considered hotel address on the north coast. For a villa, Toxotis Villas on the hillside outside Armenistis has seven traditional villas on four acres, with an infinity pool above the sea and a view to Chios, Samos and Mykonos. The season runs from May to September.

  3. Afianes

    Nikos and Maria Afianes opened their winery at Profitis Ilias, above Christos Raches, in 1997 to restore the ancient Pramnian identity. Their grapes are Fokiano for red and Begleri for white, both now PGI Ikaria, a protected regional label. The wine is still made in buried clay amphoras, in the traditional underground pythostasi. The folklore gallery on the estate holds the stone wine press and the household pitharia, large clay storage jars. The winery sits at 610 metres.

  4. Karimalis

    George and Eleni Karimalis left Athens in 1999 to work the family vineyard at Pigi, above Evdilos, on the north side of the island. The estate is certified organic and minimal-intervention, and its wines are PGI Ikaria. Their daughter Iliana, trained in oenology, took over the winemaking in 2019. Two restored stone houses inside the vineyard hold farm-stay guests, who share in the harvest and the raisin-drying.

  5. Anna’s

    Anna’s, above Nas beach on the north coast, is the considered seafood dinner of the island. The lobster comes in that day from the family’s boats and goes into spaghetti with a lightly cooked pomodoro sauce. Soft octopus, grilled calamari, prawn spaghetti and the aubergine salad sit alongside it. The terrace looks west over the bay where the Halaris river meets the sea, on the sunset side of Ikaria.

  6. The baths

    Therma, on the eastern coast, has used its radon waters since the 1st century BC, when the inhabitants were known as the Asclepiads of the Aegean. The Apollon spa in the village square is the central municipal bath, fully renovated and accessible. The Marina Hotel, 100 metres above the cove, opens onto its own thermal cave below the building. Radon enters through the lungs, so consult a doctor before booking long sessions.

  7. Christos Raches

    Christos Raches, the largest village of the north, sits in the pines above Armenistis and keeps its own hours. In midsummer the shops open around 8pm, after the heat has gone. The square holds the Women’s Cooperative of Raches, founded in 2009. It runs a pastry and coffee shop all year, and sells marmalades, spoon sweets, chutneys and herbs from small producers on the island.

  8. Seychelles

    Seychelles, on the south coast near Magganitis, 25 kilometres west of Agios Kirikos, is the island’s clearest cove. It has smooth white pebbles, turquoise water held between sculpted rock and a cave at the smaller beach alongside. From land, a steep footpath runs down a riverbed off the road past the Magganitis tunnel. The gentler arrival is by water taxi from the Magganitis fishing port. It lies on the southern, sun-struck side of Ikaria, away from the Armenistis crowd.

  9. Halaris and Nas

    The Halaris river crosses the west of the island, falling in pools and small waterfalls through the gorge from Christos down to the sea at Nas. The walk is marked and of medium difficulty, three to four hours one way. At the mouth, the 6th-century BC Temple of Artemis Tauropolos, patroness of sailors, survives in its foundations and piers. Its marble columns lie in the shallow water off the beach, where a snorkeller can see them.

  10. Drakano

    The Hellenistic tower of Drakano stands at the eastern tip of the island, on a cliff 50 metres above the Samos channel. It is 13 metres high, built of white marble, with three storeys, and has been restored; it is one of the best preserved in the Aegean. The construction is Alexandrian, from the 4th century BC, with later repairs under Demetrius Poliorketes. The path takes 25 minutes from the parking near the airport. Walk it in the hour before sunset.

Anchorage Notes

  1. Agios Kirykos

    Agios Kirykos is the capital and main port of Ikaria, on the south coast. The daily ferries call here on the Piraeus and Samos line, and a small marina beside the harbour takes pleasure craft among the fishing boats. A yacht lies metres from the town, and the airport is 12 kilometres east at Faros.

  2. Evdilos

    Evdilos is on the north coast, the island’s second port and its historic main town, a short way from ancient Oenoe, the old capital. It is the harbour for the north of Ikaria and the way in for Armenistis and the beaches, and the ferries that do not call at Agios Kirykos call here. A yacht lies on the greener, wetter side of the island, with the mountain villages of Rahes above.

  3. Armenistis

    Armenistis is the seaside village of the northwest and the island’s modest tourist centre: a small fishing harbour below the Rahes mountains, with the long beaches of Livadi and Mesakti along the coast beside it. A yacht lies off the bay, with the guesthouses and the tavernas at the water. It is the north coast’s one resort, and a small one by the measure of other islands.

  4. Karkinagri

    Karkinagri is at the end of Ikaria, an isolated fishing village on the far southwest coast, reached by a long road built late; the sea is the older way in. A yacht lies off the last village on this shore, below the cliffs of the south coast, as remote a landfall as the island has.

Mythology

  1. Icarus

    Ikaria and the sea around it carry the name of Icarus in every ancient account that ties his death to a place. Strabo has him fall onto the island after losing control near Samos; Pausanias has the current carry his drowned body ashore, where Heracles buries it, and reports that a mound to Icarus still stood on the headland in his own day.