Andros is different from every other island in the Cyclades, and it has always known it. Where its neighbours are dry, rocky and wind scoured, Andros is green, fertile and generously watered by springs and streams that flow year round through its wooded valleys and terraced hillsides. The northernmost island of the Cyclades sits closest to the Greek mainland and carries a character that reflects that proximity: prosperous, cultured, quietly confident and deeply proud of a food tradition that has nothing to prove and everything to offer. The abundance of water that sets Andros apart from the rest of the Cyclades is also the foundation of its remarkable dairy culture. Where other islands rely almost entirely on goats and sheep grazing on sun baked scrubland, Andros has always been able to support cattle alongside its goats, and that has given the island a range of cheeses unlike anything else in the archipelago.
The livestock farming tradition on Andros stretches back across many generations, and the cheeses that emerge from it are genuinely distinctive. The famous Volaki, shaped like a small cone and made from pasteurised cow’s milk with a richly buttery character when young and a spicy intensity when aged. The Petroti, a flavourful salt free cheese pressed under stone in the traditional manner. The Armexia, a soft white fresh cheese carrying the clean, milky character of the island’s own animals. The Kopanisti of Andros, fermented and pungent and completely addictive on warm bread. These are cheeses that belong entirely to this island and to no other, and discovering them in their proper setting, in a village dairy, on a farm terrace or in a taverna that has been serving them for decades, is one of the most genuinely rewarding food experiences the Cyclades has to offer. In 2024, the ancient cheesemaking tradition of the Cyclades was formally inscribed on the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Greece, recognition that Andros shares with pride. These are the five best experiences waiting for you.
Table of Contents
1. Asoutis Dairy, Korthi
Overall Information
Asoutis Dairy is the most celebrated and most important artisan cheese producer on Andros, and the story behind it is exactly the kind of story that makes genuine food tourism so compelling. Nikos Asoutis studied at the prestigious Cheese Production School in Ioannina, one of the finest dairy education institutions in Greece, before returning to Andros to do what the island’s tradition demanded: make cheese properly. The family created a dedicated cheese dairy in the settlement of Korthi, in the southern part of the island, using milk produced primarily by their own cows. The goal from the very beginning was to revive the special cheeses of Andros, cheeses with the intense and authentic taste that the island’s dairy heritage demands, and to make them available to a wider audience without sacrificing the craft and the character that make them worth seeking out in the first place. The range produced at Asoutis includes the iconic Volaki in its various stages of maturity, the Petroti, the Armexia and a beautiful Mastiha cheese made from pasteurised cow’s milk with a spreadable texture and a distinctive mastic flavour that is entirely unique to the producer. Each cheese carries a strong local character and a special flavour that reflects the quality of the island’s own animals and pastures.
Location
Asoutis Dairy is located in Korthi, in the southern part of Andros, 840 02, Greece. Korthi, also known as Ormos Korthiou, is a quiet and beautiful bay village on the southern coast of the island, far from the tourist activity of Batsi and the architectural grandeur of Chora. The surrounding landscape of Korthi is some of the most fertile and green on the island, with valleys full of olive groves, citrus trees and the lush pastureland that supports the cattle whose milk gives Asoutis its raw material. The dairy itself is a working production facility rather than a polished visitor attraction, and that simplicity is a significant part of its appeal. You arrive somewhere that is genuinely focused on making excellent cheese, and everything you taste reflects that single minded commitment.
How to Get There
From Chora, the elegant capital of Andros on the east coast, the drive south to Korthi takes approximately thirty minutes by hire car along the main road that winds through the island’s beautiful interior. From Gavrio, the main port on the west coast where most ferries arrive, the drive to Korthi takes approximately forty five minutes. Hire cars and scooters are readily available from rental companies in both Gavrio and Batsi, and a hire car is by far the most practical way to explore the southern part of the island and combine a visit to Asoutis with the surrounding villages and coastline of the Korthi area. The dairy’s products are also available at artisan food shops in Chora, including Paradosiako Pantopoleio and Rodozaxari Paradosiaka Proionta on the main pedestrian street, where you can taste and buy them without making the journey south. However, visiting the dairy directly in Korthi is a significantly richer and more memorable experience. Contact the dairy directly by phone before making the journey to confirm visiting hours and availability.
Services and Experiences
Asoutis Dairy offers visitors the opportunity to see the production facility and taste the full range of cheeses directly at source, an experience that carries an immediacy and authenticity that no shop counter can replicate. The Volaki is the centrepiece of any tasting here and deserves your full attention at both ends of its maturity spectrum. When young, it is soft, buttery and gentle, wonderful eaten with a slice of local bread and a drizzle of Andros honey. When aged, it firms up considerably, develops a deep ochre colour and takes on a spicy, complex character that makes it one of the finest meze cheeses in the Cyclades and an extraordinary companion to a small glass of local tsipouro. The Mastiha cheese, a spreadable creation with a subtle, resinous mastic flavour, is one of the most unusual and interesting products you will encounter on any Cycladic island and is available exclusively here. Bottles of local products including honey, olive oil and preserved items are also available for purchase. The Asoutis cheese range is distributed to selected outlets across Andros and is also sold online through specialist Greek food retailers such as Yolenis in Athens, but the experience of tasting it where it is made, in the green valley setting of Korthi, is something genuinely different and worth the journey.
2. Messaria Village Cheesemaker
Overall Information
There are some food experiences that no guidebook can fully prepare you for, and the cheesemaker of Messaria is one of them. This is not a dairy with a visitor centre or a tasting menu or a booking system. It is a woman working in her home workshop in the village of Messaria, making Volaki and other traditional Andriot cheeses by hand in the way that the island’s dairy tradition has always demanded, using milk from local animals and methods passed down through her family across multiple generations. Her cheese is, by widespread local consensus, the finest produced on Andros. Taverna owners across the island seek it out specifically. Food writers who have spent time on Andros speak about it with the kind of reverence usually reserved for far grander productions. This is exactly the kind of artisan producer that serious food lovers travel specifically to find, and the fact that it exists here in a quiet village in the central interior of Andros is one of the best kept secrets of the Cyclades.
Location
The home workshop of the Messaria cheesemaker is located in Messaria village, Andros, 845 00, Greece. Messaria is a traditional inland village in the fertile central valley of Andros, sitting below the dramatic medieval tower of Agios Petros and surrounded by the lush agricultural landscape that makes this part of the island so different from the typical Cycladic character. The village is close to Chora and is considered part of the wider Chora region, making it very accessible for visitors based in the capital. The setting is completely authentic, with narrow stone lanes, old houses draped in jasmine and bougainvillea and the constant sound of water from the springs that run through this valley year round.
How to Get There
From Chora, Messaria is a short drive of approximately ten minutes by hire car along the inland road heading north through the central valley. The village is also reachable on foot from Chora along one of the island’s many traditional footpaths, a walk of approximately thirty to forty minutes through genuinely beautiful countryside that passes olive groves, old watermill sites and traditional stone walls. The Andros Routes hiking network includes paths through this area and their detailed maps and route guides are available at androsroutes.gr. Because this is a private home workshop rather than a formal business, the best way to find the cheesemaker is to ask your hotel host or accommodation provider in Chora for directions and an introduction. This is not a producer who advertises, and the experience of being pointed in the right direction by someone who knows the island well is itself part of what makes arriving here feel so special. Her cheese is also sold at various shops and tavernas across the island, so asking where to buy Messaria cheese at any good food shop in Chora will put you on the right path.
Services and Experiences
The experience of visiting the Messaria cheesemaker is entirely personal and informal, which is precisely what makes it so memorable. If you are fortunate enough to arrive when production is underway, you may be invited to watch the process from start to finish: the heating of the fresh milk, the addition of rennet, the draining and shaping of the curds into the distinctive cone shaped Volaki mould, and the salting that determines whether the final cheese will be sold young and soft or left to age into something altogether more powerful and complex. The conversation that accompanies this, conducted through a mix of Greek and enthusiastic gesture, is invariably warm and generous and conveys a pride in craft that is completely genuine. Cheese purchased directly here is as fresh and as good as it gets on the island. Take more than you think you need. It travels well for a day or two in cool conditions, and you will absolutely wish you had bought more once you are back in Chora eating the last piece with a glass of wine on a warm evening.
3. Livada Natural Farm, Messaria
Overall Information
Livada Natural Farm is one of the most genuinely original and thoughtfully conceived agrotourism experiences available anywhere in the Cyclades, and for visitors who want to understand where their food comes from at a deep and meaningful level, it is absolutely unmissable. The farm was established by Alexandros and Petros, two young Athenians who left the city behind to cultivate part of what has historically been one of the most productive agricultural areas of the Chora region, in the Livada area of Messaria. Both are trained in regenerative agriculture practices and have worked on farms across Europe and beyond, bringing a combination of inherited wisdom and formally acquired knowledge to a project that is genuinely inspiring in its ambition and its results. The farm operates on low technology, bio-intensive, no till principles that aim to increase biodiversity and soil fertility over time rather than depleting them, and the vegetables, herbs and fruit it produces are some of the finest you will taste on any Cycladic island. The farm tour experience includes a hands on introduction to regenerative farming followed by a light lunch prepared using the farm’s own ingredients and accompanied by local cheeses and cold cuts from Andros producers, along with local wine or tsipouro.
Location
Livada Natural Farm is located in the Livada area of Messaria, near Chora, Andros, 845 00, Greece. The meeting point for all farm tours is at Chora itself, from where the specific farm location is communicated after booking. The farm sits in the Livada valley, one of the most historically significant and agriculturally productive areas in the entire Chora region, with a landscape of terraced fields, ancient olive trees and the spring fed waterways that have made this corner of Andros so fertile for so long. The setting is beautiful and completely peaceful, and spending a morning here in the company of people who understand and love this land deeply is one of those travel experiences that shifts your perspective in a lasting way.
How to Get There
The meeting point for Livada Natural Farm tours is Chora, which is located on the east coast of Andros and is connected to the main port of Gavrio by regular bus services and by hire car, a journey of approximately forty minutes. For visitors staying elsewhere on the island, pickup from accommodation can be arranged upon request, subject to an additional charge for locations outside Chora. All bookings are made in advance through the One Foot Forward website at onefootforward.gr or through Unlimited Adrenaline at unlimited-adrenaline.gr. The full farm tour with light lunch is priced at 45 euros per person, with a minimum of four participants required per session and a maximum of eight. A shorter farm tour without the lunch component is available at 25 euros per person for those with limited time. The cancellation policy allows a full refund for cancellations made seven or more days before the agreed start date, a fifty percent refund for cancellations between three and seven days before, and no refund for last minute cancellations within three days. All tours take place upon request throughout the season, so advance booking is essential.
Services and Experiences
The Livada Natural Farm tour runs for approximately two hours and is available for families with children, couples and small groups. The experience begins with a guided walk through the farm led by Alexandros or Petros, who explain the principles of regenerative agriculture in clear and engaging terms that make the subject accessible and fascinating for visitors of any background. You learn how the farm manages its soil, water and plant life to work with the natural ecosystem rather than against it, and you see first hand the extraordinary results that this approach produces in the quality and flavour of the ingredients. Guests are invited to harvest vegetables of their own choice during the tour, taking home what they pick as a living souvenir of the experience. The light lunch that follows is one of the most satisfying meals you will have on Andros, built from the farm’s own produce and accompanied by a generous selection of local Andriot cheeses and cold cuts from producers the farm knows and trusts personally. The cheese component of the lunch is a genuine highlight, with Volaki, Armexia and Petroti all typically present alongside the farm’s own pickles and bread, and the combination of flavours achieved with ingredients of this quality and freshness is simply outstanding. Local wine or tsipouro rounds off the meal in exactly the right spirit. Comfortable walking shoes and a light layer for the morning are recommended, and children below the age of six are not suitable for the experience.
4. Kosses Farm Taverna, Ano Fellos
Overall Information
Kosses is not just the most interesting restaurant on Andros. It is one of the most genuinely remarkable farm to table experiences available anywhere in the Cyclades, a place that has built its reputation not on fashionable concepts or clever marketing but on the extraordinary quality of what it produces, raises and cooks on its own land every single day. Located near the village of Ano Fellos in the mountains above Gavrio, in the wild northern interior of the island, Kosses is a working farm where horses, deer, goats, cattle, ducks and chickens roam freely across the grounds while the kitchen produces dishes from ingredients that are almost entirely self grown and self raised on the property. The cheese served here comes from the farm’s own goats and cattle, made in the traditional Andriot manner and served with a simplicity and generosity that immediately communicates its quality. One visitor who worked methodically through the entire restaurant circuit of Andros in the summer of 2025 described the food at Kosses as the best on the entire island, and that is a verdict that resonates strongly with the experience the farm delivers. Complimentary bread with olive oil and oregano and a carafe of raki arrive as a matter of course, setting the tone for an experience that is warm, honest and completely unlike anything else on the island.
Location
Kosses Farm Taverna is located near Ano Fellos village, in the mountainous northern interior of Andros above the port town of Gavrio, Andros, 845 01, Greece. The setting is one of the most dramatic on the island, high in the mountains with views sweeping down across the northern valleys and out to the sea beyond. Getting there requires a drive along the mountain roads that climb above Gavrio into the island’s wild interior, a journey that is itself one of the great pleasures of exploring Andros by hire car. The farm property is large and surrounded by the natural landscape of the northern mountains, with the animals ranging freely across the grounds and the whole scene conveying a sense of productive abundance that is immediately captivating.
How to Get There
From Gavrio port, which is where most ferries to Andros arrive, the drive up to the Ano Fellos area takes approximately fifteen to twenty minutes by hire car along the mountain road that climbs out of the port town into the interior. The road is well maintained and the drive through the northern mountains is genuinely beautiful. Kosses is best reached by hire car given its elevated mountain location, and the drive is entirely straightforward in daylight. Because Kosses is a farm operation rather than a commercial restaurant, visiting hours and availability vary and advance contact is strongly recommended before making the journey up the mountain. The taverna operates for both lunch and dinner during the season and is also available for private events and group bookings. Ask your accommodation host in Gavrio or Batsi for the most current contact details and directions, as local knowledge is always the most reliable guide to finding places like this.
Services and Experiences
Kosses Farm Taverna offers a dining experience that is unlike anything else on Andros and that represents the very best of what farm to table cooking can be when the farm is genuine rather than a marketing concept. The menu changes according to what is ready and in season on the property, and the kitchen prepares dishes with a directness and confidence that comes from knowing exactly where every ingredient originated. The cheese experience at Kosses is woven into every part of the meal rather than existing as a separate tasting. Fresh farmer’s cheese from the property’s own goats and cattle appears on the meze table alongside local olives, capers and bread. Soft white cheese is paired with the farm’s own honey and walnuts as an extraordinary starter that captures the essence of Andriot food culture in three ingredients. Aged cheese is shaved over dishes with a generosity that reflects both the quality of what has been produced and the pleasure the kitchen takes in sharing it. The grilled meats, all from the farm’s own animals, are exceptional, and the combination of extraordinary ingredients, a magnificent mountain setting and the kind of hospitality that exists only in places where people genuinely love what they do makes Kosses a dining experience of real distinction. Book ahead, allow plenty of time and arrive hungry.
5. Andros Routes Cheese Trail and Local Producers Map
Overall Information
Andros Routes is one of the finest hiking and agrotourism organisations operating anywhere in the Greek islands, and its dedicated work to connect visitors with the island’s cheesemaking tradition represents one of the most thoughtful and valuable contributions to food tourism in the entire Cyclades. The organisation has invested significantly in documenting, mapping and promoting the cheesemakers of Andros, including the creation of a fully interactive digital map of producers, processors and sellers of local products across the island, linked directly to the network of hiking trails for which Andros is justly famous. In January 2023, Andros Routes organised a dedicated seminar for local producers to help them better connect with visitors, and the digital map that emerged from that work is a genuinely powerful tool for any food lover who wants to explore the island’s dairy heritage with depth and intelligence. The organisation also contributed a significant text to a major collective volume on the cheesemaking heritage of Greece, linking the discovery of the pastoral Andriot landscape with the cheesemaking tradition itself and establishing the case for hiking based cheese tourism as one of the most meaningful and sustainable visitor experiences the island can offer.
Location
Andros Routes is based on Andros island and its network of hiking trails covers the entire island, from the northern mountains above Gavrio through the fertile central valleys of Messaria and Arni to the southern bays around Korthi, 840 00, Greece. The local producers map is accessible digitally at androsresearchcenter.org/en/paragwgoi and shows the location of every registered cheesemaker on the island in relation to the hiking route network, making it possible to plan a walking itinerary that combines the extraordinary natural landscape of Andros with direct visits to the producers whose animals and craftsmanship shape the island’s dairy character. The Andros Routes website at androsroutes.gr contains the full trail network, maps, route descriptions and all the information needed to plan a self guided or guided cheese trail experience across the island.
How to Get There
The starting points for the Andros Routes trail network are accessible from all parts of the island, with trailheads clearly marked and described on the organisation’s website and app. The most convenient starting points for visitors are in Chora, in Batsi, in Gavrio and in the Messaria valley, all of which connect to the wider trail network and to the local producers listed on the digital map. The website at androsroutes.gr provides downloadable maps, GPS tracks and detailed route descriptions for every trail on the island. For those who would prefer a guided experience, the organisation can be contacted directly at office support at androsroutes.gr or by phone at 6942 653 635, and they are able to arrange interpretive tours that combine hiking with visits to registered cheesemakers and other local producers along the route. These guided tours are particularly highly recommended for visitors who want to understand the deep connection between the pastoral landscape of Andros and the cheeses it produces, and who want to do so with the benefit of a knowledgeable local guide who knows every producer personally.
Services and Experiences
The Andros Routes cheese trail experience is built around the fundamental idea that the best way to understand a landscape and its food is to walk through it. The trail network on Andros covers over 300 kilometres of paths, many of them ancient and used by shepherds and farmers for centuries, and walking these paths in the company of the cheesemakers and producers who are registered on the map is an experience that connects you to the island at a level that no day trip or organised bus tour can approach. The digital producers map at androsresearchcenter.org/en/paragwgoi is an extraordinary resource, allowing visitors to identify registered cheesemakers near any given trail section and plan visits accordingly. Producers listed on the map include small family dairies making Volaki, Armexia, Petroti and Kopanisti alongside honey producers, olive oil makers and herb farmers, all of whom welcome visitors who arrive with genuine curiosity and respect for their work. The combination of a morning walk through the green valleys and terraced hillsides of Andros, a visit to a small dairy where cheese is being made by hand, a tasting of that cheese still warm from the press, and a picnic lunch in the shade of a walnut tree with a piece of Volaki and a drizzle of local thyme honey is a food and nature experience of extraordinary quality. It costs very little and it stays with you for a very long time.
The Cheeses of Andros: A Quick Guide
Andros produces a wider range of cow’s milk cheeses than any other Cycladic island, a direct reflection of its exceptional agricultural fertility. Here is what to look for and what to expect from each one.
- Volaki is the most iconic cheese of Andros, made from pasteurised cow’s milk and shaped in a distinctive small cone. When young it is soft, buttery and gentle with a texture close to mozzarella. When aged it firms to an ochre coloured wheel with a spicy, complex intensity that makes it one of the finest meze cheeses in the Cyclades.
- Petroti takes its name from the stone used to press out its liquid during production. It is a salt free cheese with a flavourful, clean character that is best enjoyed young and fresh. It is made from goat’s or cow’s milk and has a semi hard texture that holds up beautifully alongside strong flavours.
- Armexia is a soft, fresh white cheese made from a mixture of cow’s and goat’s milk, similar in character to feta but carrying its own distinctive Andriot identity. It is wonderful in salads, in pies and eaten simply with bread and olives.
- Analati is an unsalted hard cheese typically made from goat’s milk, drained and hardened in muslin bags and then dried. It is clean, pure and deeply flavoured, a cheese that lets the quality of the milk speak entirely for itself.
- Kopanisti of Andros is the island’s version of the famous Cycladic fermented cheese, made from mizithra that is placed in a clay pot with salt, kneaded repeatedly over several days and then covered with a cloth soaked in vinegar. The result is softer and less aggressively spicy than the famous Mykonos version but deeply flavoured and entirely addictive as a spread on warm bread.
- Mastiha Cheese is a spreadable creation unique to Asoutis Dairy, made from pasteurised cow’s milk with a gentle mastic flavour that is unlike anything else produced on the island. It is ideal at breakfast on toast and is one of the most distinctive and unusual souvenirs you can bring home from Andros.
- Malachto is a fermented soft cheese that carries a rich, developed character from its fermentation process. It is served as a meze and pairs beautifully with the local tsipouro or raki.
Tips for Cheese Lovers Visiting Andros
Andros is one of the most rewarding cheese destinations in the Cyclades precisely because its dairy culture is so deeply rooted in the land and so genuinely distinct from its neighbours. Here is what to keep in mind as you plan your visit.
- Visit Asoutis Dairy in Korthi for the most comprehensive single introduction to Andriot cheese production. The Volaki in all its stages of maturity and the unique Mastiha cheese are both well worth making the journey south for.
- Ask your hotel host where to find the Messaria cheesemaker. This is genuinely the finest artisan producer on the island, selling directly from a home workshop, and the experience of buying cheese this way is one you will not forget.
- Use the Andros Routes producers map at androsresearchcenter.org/en/paragwgoi before you arrive to identify which cheesemakers are closest to the hiking trails you plan to walk. The combination of walking and cheese tasting is one of the great pleasures of Andros.
- Look for the two artisan food shops in Chora, Paradosiako Pantopoleio and Rodozaxari Paradosiaka Proionta, both on the main pedestrian street. These are the best places on the island to buy a curated selection of local cheeses, honey, olive oil and preserved products to take home.
- Book Livada Natural Farm well in advance, particularly for visits between June and September when availability fills up quickly. This is one of the finest farm to table experiences in the Cyclades and it requires a minimum of four participants per session.
- The best time to visit Andros for the full cheese experience is between April and October, with spring offering the freshest and most delicate milk cheeses and autumn delivering the finest aged varieties.
- Pair every Andriot cheese with local honey. The thyme and fruit blossom honey of Andros is one of the island’s finest products and its combination with Volaki at any stage of maturity is one of those food pairings that immediately makes perfect sense.
Andros gives generously to those who come with curiosity and patience. Its cheese culture is not designed for quick visits or glossy tasting rooms. It lives in home workshops and farm kitchens and village dairies, in the hands of people who have been making the same cheeses for their whole lives without feeling the need to tell anyone about it. Come and find them. The green valleys of Messaria, the mountain farms above Gavrio and the quiet southern bay of Korthi are all waiting, and the cheese they produce is extraordinary.