Paros has always been the island that gets everything right without making a fuss about it. The marble is world-famous. The beaches are exceptional. The village of Naoussa has been drawing food lovers and sailors for decades. But beneath all of that, quietly and with very little fanfare, Paros has maintained a dairy and cheese tradition of genuine depth and character that most of its visitors never discover. That is their loss, and your opportunity.
The island sits in the shadow of its neighbour Naxos, which processes thirty tonnes of milk a day compared to Paros’s three. But what Paros lacks in volume it more than compensates for in character. The local breeds grazing on the island’s dry, herb-covered terrain produce milk with a flavour intensity that reflects the wild oregano, thyme and savory of the Parian landscape. From that milk comes a range of cheeses that are almost entirely consumed on the island, rarely reaching the mainland or the attention of international food writers, which makes discovering them here feel like a genuine find. The Graviera, the Kefalotyri, the Ladotyri aged in olive oil, the Souroma, the extraordinary Touloumisio and the spicy Kopanisti are all waiting. In 2024, the Cycladic cheesemaking tradition was inscribed on the National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Greece, and Paros carries its share of that heritage with quiet and justified pride. These are the five best experiences.
Table of Contents
1. Farmers’ Cooperative Union of Paros, Parikia
Overall Information
The Farmers’ Cooperative Union of Paros is the most important dairy institution on the island and the foundation on which all organised Parian cheesemaking rests. Established in 2001 with a creamery built to absorb the island’s cow’s milk production, the Cooperative represents the collective effort of Paros’s livestock farmers to give their milk a proper destination and their island’s dairy tradition a structured, quality-driven future. The creamery is staffed by a young team including Marcos Kortianos, a graduate of the prestigious Dairy School of Ioannina, whose technical expertise meets an inherited respect for traditional method. The secret to every cheese made here, as the team will tell you directly, is the quality of the Parian milk itself. Processing over three tonnes of milk a day entirely from local animals, the Cooperative produces the island’s full range of traditional cheeses: Graviera, Kefalaki, Ladotyri aged in olive oil, Krassotyri matured in wine, Souroma, fresh Myzithra and clarified butter. The Cooperative also produces wine under four labels from local Mandilaria and Monemvasia varieties, making it the only institution in Paros capable of offering a complete island food and drink experience in a single visit. Notably, the Cooperative has developed an impressively ecological approach, with a chemical engineer developing a process that returns dairy, wine and olive oil processing by-products to the fields as natural fertiliser, giving the entire operation a sustainability dimension that is rare in the Cyclades.
Location and How to Get There
The Farmers’ Cooperative Union of Paros has its main facilities and retail shop in Parikia, the island’s capital and main port, Paros, 844 00, Greece. The shop is accessible on foot from the port and from anywhere in the centre of Parikia. Products are also available in every supermarket, local grocery shop including Diplos and butcher shop on the island. Contact the Cooperative directly through the local directory or through your accommodation host to arrange a visit to the creamery, as production tours are by appointment. Parikia is connected to all parts of the island by regular bus services, and the port is the arrival point for all ferries from Athens and neighbouring islands.
Services and Experiences
A visit to the Cooperative creamery is one of the most genuinely informative cheese experiences available in the Cyclades. Guided by Marcos and his colleagues, you walk through the refrigerated ageing rooms where the cheeses rest at different stages of development, understanding visually and through tasting exactly what time and temperature do to the same starting material. The tasting covers the full range of Parian cheeses, from the mild and buttery fresh Myzithra through the firmer and more assertive Kefalaki, the Ladotyri with its characteristic olive-oil richness, the Krassotyri with its subtle wine character and the Souroma, the island’s own take on Xinomyzithra, creamy and refreshingly sour and consumed fresh within days of production. The Cooperative shop in Parikia is the most convenient single stop for buying the complete range of Parian cheese and wine to take home, and it is where the island’s restaurants, supermarkets and tavernas all source their supply.
2. Kamarantho Organic Farm, Paros
Overall Information
Kamarantho is one of the most thoughtfully designed and genuinely original agrotourism experiences in the Cyclades, a working organic farm in Paros that has built a visitor programme around the principles of permaculture, sustainable agriculture and a deep engagement with the island’s natural landscape. The farm hosts guided tours for up to ten people at a time, walking visitors through approximately 700 trees including olives, figs, pomegranates, almonds and carobs, 3,500 aromatic and medicinal plants including oregano, savory, dittany, sage, rosemary and sea fennel, a vineyard of four local grape varieties and a greenhouse with experimental crops. The tour takes between thirty minutes and one hour depending on the group’s interests, and ends with a tasting at the farm kiosk that includes the farm’s own olive oil, olives, fresh tomato paste, seasonal produce and a selection of local Parian cheeses from the Cooperative alongside freshly baked bread from the traditional bakery of Ageria. The combination of organic farming education and genuine food tasting in a landscape of extraordinary ecological richness makes Kamarantho one of the most rewarding food tourism experiences on the island.
Location and How to Get There
Kamarantho farm is located on Paros island, 844 00, Greece. The telephone number is 0030 698 834 1929 and the email address is [email protected]. Tours must be booked at least two days in advance and are available from May through October. The minimum charge for a tour group is 115 euros, and the per-person price starts from 25 euros depending on the experience selected, with olive harvest and olive curing experiences available as a separate seasonal option from 30.25 euros per person. Transport to the farm is arranged by the visitor, and parking is available directly opposite the farm. Tours are conducted in Greek, English and French by qualified staff.
Services and Experiences
The Kamarantho tour begins with a guided walk through the farm led by staff who explain the specific principles of organic and sustainable farming as they apply to the Cycladic micro-climate, where drought tolerance, minimal water use and harmony with the natural ecosystem are not philosophical choices but practical necessities. The cheese component of the experience comes at the tasting, where Cooperative Parian cheese is served alongside the farm’s own products as part of a spread that also includes their double-distilled souma spirit, fresh bread and seasonal preserves. The combination of the farm’s extraordinary aromatic herb landscape, the wild thyme, the oregano, the sea fennel, with the cheese tasting that follows creates an immediate and visceral understanding of why Parian milk tastes the way it does and why the cheese made from it carries such a distinctive local character.
3. Paros Wine and Cheese Core Flavours Tasting
Overall Information
The Paros Wine and Cheese Core Flavours Tasting is a dedicated guided tasting experience that brings together the island’s most distinctive dairy products and its celebrated wines in a structured session designed for visitors who want a deep and expert-led introduction to the flavours of Paros in a single sitting. The experience pairs the island’s traditional cheeses with wines from Parian producers including those from the Cooperative’s four labels and from Moraitis Winery, the island’s oldest and most celebrated wine producer founded in 1910 and awarded the 2024 Gastronomos Wine Production Award. Moraitis wines carry a Protected Designation of Origin label, one of only two PDO wine certifications in the entire Cyclades outside Santorini, and the combination of these wines with the island’s own cheese makes for a genuinely compelling and entirely local tasting experience.
Location and How to Get There
The Paros Wine and Cheese Core Flavours Tasting is bookable through Peek at peek.com. The specific tasting location on the island is confirmed upon booking. The experience is available throughout the summer season and is suitable for small groups and couples. Advance booking is required and is strongly recommended during July and August when the island operates at full capacity. The experience is self-contained and no transport beyond arriving at the meeting point is required.
Services and Experiences
The tasting is led by a knowledgeable local guide who explains the character and production method of each cheese variety and the specific qualities of each wine in the context of the island’s agricultural heritage. The pairing of Graviera with the island’s white Monemvasia wine is a classic combination that captures the mild, buttery richness of the cheese and the clean minerality of the wine in a way that makes both taste better than they do alone. The spicier Kopanisti paired with a glass of red Mandilaria is equally memorable, the cheese’s heat and the wine’s dark fruit finding a balance that is entirely and unmistakably Parian. The experience also covers the island’s softer cheeses including Souroma and fresh Myzithra, paired with lighter wine styles and local honey and rusks, creating a complete arc of flavour from the most delicate to the most assertive products the island produces.
4. Statheros Restaurant, Naoussa
Overall Information
Statheros is the restaurant in Naoussa that food-conscious visitors to Paros return to with the most loyalty, and for very good reason. This organic farm-to-table meze restaurant is built on three generations of one family’s recipes, with fresh vegetables, fruits and eggs gathered daily from the Statheros family farm and seafood, meat, cheeses and wines sourced from local producers across Paros and Antiparos. The cheese here is local Parian throughout, sourced directly from producers the family knows personally, and it appears across the entire menu in the way it should in any kitchen that genuinely understands its ingredients. This is not a restaurant with a polished concept or a design-forward dining room. It is somewhere that has been feeding people well for a very long time because the people behind it care deeply about the quality of what they serve and the tradition from which it comes.
Location and How to Get There
Statheros Restaurant is located in Naoussa, Paros, 844 01, Greece. The telephone number is 0030 22840 51888. Naoussa is on the northern coast of Paros, approximately ten kilometres from Parikia by hire car or bus, and is the island’s most vibrant food and nightlife destination. The restaurant is accessible on foot from anywhere in the Naoussa village and harbour area. Reservations are strongly recommended throughout the summer season, particularly during July and August when the best tables fill well in advance.
Services and Experiences
The menu at Statheros reads like a beautifully curated map of Parian food culture. Local Parian cheese anchors the meze section, with Souroma served on the island’s own barley rusk with fresh tomato in the Parian version of the dakos, Graviera appearing as a golden saganaki with a squeeze of local lemon, and fresh Myzithra paired with the family’s own fig or apricot jam in a combination that is simultaneously simple and completely convincing. The seasonal vegetables from the family farm, the freshly caught seafood from the Naoussa fishing boats and the local wine poured generously throughout the meal create a dining experience that is entirely grounded in Paros and entirely honest in its relationship to the island’s food tradition. The traditional cheese pie made with local Myzithra and fresh herbs is one of the finest versions of this classic dish available anywhere on the island and is essential ordering on any visit.
5. Petra Farm, Kolymbithres
Overall Information
Petra Farm is a family-run organic farm at the spectacular bay of Kolymbithres on the northern coast of Paros, established in 1989 and managed since 2015 by Alkis, who has grown it significantly and diversified its production while maintaining a firm commitment to organic, sustainable agriculture adapted to the specific micro-climate of the island. The farm specialises in perennial Mediterranean crops including olives, capers, oregano, lavender, figs, grapes and vine cultivation across two sites, one at Kolymbithres and a larger farm in the village of Lefkes in the island’s beautiful interior. The farm welcomes visitors for guided tours that combine a walk through the cultivation areas with a tasting at the farmhouse balcony overlooking the bay of Naoussa, where local Parian cheese from the Cooperative is served alongside the farm’s own cherry tomatoes and capers, freshly baked bread with olive oil and oregano, the farm’s own organic wine and a selection of seasonal preserves. The setting is one of the most beautiful of any farm visitor experience in the Cyclades, with the Kolymbithres granite rocks and the turquoise bay spread out below the farmhouse terrace.
Location and How to Get There
Petra Farm is located at Kolymbithres, Paros, 844 01, Greece. Kolymbithres is on the northern coast of Paros near Naoussa, reachable by hire car or scooter from either Naoussa or Parikia in approximately fifteen minutes. Tours must be arranged in advance by contacting the farm directly. The farm also operates its larger site in Lefkes village, in the island’s mountain interior, which is a twenty-five minute drive from Parikia by hire car. The Lefkes site offers a different landscape and a different character of experience, with the wooded mountain valley providing a contrast to the arid coastal terrain of Kolymbithres that illustrates the remarkable variety of the Parian agricultural ecosystem. Contact details and booking information are available through the farm’s social media channels and through local accommodation hosts in Naoussa.
Services and Experiences
The Petra Farm guided tour lasts approximately one hour and covers the cultivation practices, the principles of organic farming as applied to the Cycladic landscape and the complete range of crops grown on the property. Alkis is an engaging and knowledgeable guide who explains clearly why the specific conditions of Paros, the limited rainfall, the strong Meltemi winds, the rocky terrain, make intensive industrial agriculture impossible and small-scale, high-quality organic production not just desirable but necessary. The tasting that follows the tour at the farmhouse balcony is one of the most relaxed and most enjoyable food experiences on the island. Local Parian cheese served with capers and fresh tomatoes and the farm’s own olive oil, with a glass of their own organic wine in hand and the bay below, is a combination of setting and flavour that is difficult to improve upon. The farm sells its own products directly, including olive oil, capers, dried herbs, organic wine and seasonal preserves, making it an excellent source of high-quality Parian food souvenirs.
The Cheeses of Paros: A Quick Guide
Paros produces a distinctive range of cheeses almost entirely from cow’s milk, reflecting the island’s dairy farming tradition. Here is what to look for.
- Graviera is the flagship Parian cheese, a classic Gruyère-type with a mild, buttery flavour and a firm elastic texture. Matured for at least three months, it is wonderful eaten as a table cheese, fried as saganaki or grated over the island’s handmade pasta dishes.
- Kefalaki or Kefalisio is perhaps the most representative of Paros’s hard cheeses, a firm, tangy cheese with high fat content that is kept first in brine and then available plain or developed into the richer Ladotyri. The traditional version carries a satisfying saltiness and a depth that makes it ideal as a meze.
- Ladotyri takes the Kefalaki base and submerges it in olive oil for at least ten days, imparting a unique, pleasant richness and keeping the cheese softer and more aromatic than it would otherwise become. It is one of the most distinctive and most rewarding cheeses on the island.
- Krassotyri is matured in wine or grape pomace, taking on a subtle fruitiness and a gentle earthiness that makes it a natural companion to a glass of Parian red.
- Souroma is the island’s name for Xinomyzithra, a soft, white, creamy and pleasingly sour fresh cheese made from fully pasteurised cow’s milk. It is consumed fresh, has a very short shelf life and is at its best on a barley rusk with fresh tomato and a drizzle of olive oil.
- Touloumisio is made from fresh Kefalotyri and Myzithra matured together inside a traditional goatskin container called a touloumi, developing a distinct, lingering and deeply characterful flavour that is unlike any other cheese produced on the island.
- Kopanisti appears in small quantities from family producers across the island, a soft, spicy and spreadable fermented cheese that pairs perfectly with local meze and a cold glass of ouzo or tsipouro.
Tips for Cheese Lovers Visiting Paros
- Visit the Cooperative shop in Parikia first. It is the most comprehensive single source of Parian cheese on the island and the best place to taste the full range and decide which varieties to seek out further during your stay.
- Book Kamarantho at least two days ahead. The farm tour with cheese tasting is one of the most original and most educational food experiences available in the Cyclades, and limited group sizes mean it fills quickly during the summer season.
- Order the Souroma dakos at every taverna that offers it. This simple combination of creamy sour cheese, barley rusk, fresh tomato and olive oil is the Parian cheese experience in its most direct and most satisfying form.
- Try the Paros wine and cheese pairing. The island holds one of only two PDO wine certifications in the Cyclades outside Santorini, and tasting local Graviera alongside a glass of Parian Monemvasia white is one of those combinations that makes immediate and lasting sense.
- Look for Touloumisio on meze menus in mountain village tavernas, particularly in Lefkes, Kostos and Marmara. This is the cheese that most clearly distinguishes Parian dairy tradition from everything produced on neighbouring islands, and it is most authentically encountered in the villages where it has always been made.
- The best time to visit Paros for the full cheese experience is between May and October, with early summer offering the freshest soft cheeses and late summer the most fully developed aged varieties.
Paros does not shout about its cheese. It never has. The island has always been more interested in making it well than in telling anyone about it, which is precisely the quality that makes discovering it feel so rewarding. The Graviera from the Cooperative, the Souroma on a rusk at a Naoussa harbour table, the Touloumisio discovered in a Lefkes taverna on a quiet Tuesday evening: these are the cheese moments that Paros keeps for visitors who look a little harder than the crowd. Come and find them.