Quick facts
Location: a hilltop village on the island’s west side, about 2 kilometres from the port at Gialos.
History: built on the site of the ancient city state of Ios, with the modern town proclaimed a traditional settlement by the Greek government.
Known for: its clifftop church with sunset views, a skyline of old windmills, and famously lively nightlife that fills the lanes every evening in season.
Layout: built across 2 small hills, largely pedestrian, with only a handful of roads reaching cars and the rest accessible on foot alone.
Is Chora worth visiting
Chora is Ios’s only real town, and it does double duty convincingly, a genuinely handsome Cycladic hill village of whitewashed cubic houses and narrow stepped lanes by day, and one of the liveliest nightlife scenes in the Cyclades after dark. It rewards a visit at both ends of that spectrum, the quiet, largely empty lanes in the late morning while everyone else is at the beach, and the noise and energy once the sun goes down.
Highlights
Panagia Gremiotissa, the “Virgin Mary of the Cliff”, the most famous of Chora’s more than 20 small churches, standing at the village’s highest point at about 150 metres above sea level with sweeping sunset views. Local tradition holds that a sacred icon, carried from Crete by refugees fleeing Ottoman persecution, washed ashore at Mylopotas beach and mysteriously kept moving itself between 2 other churches before islanders built this one on a spot from which Crete itself is visible.
A row of traditional windmills on the hill above the village, part of Chora’s recognisable skyline.
The Archaeological Museum, with finds from Skarkos, the important Early Bronze Age settlement on a hill just outside Chora, alongside other artefacts from the island.
The Odysseas Elytis Theatre, an open air venue used for concerts and plays through the summer, named after the Nobel laureate poet.
Chora’s nightlife itself, genuinely one of the busiest in the Cyclades in season, with bars, clubs and music filling the lanes most evenings, a large part of why Ios built its reputation with younger travellers in the first place.
Getting there
Chora sits about 2 kilometres from Gialos, the island’s port, an easy walk, bus or taxi ride. See getting around Ios, Ios taxi and the Ios bus timetable for current options, and how to get to Ios for ferry routes onto the island.
Map
Where to eat
Chora has a genuinely wide choice for its size, with tavernas, bars and clubs packed into a compact old town, more concentrated in one place than almost anywhere else in this guide, so it rewards simply wandering until somewhere catches your eye rather than planning ahead.
Where to stay
Chora suits anyone who wants to be in the middle of the island’s nightlife, with a good choice of hotels and rooms within walking distance of the bars and clubs. For a quieter base close to the beach, Mylopotas is the more common alternative, a short trip from Chora itself.
Best time to visit
July and August bring Chora’s nightlife to its peak, along with the biggest crowds and highest prices, exactly what draws most visitors in the first place. For a calmer version of the same village, with the same views and architecture but a fraction of the noise, June and September are worth considering instead.
Back to the Ios island guide. See also our best villages in Ios guide.
