Things to Do

Andros is the greenest of the Cyclades and one of the most surprising. Most people picture the islands as dry and bare, but Andros has running streams, waterfalls, deep river valleys and hillsides covered in olive groves. It is the second largest island in the group, the closest to Athens after a short ferry from Rafina, and it has a character shaped by generations of wealthy sea captains and shipowners whose grand houses and museums still fill the capital. Above all, Andros is the walking island of Greece, with the best network of marked trails anywhere in the country. Here is what to do when you visit.

The best things to do in Andros at a glance

• Hike the Andros Routes, the island’s celebrated network of marked trails, the best walking in the Cyclades
• Walk to the Pithara Waterfalls near Apoikia, a shaded valley of pools and cascades
• Explore Chora, the capital, with its sea captains’ mansions and clifftop castle
• Visit the museums of Chora, including the Goulandris Museum of Contemporary Art
• Discover the remote beaches like Achla, Vitali and Zorkos on the wild north east coast
• Visit the Panachrantou Monastery, a Byzantine monastery high in the mountains
• Wander the villages, from resort Batsi to the mansion village of Stenies
• Relax on the family beaches around Batsi and the west coast

The main things to do in Andros

Hike the Andros Routes

If you do one thing on Andros, walk. The island has revived over 200 kilometres of old stone footpaths through a project called the Andros Routes, and in 2015 it became the first Greek island to be awarded “Leading Quality Trails, Best of Europe” status by the European Ramblers Association. There is a continuous long distance route running around 100 kilometres from the north of the island to the south, which takes about ten days to complete, but you do not need to do the whole thing. The trails are broken into shorter marked sections that suit everyone from beginners to serious hikers.

The paths lead you past things you simply do not expect on a Greek island: watermills, old stone bridges, streams, olive groves and monasteries, with villages where the pace of life has barely changed. Many walks start from Andros Town or from the coastal settlements, and you can often walk from the mountains down to a beach in a single day. One of the most loved routes runs from Chora into the green valley below and back on a parallel path, a full day of walking through some of the best scenery on the island.

Take proper walking shoes, plenty of water and a hat. Andros is hilly and can be windy, and the trails involve steps and rough ground. The best months for walking are spring and autumn, when the valleys are green and the heat is manageable. Some of the best hikes are guided, particularly the routes to the remote northern beaches, where reaching the start point needs transport.

Walk to the Pithara Waterfalls

One of the most magical spots on Andros is the Pithara Waterfalls, sometimes called the fairyland of Andros, in the hills near the village of Apoikia above Andros Town. Water from the Sariza spring, the same spring that bottles the island’s well known mineral water, cascades down through a lush green ravine forming small waterfalls and pools shaded by plane trees. In a landscape most people associate with dry rock and sea, it is a genuine surprise.

You can reach the waterfalls on an easy ten minute walk from Apoikia, or make it part of a longer half day hike through the Pythara ravine down towards the coast. It is one of the few places in the Cyclades where you can paddle, and sometimes swim, in fresh water under the shade of trees, which makes it a wonderful escape from the summer heat and a great outing for families.

Explore Chora and the sea captains’ mansions

Andros Town, the capital, is unlike any other town in the Cyclades. Andros grew wealthy in the 19th and 20th centuries when its families owned merchant ships, and the sea captains and shipowners returned from their voyages to build grand neoclassical mansions. Chora is full of them, lining the long marble pedestrian street that runs out along a rocky headland to a ruined Venetian castle at the tip, with the sea on both sides.

The walk down the main street to the castle point is one of the finest town walks in the islands. Along the way you pass elegant squares, old churches and the mansions that tell the story of the island’s maritime wealth. At either end of the headland are beaches within a short walk of the town centre. The photography here is excellent, particularly the view back along the headland to the castle.

Visit the museums of Chora

The same shipping wealth that built the mansions also gave Andros a set of museums that would look at home in a much larger city. The Goulandris Museum of Contemporary Art, founded by one of the island’s wealthy shipping families, holds a serious collection and hosts changing exhibitions that draw visitors from Athens. The Archaeological Museum of Andros is small but well regarded, and the Kydonieos Foundation runs cultural exhibitions through the summer. For an island this size to have this depth of culture is genuinely unusual, and it is one of the reasons Andros feels different from its neighbours.

Discover the remote beaches

Andros has some of the most beautiful and least developed beaches in the Cyclades, and the best of them take some effort to reach. On the wild north east coast, beaches like Achla, Vitali and Zorkos are reachable only by boat, a rough track, or on foot as the end point of a hike. Achla in particular, with its river delta meeting the sea and its backdrop of green hills, is a reward worth the bumpy drive or the walk down from the mountains.

For beaches you can reach more easily, the west coast around Batsi has calm, sandy bays good for families, and Kypri nearby offers water sports. On the south coast, the long beach at Korthi is popular with windsurfers, and the nearby Tis Grias to Pidima beach has a famous sea rock said to be a petrified old woman. The full Andros beaches guide covers all of them and how to reach each one.

Visit the Panachrantou Monastery

High in the mountains above Andros Town sits the Byzantine Monastery of Panachrantou, one of the most important on the island, dating back around a thousand years. It clings to the mountainside with wide views over the island and the sea, and it can be reached by a winding road or, better, on one of the marked hiking trails that climb up to it from Chora through the villages of Lamyra and Menites. The walk up combines the monastery with some of the prettiest inland scenery on Andros, including the springs at Menites where water runs from carved marble spouts.

Wander the villages

Beyond the capital, Andros has a scatter of villages that reward a visit. Batsi on the west coast is the main resort village, relaxed and pretty around its sandy bay. Above Chora, the village of Stenies is known for its grand old captains’ houses set among gardens. Menites, with its running springs, and Apoikia, home to the Sariza spring and the gateway to the Pithara Waterfalls, are both worth seeking out. In the south east, the quiet bay village of Korthi gives you a different, more local side of the island. See the full guide to the best villages on Andros for more.

Explore the Dipotamata Valley

In the south east of the island, the Dipotamata Valley is a river gorge running for several kilometres down to the sea, dotted with old watermills, stone bridges and terraced fields. A marked trail runs through it, and it is one of the most atmospheric walks on Andros, following the water down through a landscape that feels far older than the resorts on the coast. It is a good example of what makes walking on Andros special, the sense of moving through a working, historic landscape rather than just admiring a view.

Taste the local food and wine

Andros has a food tradition shaped by its green landscape and its farming. Local specialities include fourtalia, a hearty omelette made with local sausage and potatoes, and the island’s cheeses. Andros is also known for its wineries and wine tastings, and you can seek out cheese making experiences to taste the local produce at the source. The Sariza spring water from Apoikia is drunk all over Greece, and tasting it fresh from the source is a small pleasure of a visit.

Best things to do in Andros for…

Walkers and hikers

Andros is the walking island of the Cyclades, and this is the main reason to come for many visitors. Base yourself in Andros Town or Batsi, both of which give access to the Andros Routes network, and plan your days around the marked trails. The Pithara Waterfalls, the Dipotamata Valley and the walk up to the Panachrantou Monastery are among the best. The Andros Routes are well signed, but for the remote northern trails a guide or transport to the start point helps.

Couples

The combination of a hike past waterfalls in the morning, a swim at a quiet beach in the afternoon, and dinner in a neoclassical square in Andros Town in the evening makes Andros a wonderful island for active couples who want more than just a beach. The remote beaches like Achla reached by boat make a memorable day out.

Families

Andros suits families who enjoy the outdoors. The Pithara Waterfalls are a fun and shaded half day for children, the calm beaches around Batsi are safe for swimming, and the water sports at Kypri give older children something active to do. Check the Andros weather page before travelling, as the island is one of the windier Cyclades.

Culture lovers

The museums of Andros Town, above all the Goulandris Museum of Contemporary Art, along with the sea captains’ mansions and the Byzantine monasteries, give Andros a cultural depth that few Cyclades islands can match. Spend a day in Chora and a day visiting the Panachrantou Monastery and the inland villages.

Planning your visit

The things to do on Andros are spread across a large island, from the museums and mansions of Andros Town on the east coast to the resort beaches around Batsi on the west and the remote beaches and mountain trails in between. A bus links Gavrio, Batsi and Andros Town through the day in summer, but for the waterfalls, the remote beaches and the trailheads a hire car makes a real difference. See our guides to getting around Andros, the bus timetable and taxi and car hire for full details.

To decide where to base yourself for the things you most want to do, read our guide on where to stay in Andros. To plan your arrival, see how to get to Andros and the main ferry page. To see how everything on the island fits together, use the Andros map, and for the wider region, the Greek islands map shows how Andros connects to the rest of the Cyclades.