Things to Do in Tinos

Tinos is one of the most distinctive and least understood islands in the Cyclades. Most famous as a place of pilgrimage, home to the holiest church in Greece, it is also the marble island, with a craft tradition recognised by UNESCO and a scatter of around 60 traditional stone villages across a mountainous, dovecote-dotted interior. It has excellent food, a proud wine tradition, wild windswept beaches, and a genuine, unspoilt character that its glamorous neighbour Mykonos, just across the water, entirely lacks. This is an island for those who want authenticity, culture and beauty. Here is what to do when you visit.

The best things to do in Tinos at a glance

• Visit the church of Panagia Evangelistria, the holiest pilgrimage site in Greece
• Explore the marble village of Pyrgos and its Museum of Marble Crafts
• Discover Volax, the surreal village surrounded by giant boulders
• Wander among the dovecotes, the ornate stone towers around Tarambados
• Climb Mount Exomvourgo, the Venetian rock fortress
• Tour the traditional villages, from Kardiani to Panormos
• Taste the island’s food and wine, from louza to local wines
• Relax on the beaches, from sheltered bays to wild surfing sands

The main things to do in Tinos

Visit the church of Panagia Evangelistria

The church of Panagia Evangelistria, also known as Our Lady of Tinos, is the most important religious site in Greece and the reason the island is famous throughout the country. It stands above Tinos Town, a grand neoclassical church with a vast esplanade made entirely of white marble, reached by a broad marble avenue that climbs from the port.

The church was built to house a miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary, found in 1823 by a nun, Sister Pelagia, after the Virgin appeared to her in a dream and revealed its location. The icon quickly became renowned for its healing powers, and Tinos became the greatest pilgrimage destination in Greece. On 15 August, the feast of the Dormition of the Virgin, thousands of pilgrims arrive from across the world, many crawling on their hands and knees the whole kilometre from the port up to the church, in one of the largest religious gatherings in the country. Even for those who are not religious, the church, its impressive art collection and its peaceful marble courtyard are genuinely worth a visit. Go early in the morning, before the tour groups arrive, to see it at its most peaceful.

Explore the marble village of Pyrgos

Tinos is the marble island of Greece, its centuries-old marble-carving tradition recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage, and the heart of that tradition is the beautiful mountain village of Pyrgos in the north, considered the most picturesque village on the island. Here the marble is everywhere: in the imposing buildings, the fountains, the doorways, even the carved headstones in the cemetery, all worked by hand by generations of the island’s famous sculptors.

Pyrgos is home to the excellent Museum of Marble Crafts, which tells the story of the island’s marble heritage beautifully, and the Chalepas Museum, dedicated to the great Tinian sculptor. Best of all, you can visit working workshops where artisans still shape the stone by hand, and buy a small carved piece, such as a decorative marble fanlight, to take home and support the living tradition directly. The village square, shaded by ancient plane trees, is a perfect place for a coffee. The pretty little port of Panormos below Pyrgos is a lovely spot for a seafood lunch and sunset.

Discover Volax and its boulders

One of the strangest and most memorable places on Tinos is the village of Volax, set in the middle of a surreal plateau strewn with enormous round granite boulders, scattered across the landscape like the abandoned toys of a giant. The huge smooth rocks, of all different sizes and hundreds of years old, look almost like meteorites, but they are in fact the result of millennia of erosion, and wandering among them is a genuinely otherworldly experience.

The village itself is tiny but charming, with whitewashed houses among the rocks, a few tavernas and shops, and a proud basket-weaving tradition. You can watch the local basket weavers at work and buy their handmade baskets. Look out too for the poems painted on the doors around the village. Volax is one of the most unusual and atmospheric spots in the whole Cyclades, and it makes a wonderful stop on a tour of the island’s interior.

Wander among the dovecotes

Nothing is more closely linked to the identity of Tinos than its dovecotes. Over a thousand ornate stone dove towers, built by the Venetians who once ruled the island, still stand across the countryside, decorated with intricate geometric patterns of suns, diamonds and cypresses made from thin slabs of local schist. They were built to house pigeons, valued for their meat and their fertiliser, and they are one of the most beautiful and distinctive features of the Tinian landscape.

The highest concentration of dovecotes is in the area around the village of Tarambados, where a marked path leads you through a valley of these extraordinary structures set against terraced hillsides. Following the network of old paths through the countryside to discover them is one of the loveliest walks on the island. The dovecotes are on private land, so admire them from the paths and roads and respect the boundaries.

Climb Mount Exomvourgo

Rising to around 640 metres, Mount Exomvourgo is the most prominent landmark on Tinos, a great rock crowned by the ruins of a Venetian fortress that was once the island’s medieval capital. The climb to the top is a rewarding hike, and from the summit the panoramic views stretch across the whole of Tinos and out over the surrounding Cyclades. At the base of the mountain stands the impressive Catholic Monastery of the Sacred Heart, one of the finest religious buildings on the island, a reminder of the strong Catholic community that has lived on Tinos for centuries alongside the Orthodox. The caves of Tinos are also worth exploring.

Tour the traditional villages

Tinos has around 60 traditional villages scattered across its mountainous interior, and touring them is one of the best things to do on the island. Beyond Pyrgos and Volax, the cliffside village of Kardiani, built dramatically into the slopes of a mountain and awarded traditional settlement status, is one of the most beautiful, with a mixed Orthodox and Catholic community. Nearby Ysternia is a favourite for its sunset views over the sea, and Falatados in the interior is known for its raki and excellent wines. Dio Choria has a lovely cobbled square shaded by plane trees with old water fountains.

Wandering these villages, stopping for a coffee or a meal in a shaded square, and soaking up the genuine, unhurried atmosphere of an island that has kept its traditions alive is a real pleasure. See the full guide to the villages of Tinos for more.

Taste the island’s food and wine

Tinos has a serious food scene, sometimes said to be the island’s other religion, and it is one of the best culinary destinations in the Cyclades. Local specialities to seek out include louza, a cured pork sausage made from tenderloin, and salsici, a garlic-infused salami, along with the island’s cheeses. For something sweet, the galaktoboureko, a custard-filled pastry, is especially good in Pyrgos, and the xerotigana, honey-dipped strips of fried dough, are a local favourite.

Tinos also has a proud and reviving wine tradition, with several excellent wineries producing distinctive wines from the island’s terraced vineyards, particularly around the village of Falatados. Seek out the island’s wineries and wine tastings and cheese making experiences to taste the local produce at the source.

Relax on the beaches

Tinos has a good variety of beaches, from sheltered sandy bays to wild, windswept sands, and because the island is exposed to the summer meltemi wind, the sheltered ones are the most comfortable on a windy day. Near Tinos Town, the convenient beaches of Agios Fokas and Agios Romanos are easy to reach. Around the coast are the calm bays of Kalyvia, Agia Thalassa and the sheltered Agios Ioannis Porto.

For something wilder, the beach at Megali Kolymbithra on the north coast is a favourite for surfing and windsurfing when the wind is up, and beaches like Apigania, Rochari and Pachia Ammos reward those who seek them out. The full Tinos beaches guide covers all of them and how to reach each one.

Hike the countryside and attend a festival

Tinos is a wonderful island for walking, with a network of old paths through the countryside that link the villages, the chapels, the dovecotes and the windmills, passing green valleys, ruins of old settlements and fountains along the way. The walks around the dovecotes near Tarambados and the routes between the marble villages are among the best. If your visit coincides with a saint’s day, seek out a panigiri, one of the island’s traditional village festivals, the best way to experience the real culture of Tinos, with food, wine, music and dancing that goes on late into the night. Check the Tinos weather page before setting out, and remember Tinos is one of the windiest islands in the Cyclades.

Best things to do in Tinos for…

Culture and history lovers

Tinos is one of the richest islands in the Cyclades for culture. The great pilgrimage church of Panagia Evangelistria, the UNESCO marble heritage and the Museum of Marble Crafts in Pyrgos, the Venetian fortress on Mount Exomvourgo, and the thousand dovecotes give the island a depth of history and craft found nowhere else in the islands.

Couples

Tinos is a romantic island for couples who want authenticity and beauty over glamour. Watch the sunset from the cliffside village of Kardiani or from Ysternia, wander the marble lanes of Pyrgos, explore the surreal boulders of Volax, and enjoy the island’s excellent food and wine in a quiet village square.

Foodies

Tinos is one of the best food islands in the Cyclades. Taste the local louza and cheeses, try the galaktoboureko in Pyrgos, visit the wineries around Falatados, and time your visit for a village festival to experience the island’s food culture at its most authentic.

Families

Tinos suits families who enjoy exploring, with the calm sheltered beaches near Tinos Town, the fun of the giant boulders at Volax, and the dovecotes and marble villages to discover. Choose the sheltered south coast beaches on windy days, and check the Tinos weather page before travelling.

Planning your visit

Tinos is a large island with around 60 villages scattered across a mountainous interior, so how you get around matters. A bus network from Tinos Town reaches the main villages and beaches, including Pyrgos in the north, but services thin out on the back roads. Because the villages, the dovecotes and the beaches are so spread out, most visitors hire a car to explore the island properly. See our guides to getting around Tinos, 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 Tinos. To plan your arrival, see how to get to Tinos and the main ferry page. To see how everything on the island fits together, use the Tinos map, and for the wider region, the Greek islands map shows how Tinos connects to the rest of the Cyclades.