Information about the island of Agistri
Agistri is a quiet backwater, free of cars and with little in the way of nightlife outside the few hotels in the three main settlements of Skala, Milos and Limenaria.
Milos is where most people live but Skala is the most developed of the island’s resorts and the main tourist centre.
Agistri is home to fewer than 1,000 people with holiday beds for perhaps 1,000. It has a single 10 kilometre road but no cars and one bus. It is also very hilly with about half covered in fields of citrus and olives and the rest cloaked in dense pine forest.
Apart from walking and sunbathing there is little to do here. Most beaches are pebble and shingle with the best of the sand at Skala and Halkiada, the latter noted as being the first official designated naturist beach in Greece.
Although it has changed a lot in recent years, Agistri remains a favorite corner of the Saronic Gulf, a place where you can enjoy all the colours and aromas of the Greek summer, without having to spend a hand and a leg.
Agistri is a special choice for those who are looking for the atmosphere of a greek island island, but want to avoid the expensive all inclusive holiday packages.
The island, gifted as it is by nature, has a beautiful and dense pine forest, good beaches and accommodation for all budgets.
About Agistri
Agistri located in the heart of the Saronic Gulf, it is located 55 minutes from Piraeus and just 5 from Aegina! It is equally suitable for family heads looking for a low profile destination for a budget holiday as well as for fans of free camping, thanks to its beautiful coves and beaches.
The port of Skala is the most “cosmopolitan” place and its sandy beach – without being the most beautiful – is suitable, due to its shallow waters, for families. Its best beaches are Aponisos with its seaside taverns, the pebbled Dragunera with its canteen and few sunbeds and the Halikiada of steep cliffs and nudists.
In fact, diving along the west coastline, is a must. The dense pine forest is present wherever you are. The hike to Panagia in Metochi is also magical, where a big festival is set up on the 15th of August. An ideal way of transportation for those who can stand the the uphills, is the bicycle. If you do not have your own, you will find rentals in the port.
The island name Agistri literally translates as ‘fishing hook’, a reference to its shape with a highly indented coastline.
Where is Agistri?
Regular daily ferries, to and from the Athens’ port of Piraeus call in at Aegina and Agistri, making this a good island base for those holiday visitors also planning to tour the cultural sites of the capital. High speed Flying Dolphins can cut the sailing time to Athens to under one hour.
A single road links the three main resorts of Agistri and there is a daily bus service. The island is so small it is possible to walk or cycyle anywhere but car hire and taxis are available in the main resorts.
Agistri is hilly, but not mountainous, so it’s a popular island for walking with several good trails that crisscross the interior. The island is popular with weekending mainlanders so it can get very busy in the high seaso
Agistri towns and villages
Milos
The only road out of Skala heads north along the coast to the island capital and port at Milos or Mylos, also called Megalochori.
The road is lined with restaurants, rooms to let, isolated shingle coves and the occasional long, flat stretch of stone.
Milos is a quiet village of stone-built houses sitting on a steep hill above the small harbour and a tiny, man made beach. It has a few basic tavernas, shops and traditional kafenion.
West of Milos, walking trails lead into the pine covered hillside and to the village of Metochi with a small chapel and splendid views.
On the coast road a sign points to Dragonera beach, a favourite spot for casual campers where a cantina opens in the summer.
The impressive blue dome of Agia Anargiri church stands out from the resort’s rather plain buildings where it overlooks the beach.
Fine, gently shelving sand and shallow water makes this beach popular with families and, as the only natural sand beach on the island, it can get crowded in the high season, especially when day visitor boats arrive from Aegina and Athens.
Where to stay
Agistri has a surprising supply of accommodation given its small size. Hotels, rooms and apartments,mainly cater for Athenians who arrive every weekend during the summer. There are two ports on the island at Skala and Milos and this is where most Agistri accommodation is centred. with Skala taking the major share.
Skala is where most visitors to Agistri arrive and the beach is one of the island’s main attractions. There is a fair share of hotels, rooms to let and apartments which open mostly between May and October, although there are some that open throughout the year.
It is not a good idea to turn up without a reservation especially at weekends. The island has long been a popular destination for Greeks looking for a quiet weekend break from Athens and recently it has become more popular with overseas visitors too.
Agistri getting around
Agistri is the smallest inhabited island of the Saronic group that lies in the bay of the same name south of the Greek capital of Athens.
It is located just a couple of kilometres west of its larger and more popular neighbour of Aegina and about 30 kilometres from the Athens’ port of Piraeus.
The island population numbers only around the thousand mark but this number can soar to 6,000 over the summer months, particularly at weekends as the island makes a popular weekend break for Athenians.
The landscape is rocky and and covered in trees with a high point at Mount Kontari at just 245 metres. Inland Agistri is sparsely populated with the inhabitants clustered in the main villages of Skala, Megalochori and Limenaria.
Climate and weather
Located in the sheltered Argo Saronic gulf, Agistri enjoys the much the same climate as Athens. Summers are hot, sunny and virtually cloudless from June to August.
Spring and autumn are cooler and showers that fall in April and October are far less frequent in May and September. June sees temperatures rise from 21 to 25°C and they often hit 30°C in August.
Winters on Agistri are relatively dry with most rain in November. Winters are mild at an average 8°C.
Transport buses and taxis
There is only one 10 kilometre road and that is little used as there are few cars on Agistri island. There is car rental in Skala and Milos and some off-road jeeps for the more adventurous.
There is a single small private bus that takes the island’s only road linking the three resorts of Skala, Megalahori, Milos, Limenaria and Aponissos.
There is no discernible timetable for the bus and services can be erratic. There are about four buses daily in the high summer while a taxi service operates out of Skala.
As it is possible to walk from one end of Agistri island to the other in under three hours there is little chance of getting stranded anywhere.
Some visitors bring bicycles to the island or it’s possible to rent a mountain bike in Skala and a little tourist train was running around Skala in the afternoons and evenings.
How to get to Agistri
By Ferry
There are regular ferries and catamarans to Agistri from Piraeus on the mainland, most via Aegina but some making direct crossings. All boats to Agistri, both ferries and Flying Dolphins leave Piraeus from Gate 8.
The proximity to Athens makes Angistri a favourite weekend retreat Athenians.
Saronic Ferries is an umbrella service for Nova Ferries and Hellenic Seaways which all run daily ferry services to Aegina, Agistri, Methana and Poros.
Hellenic operates both conventional ferry services and fast Flying Dolphins with seven sailings daily from Piraeus to Aegina and four travelling onwards to Agistri.
Also running hydrofoil services to Agistri is Aegean Flying Dolphins with fast services from Piraeus to Aegina five times daily and twice a day to Agistri with a journey time of just under one hour.
There are day cruises from Skala to the neighbouring islands of Aegina, Poros and Hydra throughout the summer. There is also a 24-hour water taxi service between Angistri and Aegina as well as a regular ferry service during the day and evening. There are also boats to hire in Skala and Milos to visit many of the more remote coves. you can also catch regular ferries and water taxis from Angistri to the Peloponnese mainland.
Locally, the Agistri Express is a launch-type boat that sails between Agistri and Aegina during the summer sailing from Agistri resorts at Milos and Skala most days except Sunday.
In high season, a ferry service goes to Ancient Epidavros each evening for the summer arts festival held at the ancient amphitheatre.
By Air
There is no airport on Angistri, the island is far to small. The nearest airport is Athens International Airport (ATH) on the mainland, just a ferry hop away.
Most visitors fly to Athens and take a bus or taxi to the port at Piraeus and then catch one of the regular ferries to Angistri.
Athens International Airport lies around 27km east of Athens. officially called Elefterios Venizelos and handles about 11 million passenger annually.
The E96 shuttle bus goes from the airport to the port at Piraeus. It runs 24 hours and is based right outside the Arrivals hall.
Buses leave every 15 – 20 minutes throughout the day, every 30 minutes at night with a journey time of 45 to 60 minutes depending on traffic.
There is a taxi rank next to Door 3 and the journey time again depends on traffic, anything from 30 to 50 minutes.