3 days in the Greek islands: Paros itinerary

Who’s never dreamt of spending a few days in the beautiful Greek islands?

But, did you know that Greece has over 1,200 islands? So, which Greek island to choose for your holiday?

The most popular group of islands is the Cyclades and with 220 islands there are plenty to choose from. However, Santorini is arguably the most popular of them, followed by Mykonos and Naxos. Although, the catch is their popularity, meaning they can be very crowded in summer.

During our 3 week road trip in Greece, we decided to mix and match and explore three Greek islands: the famous and hype Santorini, the smaller and less known Paros, and Crete, the largest of the Greek islands.

In this article, we are taking you to the Aegean Sea on a 3-day itinerary to discover Paros island.

Day 1: Naousa, Kolymbithres Beach and Parikia [Half Day]

Arriving in Paros

Our arrival in the Cyclades wasn’t exactly how we had planned it! We flew to Athens international airport from France, then took the metro to Pireas (Athens Harbor, about 10km/6.2 miles from the city), and we had scheduled an early morning ferry to Paros…if it wasn’t for a public transport strike starting the next day! Who said only French people go on strike?

Now, our only option to stay on schedule was to get on a domestic flight to Paros. Early in the morning, we jumped on a Beat (the local Uber)back to the airport (50km/31 miles each way, about 50€ as opposed to 10€ by metro) and onto Paros!

If you arrive by ferry you’ll disembark right in the middle of the action in Parikia, the capital city of Paros. However, if you fly, you’ll land in the small airport located in the middle of nowhere, southwest. Fortunately, the island is only 30km (18.6 miles) long, and the airport 10km (6.2 miles) away from Parikia.

Upon landing in Paros airport, we rented a car straight from the arrival hall. The airport is super tiny, so you’ll easily find Hertz and AVIS booths inside, and representatives of local rental companies waiting for you just outside with their best price.

If you are not comfortable haggling prices or prefer to have the peace of mind that your vehicle is waiting for you, we recommend booking your rental car online. We traveled during low season (October), so we had ample options to choose from, however, it might not be the case in high season.

If you arrive by boat, cars can also be rented from the port of Parikia.

Naousa

When visiting Paros, given the size of the island, it’s best to base yourself in one place for your entire stay. The lively Parikia is the most popular spot; this is where the ferries dock, and is the main bus hub of the island. The second most popular option is Naousa: smaller and more intimate, it is located close to pristine beaches.

We chose Naousa for our stay. We hadn’t booked any accommodation before we arrived and simply walked in Anna’s pension to secure a room. We would however recommend you book in advance if you are traveling during high season.

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Naousa is the second largest town of Paros Island with a whopping 3,000 inhabitants! The quaint village boasts a beautiful maze of narrow streets, typical of the Greek islands, cute restaurants, and cafes. Our kind of place!

For our first exploration, we wandered around the cute narrow streets of the old town, photographed the beautiful white and blue orthodox chapels, and enjoyed a walk and a meal by the harbor.

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Kolymbithres Beach

Opposite the harbor, in the bay of Naousa, lays the beach of Kolymbithres, claimed to be one of the most beautiful beaches in Greece.

With pristine water, little secluded sandy coves lined up one after the other, and those unusual smooth and wavy rock formations, we must agree that Kolimbithres beach is pretty…but the water was a little too chilly for us in October.

The beaches are fairly small, so we can only imagine how crowded it might be in high season, and how it might lose some of its charm.

If you don’t take a dip, the drive to Kolymbithres beach itself offers breathtaking views over Naousa bay.

Parikia

Late afternoon we headed to Parikia which is just a short 15min drive from Naousa Bay. We easily found free parking on the side of the main road.

Parikia, the capital city of Paros, is much more buzzing than the calm Naousa and also features beautiful narrow streets with numerous cute cafes and restaurants.

Before adventuring in those streets, we walked up to the impressive Panagia Ekatontapiliani Byzantine Church (which literally means the 100 doors church), for a quick visit, just before its daily closure.

A light dinner and some drinks wrapped our day in Parikia.

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Day 2: Paros Park, Lageri and Santa Maria beaches, and Lefkes to Piso Livadi

Sometimes we have lazy days, where a simple 30min walk seems like a big effort and other days we can do one hike after another. Well, day 2 of our trip to Paros turned out to be exactly that: a hiking day!

Hiking Paros Park

Paros Park is an 80 hectare park that offers a total of 5 km (3.1 miles) of easy hiking trails. The park features impressive granite rock formations sculpted by thousand years of salty air and beautiful blue water coves.

We walked along trail #1, #2, #5 and a small portion of #3, which took us to several viewpoints, a lighthouse (Faro di Capo Korakas), and ended at Monastiri beach.

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Lageri and Santa Maria Beaches

After our hike, we drove to the northeast peninsula and stopped at two of the beaches: Lageri and Santa Maria. We took a quick walk on each of them before heading to the center of the island.

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Lefkes

Lefkes, a mountainous area located in the center of the island, is a cute little village surrounded by olive trees. It used to be the capital of Paros in the Middle Ages when the island was surrounded by pirates.

We explored the narrow streets and their cute whitewashed houses, saw numerous orthodox chapels nestled in small alleys, and visited the main Byzantine church.

After a delicious lunch at Agnadio restaurant, we hiked along the old Byzantine road.

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Byzantine Road Hike: Prodromos, Marmara and Marpissa

The Byzantine road is an ancient 3.5km long (2.2 miles) paved road made of Parian marble and built over one thousand years ago. It links Lefkes to the old settlement of Prodromos.

We left the car in Lefkes and walked the Byzantine road to Prodromos, continued to Marmara village, and ended in Marpissa village, from where we caught a bus back to Lefkes.

It’s a fairly easy walk, however, there isn’t much shade so hiking it in the morning might be a wiser decision!

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While we finished our hike in Marpissa after a tiring day, we could have added a return hike to St Antonios Monastery for breathtaking views over Naxos (but bear in mind it is a steep hill!).

Piso Livadi

After getting back to our car, we drove to the small coastal town of Piso Livadi. You can see from there the hill on which the St Antonios Monastery stands.

For dinner, our pick was Mylos restaurant in Marpissa where they allegedly serve the best gyros of the island. We can vouch for it, delicious and cheap too!

Day 3: Antiparos, Aliki, Dryos and the old Marble Quarry

Antiparos

We spent the first half of the day on Paros’ sister island: Antiparos.

Getting there is a short 10 mins ferry ride from Port of Punta, south of Paros. You can take the ferry as a pedestrian or with your vehicle.

Antiparos town

On arrival, the ferry docks straight into the small town of Antiparos. Another typical Cyclades village with orthodox chapels, paved streets, cute cafes and restaurants, strings of whitewashed houses ornate with bougainvilleas. Remains of an old Venetian castle and its fortifications sit in the middle of the town.

Kampos #fail

Our next stop was the small village of Kampos. We had pictured another cute little village nestled in the mountains this time. Yet, our exploration drove us to a very steep 4WD dirt road (not ideal with a Fiat Panda), which forced us to turn back. We took a photo of the view from the track before getting back to the main road.

We never found the village center, later to realize that only 14 inhabitants reside in houses scattered around the countryside that form Kampos village.

Livadia Beach

Antiparos is known for its nice secluded blue water beaches and Livadia is the most popular one. Its sheltered location makes it a popular spot for nudists! Although, we must say it wasn’t the nicest beach we had seen around. The view of the cove is pretty, but the beach itself was covered with algae, at least at the time we visited.

Agios Georgios

Our last stop in Antiparos was the popular holiday town of Agios Georgios.

By the time we got there, a light rain showed up and coupled with the fact that it was low season, the small fisherman village suddenly lacked atmosphere which meant we didn’t particularly enjoy the place.

We stopped for a quick lunch before heading back to the ferry.

Aliki & Dryos

Back in Paros, we drove south and stopped in Aliki and Dryos.

Aliki is another small fisherman village. The main reason we wanted to stop there was to visit the Museum of Cycladic Folklore, to learn more about the Cycladic culture. Unfortunately, the museum was already closed for the day by the time we got there. We settled for a coffee break by the sea instead.

Just 10km (6.2 miles) from Aliki, lays the little fisherman village of Dryos. A one-street harbor town where most go to enjoy seafood and take a dip in the blue waters of the Aegean Sea.

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Marathi Old Marble Quarries

The Parian marble was once world famous. Masterpieces such as the Venus of Milo, the treasury of the Athena temple in Delphi or the tomb of Napoleon were carved out of marble from Paros. What made this marble renowned is its incredible transparency which lets the light penetrate 7cm deep making it more radiant than any other marble in which light can only reach up to 2cm.

Marathi’s quarries were underground operations and Parian marble extraction stopped in the 19th century. The site is now abandoned but open for self-visit.

You’ll be walking among ruins and can find the entrance of an old marble tunnel. You can walk in the tunnel but there are no lights and no protection from stone falls so enter at your own risk. There is apparently another accessible tunnel which we missed.

Back in Naousa we went for a delicious dinner at Kafeneio Palia Agora which is very popular. We had to wait for a few minutes despite being low season. We then enjoyed a digestive walk by night around the harbor.

Day 4: Naousa old Fort, Martselo beach and Parikia Castle [Half Day]

Naousa old fort and harbor

Our last day was packed with historical sights!

Before leaving Naousa, we had a last walk around the town, mostly to check out the old Venetian fort in the harbor. It was built to protect the city and remains partly visible, despite some of its walls now being underwater.

Martselo beach

On our way to Parikia, we made a short stop at Martselo beach. Crystal clear waters, impressive views of the bay, and Parikia in the background were on the cards.

Parikia Castle

Lastly, we reached Parikia where we would return the car and catch the ferry to Santorini. We had about 1h30 before boarding, so we went for another walk in the old town of Parikia.

On our first visit, we had missed some other Venetian remains: the Frankish castle of Paros. It’s honestly quite difficult to identify a castle, but you can see old stones stacked in the middle of the old town.

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A quick al fresco lunch, in the old town of Parikia, ended our time in Paros as we boarded a ferry at 2.30pm to our next Cycladic island: Santorini!

If you had 4, 5 or 7 days in Paros

If you had 4 days in Paros

• Add a hiking day and enjoy the natural beauty of the island. For example, adventure on a 10km (6.2 miles) Lefkes to Drios hike.

If you had 5 days in Paros

• Instead of half a day, spend a full day in Antiparos island: wander the streets of Antiparos town and admire the ancient Venetian castle nestled in the town, visit the Antiparos caves, go swimming at Glyfa and Livadia beaches and enjoy a delicious seafood meal at Agios Georgios.
• Add a day to visit the Cycladic Folklore museum in Aliki and the Archeological Museum of Paros in Parikia (each is about 3€) and enjoy a wine tasting afternoon at Moraitis Winery.

If you had a week in Paros

• Add a full-day boat trip to explore other Cycladic islands such as Amorgos, Santorini or Naxos or go sailing around Paros island and discover unspoiled beaches and snorkel in crystal clear waters.
• Add a day for a beach “marathon”: visit Golden Beach (the windsurf beach), Molos beach (Views over Naxos island), Agia Irini beach (the palm trees beach), Farangas beach (the secluded beach), and Pounda beach (the party beach).

Alternatively,

• You could spend 3 days in Paros then enjoy a 4 day holiday in Santorini like we did.

Good to know before you go

Best time to visit the Greek islands: May to October.

We visited during low season in October. It had the advantage that accommodation was cheaper and we didn’t need to book anything in advance. However, if you want to enjoy the beach with warm water and get a more lively atmosphere on the island, we would recommend you head there in September just after the high season ends.

How long do you need to spend in Paros: 3-5 days.

Currency: Euros. You’ll find ATMs in most towns.

Language: Greek.

SIM card: As we were in France just before our trip to Greece, we used a French sim card in Greece from the operator Free which includes 25Gb per month across most European countries. The sim card costs 10€ and the plan costs 20€ for 30 days.

In Greece, there are three main operators: Cosmote, Vodafone, and the low cost Wind. SIM Cards usually cost about 5€ and you’ll need to add a prepaid plan to get data and calls. Remember to bring your passport when buying a SIM card.

Driving: Greeks drive on the right side of the road and you’ll need an international driving license.

Insurance: Remember that medical costs can be very high if something was to happen to you in a foreign country. We recommend you purchase travel insurance as soon as you have your flights to Greece, so you are covered in case of cancellations.

Budget for a 3 day trip in Paros island

Bon voyage!

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