Ultimate guide on how to backpack the cyclade island without breaking the bank too much. From swimming on the most beautiful blue crystal waters to walk around the most typical village around Naxos, Paros, Santorini and Athens.

Ultimate Guide Cyclade Island hopping

We travelled from the airport to central Athens by metro which cost €9 per person. If you are going to the Acropolis area, you can take the blue line from the airport and change to the red line at Syntagma (direction to Elliniko) and exit at Acropolis. 

We booked an Airbnb close by, it was 10 minutes walking from the metro station and has lots of restaurants and coffee shops around. 

Theres lots of sites to see around the Acropolis and if you fancy a drink after to walk around, there are plenty of restaurants and coffee shops right at the bottom of the Acropolis. They are not extremely expensive but still a bit more than in other areas. We paid €12 for a greek salad but it was totally worth it. 

Now that you are all settled and checked in in your Hotel/Airbnb you can take a walk and visit de Acropolis site. You can book the tickets online and avoid the queues at the tickets office or you can buy your tickets at the ticket office right on the Acropolis entrance. 

Ferryhopper: Your Ferry Travel Companion | Book Ferry Ticketsp

If you are starting your island hopping from Ahens, you can use the Uber App to get around Athens and to go to the port. You can book your tickets in advance through the App FerryHopper. You only need to check in the day before your trip and it then gives you a QR code that you have to show when you are about to board the ferry. With Ferry hopper you can always change your tickets around with a fee, and it has live chat in case you need some help. 

Each ticket cost €20 per person and you only have 1hr to visit the site which you book your slot when you buy the tickets. In the high season last entry time is at 7pm, and you can stay up there until sunset time. The Acropolis is having works done at the moment and they don't allow people to stop for photos at the main entrance as it creates big queues on the entrance and exit, avoid this or they will shout at you to move away. 

There are two main villages where people chose to stay the most: Naousa and Parikia. Parikia is where the port is and it is a very quiet village that comes to life at night time. Naousa is the busiest and full of fancy cafes with the best beaches around. 

We booked an adult only hotel at Parikia as we are seaking the best of both worlds. It was an walking distance from old town and the main restaurants and coffee. You also have a small beach close by, and most importantly a rental bike shop.  

Paros has public buses, but it seems they were not very reliable in this island. We chose to rent a scooter, therefore we had the freedom to explore the whole island in our pace and time. We rent in a nearby shop which had very good reviews and we could not complain. The staff was really friendly and the process was really easy. Remember to check if you need a international driving permit depending on where you are from - I believe if you are a EU citizen, your own driving licence is enough. 

UrbanRail.Net > Europe > Greece > ATHENS - ATHINA Metro

You can easily do the whole island by scooter, and if you feel more comfortable, you have the option to rent a quad bike as well. The roads are okay to drive unless you go to the villages in the mountains, where you can count with some uphills roads. However the views from the top are incridible. Lefkes is one of the typical villages up in the mountains, cute corners with flowers and the white houses make this village a very cute place to take some stunning photos.

If you are more into beach hopping you can try the Golden Beach at south, where you have some beach clubs and some water activities. Majority of the time you have good roads but as you are approaching the beach, you get to go through some dodgy roads, drive carefully and you will be okay. 

If you dont fancy a beach club vibe and prefer something more quiet, right after this beach you have a much bigger but relaxed beach. You can relax in one of the sunbeds and enjoy the calm sea as well as a drink in the beach club. You have a free car park where you can leave your car/bike and walk to the beach to enjoy the sun and sunset. 

If you are looking for a Relaxed but lively beach club away from the crowds, you can go to 'Dolphin Beach' right next to Parakia. You can soak up the last sunrays at the same time you can listen to the last hits and have a dance whilst the sun is going down. 

You either be in the beach club area or you can just lay your towel in the public beach - the only con here is the sea, a bit choppy and with some rubbish in the shore unfortunelly. 

On the way back to Parikia, you can stop along the bay and check some more lay back villages as Aliki. It's a little small village with some cut coffe shops alongside the road and some handmade stores that you can also check out. 

Touring the whole island of Paros is easy and if you are based in Parikia, you can take a 30 minutes bike ride to Naousa village and have a little wonder around. We stop for some lunch here, and we had the traditional Gyros for €4 each of us and i can tell you it was delicious. We saw a big queue to a very instagram popular place but we couldn't be bother to queue for a long time so we went right next door. What an amazing gyros we had, very tasty quickly to serve and cheap, if you are going to Naousa i recommend to have a gyros at The Foodie Bar, you won't regret it, i promise. 

When you are back to Parikia, you can take a walk around the old town and take pictures in all the cute corners. The best spot to see the sunset is on the sea front, on the top of the church or in one of the terrace bars whilst having a drink. We went to Evinos, they have a cute terrace overlooking the sunset, perfect to end your day and see the sun going down. If you want to go for dinner you have countless restaurants in the sea front, you can chose from greek cuisine to italian cuisine, you have countless of choices.

Now that you had your lunch and you are ready to explore some beaches around the area. If you don't want to go far and want to have a swim in those crystal blue waters, you have the option to go to Piperi beach, right in Naousa. It is not a big beach but it is a great option for a sunset swim nearby. 

However if you don't fancy Gyros and want something else, you have plenty of options around from cafes, restaurants to bakery for a light snack.

Not far from Naousa you have the Kolympethres Beach, but let's be honest here, the beach was taken over by sunbeds where they even lock a perimeter where you can or can't lay your towel. Sunbeds here are pretty expensive it goes from €40 to €130 for two sunbeds and an umbrella with an option to take €70 in the restaurant. If you ask me, it is not worth the money and it takes away the enjoyment of being at such at stunning place. If you want to go to this beach without paying, you have to lay your towels in the rocks unfortunelly. 

Initially we were going to visit Lageri beach, however the roads were terrible and we had been stranded once before so we didn't want to risk it with a scooter. We decided to go to Paralia Santa Maria, and it was incredible, calm blue crystal waters, gold sand and an extend sand for you to lay your towel at no cost. Theres a beach bar at the beach in case you need lunch or even some refreshments. They also have a little clothing shop around with local homemad things in case you fancy some shopping and even water sports if you are in the adventure mood. I high recommend this beach for some fun and even some relaxation.  

Now time to leave Paros onto the next Island. Paros port can be confused and a tottaly chaotic experience. Theres only 3 lines and the queues get massive, therefore you have to pay attention to the signs and see which ferry line you are with and your destination. Sometimes the ferry runs late and you have to be super careful to notice the changes in the notice boards, the port guards are not so friendly and they dont seem very keen to help out the travellers figure out which queue they have to go on. Either way always try to ask them, you might find one that will give you some information.

From this beach you also can see Naxos, another Island that is next to Paros. 

As you arrive at Naxos Port, the first thing you will see is the Temple of Apollo. This time we chose to go further south and we stayed at Agios Prokopios. In this island public transport works really well and you can do the main routes easily by bus, just bear in mind you have to buy the tickets in advance. 

As you walk down the port you will see a building that says ' transfers' right at the end of the Port, that's where you buy your bus ticket. You have to tell the lady where you are heading to and she will direct you to the right bus - bus fares are €2 per person.

From here we took the bus down to Agios Prokopios, which took about 15 minutes. Theres three main buses here: first at Lagos Mare, the second one oposite to the petrol station and the third one at the beach. The bus route is pretty much in circle so you will know it will always stop at this three bus stops in each direction. To buy buses tickets in Agios Prokopios, you go to the supermarket opposite the petrol station, fair is €2 per person still. 

Here we also rented a bike as Naxos island is bigger and we wanted to explore a some sights at day time and night time as well. We chose to rent at Motonaxos car & bike rental, as this rental shop had the best reviews in the island. At this particulary shop they ask you for your ID we didn't have it with us but we had a photo of it which the lady happily accepted it withou any issues. Again we rented a scooter and it was €30 per day, we made it to all the spots we wanted to visit included some of the traditional villages in the moutains. 

From Agio Prokopios we decided to start our beach hopping and we headed to the famous Hawai beach! Spoil alert be ready for a bit of a climb through rocks, make sure you bring your things in a backpack to be easier to go up and down. You have hawai beach in one side more wavey and another beach the other side where the water is calmer, both beach are great and you can have a lot of fun jumping waves at hawai beach. Next you can drive around the coast and you find small coves with almost no people i highly recommend you to stop in one of them for a swim in the wild whislt enjoying a completely relaxation. Plan your trip in advance as Hawai beach in not that big and it can be crowded at lunch time.

In Agios Prokopios we stayed at the top of the hill, and it turned to be only 10 minutes walking to the best beach ever - one of the reception ladies told us it is the best beach in Europe. The staff is so friendly and they are always happy to help you in whatever you need, most of them are locals. 

After swimming at hawai beach we moved onto the next beach and we decided to take the coast drive where we find another beach. Mikri Vigla Beach is ideal for kitesurf and windsurf as it is very windy, nevertheless is less crowed than the other beaches. 

You also have a beach bar if you need some refreshements and food and sunbeds with umbrellas if you need a bit of a shadow for sometime. We didn't stay over here for long as it was a bit rocky in the sea overall, therefore we decided to proceed to the next stop - Plaka Beach. 

If you walk along the coast you have countless cafes and restaurants,you will only need to chose what do you fancy at time. We chose to try traditional family restaurants and we had gyros at Lefto's Souvlaki Kebab House but you could also try Giannoulis. This last one I believe you have to make some reservation or even try to go there early as it is often full with queues. 

Ultimate Guide Cyclade Island hopping

Buy to unlock full guide