Syros · Towns & villages

Towns & villages of Syros

Harbour towns, mountain hamlets and the places where island life still follows its own rhythm.

Ermoupoli

A 19th-century merchant city of marble squares, mansions and an opera house, built by refugees

Ermoupoli, the city of Hermes, god of trade, is the capital of the Cyclades and the most unexpected town in the Aegean. Instead of white cubes it has marble-paved squares, neoclassical mansions in ochre and pale blue, a town hall like a palace, a small Italian opera house and a working shipyard. It was built almost from nothing in the 1820s by refugees from the war of independence, and within a generation it was the busiest port in Greece. It is a real town, with schools, courts and a university department, where people live all year, and you can swim off the rocks below the captains' houses ten minutes from the main square.

Miaoulis Square and Ziller's town hall
An evening at the Apollo Theatre
A swim off the rocks of Vaporia
The El Greco in the church of the Dormition
Loukoumi warm from the workshop

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Ano Syros

The medieval Catholic hill town where the king of rebetiko was born

Ano Syros is the older half of the island's capital: a medieval town of white houses piled up a steep hill above Ermoupoli, with a Catholic cathedral at the top. It was founded by the Venetians in the 13th century and has been Catholic ever since, so its churches have bell towers and saints with Italian names, and its people still call themselves Frangosyrianoi, the Frankish Syrians. No car can get into its lanes, which are steps, tunnels and covered passages. Markos Vamvakaris, the father of rebetiko, was born here in 1905.

The cathedral of San Giorgio at the top
The view over Ermoupoli and the harbour
The Markos Vamvakaris Museum
Covered lanes and steps with no cars
The Capuchin and Jesuit monasteries

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The west coast

Kini

A fishing village on the west coast, known for the best sunset on the island

Kini is a small fishing village in a sandy bay on the west coast, across the island from Ermoupoli. It has a harbour of painted boats, a beach with tamarisk trees, a row of tavernas on the water, and a view straight west over the open sea. Islanders drive over in the evening for the sunset, which is why Kini is busiest at the hour when the rest of the island's beaches empty. A path over the headland leads north to the quieter bay of Delfini.

Sunset over the open sea
Fishing boats in the little harbour
A sandy beach with tamarisks
The walk to Delfini

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The west coast

Galissas

A long sandy bay on the west coast with a campsite and a young crowd

Galissas is a village around one of the biggest sandy beaches on Syros, a deep, sheltered bay on the west coast lined with tamarisks. It has rooms, tavernas, beach bars and the island's campsite, and draws families by day and a younger crowd in the evening. Around the rocks to the north is Armeos, a small cove that is the island's best-known nudist beach.

A wide sandy bay with tamarisk shade
Sunsets over the sea
The cove of Armeos next door
Rooms and tavernas by the beach

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The south coast

Posidonia

The old summer resort of Ermoupoli's merchants, with villas in the pines

Posidonia, which many islanders still call Dellagrazia after its Catholic church of the Madonna della Grazia, is where the rich families of Ermoupoli built their summer villas in the late 19th century. Their neoclassical houses, with towers, balustrades and gardens of palms and pines, still stand among the newer holiday homes. Below them are the beaches of the south-west: Fetouri in the village, Agathopes a short walk away, and Komito further on.

The merchants' villas of Dellagrazia
Agathopes beach
Fetouri beach in the village
Quiet evenings in the pines

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The south coast

Vari

A sheltered bay of shallow water on the south-east coast, good with children

Vari is a fishing village and beach in a deep, sheltered bay on the south-east coast, about 7 km from Ermoupoli. The sand slopes gently into calm, shallow water that stays quiet even when the summer wind is blowing, and there are tavernas and rooms right on the beach, which makes it a favourite with families from town.

Calm, shallow water
Tavernas on the sand
Fishing boats in the bay
Moonrise over the sea

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Ano Meria & the north

Ano Meria

The empty, farming north of the island, with wild bays at the end of tracks

North of Ano Syros the island changes. Ano Meria, the upper side, is a high country of farms, dry-stone walls, chapels and goats, with a handful of scattered hamlets and almost no hotels. The village of San Michalis up here gave its name to the island's peppery cow's-milk cheese. Tracks and footpaths lead down to wild bays like Lia and Aetos, and the bay of Grammata, where ancient sailors carved prayers into the rocks, can be reached by boat or on a long walk.

San Michalis, the cheese village
Old footpaths between farms and chapels
Wild beaches at the end of tracks
The rock inscriptions of Grammata

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Regions

Where to base yourself in Syros

Ermoupoli

The 19th-century capital around its harbour: Miaoulis Square and the town hall, the Apollo Theatre, the mansions of Vaporia, the Neorion shipyard, and the Orthodox hill of Vrontado with its church of the Anastasi.

Ano Syros

The medieval Catholic town on its own hill above Ermoupoli, a maze of steps, arches and white houses with the cathedral of San Giorgio at the top.

The west coast

The sandy bays that face the sunset: the fishing village of Kini and the quieter bay of Delfini, Galissas and the cove of Armeos, and Finikas with its harbour.

The south coast

Sheltered from the north wind: Posidonia and the merchants' villas of Dellagrazia, Agathopes, Megas Gialos, Achladi, Vari and Azolimnos, the beaches of Ermoupoli's summers.

Ano Meria & the north

The empty farming north, with dry-stone walls, chapels and goats, the cheese village of San Michalis, the Early Cycladic site of Kastri above Chalandriani, and wild bays like Lia and Grammata at the end of tracks.

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Last updated 12 November 2026