CalmBeach Greece
Beaches in Ithaca
All 25 beaches in Ithaca, in one list. 10 of them are not exposed to the maistros, which gives them the better odds on a windy day. Open any of them for live wind and waves.
The beaches
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Antri
Pebbles - Boat access only
Practically boat-only — the path down the mountainside is steep, long and easy to lose. No trees, no shade, completely deserted.
- Pera Pigadi Pebbles - Difficult access (path)
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Paralia Kaminia
Pebbles - Passable dirt road
An organized beach on the wild south — An organized white-pebble beach with a wooden canteen for basics — unusual for Ithaca’s wild south. It faces the islet of Nisopoulo.
- Paralia Sarakiniko Pebbles - Easy road access
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Paralia Dexa
Pebbles - Easy road access
Where tradition says Odysseus landed — By tradition, this is where Odysseus landed on his return to Ithaca; the name ("Dexa") refers to the right side of Vathy’s harbour. It is the easiest…
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Paralia Filiatro
Sand & pebbles - Easy road access
White pebbles just outside Vathy — Filiatro lies on the southern coast of Ithaca, the closest beach to Vathy, the island's capital, only a few minutes by car from the harbour. White…
- Loutsa Pebbles - Easy road access
- Paralia Mnimata Pebbles - Easy road access
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Paralia Skinos
Pebbles - Passable dirt road
The narrow cove where pines meet the sea — Skinos is a narrow cove east of Vathy on Ithaca, where pine trees come down to the water's edge. It lies within the bay of the same name, a rocky…
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Paralia Gidaki
Pebbles - Easy path
White pebbles beneath white cliffs — Gidaki lies on the coast near Vathy, on the eastern side of Ithaca, a beach of snow-white pebbles that many count among the loveliest on the island…
- Aspros Gialos Pebbles - Easy path
- Koutoupi Pebbles - Easy path
- Liano Nisaki Pebbles - Boat access only
- Kritami Pebbles - Boat access only
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Mikri Poli
Pebbles - Easy road access
The little cove of Polis bay — Mikri Poli is a small cove in Polis bay, below the village of Stavros in northern Ithaca. It sits just west of the main Polis beach, with pebbles and…
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Poli
Pebbles - Easy road access
The beach with the sunken ancient town — Poli (or Polis) is the beach below Stavros, the main village of northern Ithaca, set in a bay with a small fishing harbour and greenish water. Its…
- Ammoudi Pebbles - Boat access only
- Plakoutses Pebbles - Easy path
- Trita Kourvoulia Pebbles - Easy road access
- Devtera Kourvoulia Pebbles - Easy road access
- Prota Kourvoulia Pebbles - Easy road access
- Limenia Pebbles - Easy path
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Afales
Pebbles - Easy road access
The northern bay of successive coves — Afales is a large bay in northern Ithaca, near the village of Platrithias, holding a string of pebble beaches with rocks. It opens toward the north…
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Paralia Marmaka
Pebbles - Easy road access
White pebbles studded with marble — White shiny pebbles studded with small marble fragments that glitter in the sun — hence the name — in mirror-like emerald water. A little further on…
- Paralia Filiatro (Kioni) Moderate access
Pick by what you are looking for
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Maistros options
The coves that face away from the prevailing wind — the shortlist for a windy day.
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Snorkeling
Rockier seabed and clearer water, where there is something to look at underwater.
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Organized
Sunbeds, umbrellas and somewhere to eat or drink nearby.
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Secluded
Quieter and harder to reach — dirt track, a walk, or boat only.
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Sunset
West-facing, so the sun goes down over the water in front of you.
- All beach guides →
Good to know
Which beaches in Ithaca are more sheltered from the wind?
10 of the 25 face away from the maistros, meaning less open water in front of them for a wave to build across when it blows. It is not a guarantee — the same beach changes character when the wind turns. Check the live reading before you drive out.
How is this list ordered?
By how well known each beach is, not by a score of ours. Which beach is good on a given day changes hour by hour and cannot be printed on a static page — so this page carries the list and the things that do not change, and the live map carries the conditions.
When is the sea calmest here?
Across 25 of the beaches on this page, the open water in front of them is typically 0.37 m in June, 0.41 m in July and 0.38 m in August when the maistros is at its strongest, and 0.40 m in September. June is the calmest month of the season. We calculate these figures ourselves from European Copernicus wave-model data at 4.2 km resolution. They describe the sea offshore, not the shelter of an individual cove — a bay protected by a headland will usually be calmer than this.
How warm is the water, month by month?
Off 25 of the beaches on this page the sea is typically 19.2 °C in May, 22.7 °C in June, 25.0 °C in July, 26.3 °C in August and 25.1 °C in September — ideal at the height of summer, mild in June. By October it is 22.9 °C. August is the warmest month. Satellite measurements, 1995–2024, from a sea cell about 5 km offshore; shallow bays usually run warmer than this.
Weather and sea conditions change. CalmBeach uses the app view for live beach recommendations.