CalmBeach Greece
Beaches in Symi
All 11 beaches in Symi, in one list. They vary widely in how sheltered they sit from the meltemi — open any of them and check live wind and waves before you go.
The beaches
- Nos Sandy - Easy road access
- Gymnistiki Periochi Nos Pebbles - Easy path
-
Pedi
Sand & pebbles - Easy road access
A Meltemi shelter with fish tavernas — Easy access: ~2-4 km from Gialos by car, a bus every ~30 minutes, or on foot. Partly organized (sunbeds, fresh-fish tavernas).
- Agios Vasilios Sand & pebbles - Difficult access (path)
-
Agios Nikolaos
Sand & pebbles - Easy path
A shallow beach below the chapel — Sand with some pebble and shallow, clear water — good for children — on an island that is mostly rocky…
- Nanou Pebbles - Boat access only
-
Paralia Agiou Georgiou
Pebbles - Boat access only
A pebble cove below a huge cliff — Pebbles with deep, clear water, beneath a vertical cliff of about 300 m. The huge cliff throws the beach into shade from around 3 pm — cool while…
- Paralia tis Sara Pebbles - Easy path
- Symi Gyala Pebbles - Easy road access
- Marathounta Passable dirt road
- Paralia Panormiti Easy road access
Pick by what you are looking for
-
Snorkeling
Rockier seabed and clearer water, where there is something to look at underwater.
-
Organized
Sunbeds, umbrellas and somewhere to eat or drink nearby.
- All beach guides →
Good to know
Which beaches in Symi are more sheltered from the wind?
It comes down to which way the coast faces. When the meltemi blows, coves facing the other way have less open water in front of them for a wave to build across, so they are usually more comfortable. It is not a guarantee — the same beach changes character when the wind turns. Check live wind and waves before you go.
How is this list ordered?
By which beaches have the best conditions at that hour, so the order changes through the day: a beach that leads in the morning can drop down the list in the afternoon, once the wind picks up. When there is no live weather data, they are listed by how well known each one is — not by a score of ours.
When is the sea calmest here?
Across 11 of the beaches on this page, the open water in front of them is typically 0.58 m in June, 0.62 m in July and 0.55 m in August when the meltemi is at its strongest, and 0.57 m in September. August 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 11 of the beaches on this page the sea is typically 19.8 °C in May, 22.1 °C in June, 24.3 °C in July, 26.5 °C in August and 25.6 °C in September — ideal at the height of summer, mild in June. In October it is still 23.8 °C — warmer than June. August is the warmest month. Satellite measurements, 1995–2024, from a sea cell about 5 km offshore; shallow bays usually run warmer than this.
When does the meltemi blow in Symi?
Over the last 20 summers, the hardest week in Symi starts around 3 July: 30 days in 100 had wind of 5 Beaufort or more. When it blew hard, it came from the north 100% of the time — the meltemi. In a week's holiday between 12 June and 23 July, strong wind on about 2 of the 7 days. Once it starts, it lasts about 2 days. Even then, the most sheltered side was the south coast, with beaches fit for a swim such as Marathounta and Panormiti. These are typical figures from 20 summers of European reanalysis (2006–2025), not a forecast for any single day.
How busy does it get, month by month?
August is the busiest month. When it fills and empties is measured for the Dodecanese as a whole, not for this place on its own: in October it drops to 47% of that peak, while in May it sits at 62%. From official overnight-stay figures 2024-2025: it counts whoever sleeps in the area, not day trippers or cruise passengers. It is a historical average, not a forecast for this year.
Weather and sea conditions change. CalmBeach uses the app view for live beach recommendations.