CalmBeach Greece
Maistros options
Beaches in Ithaca usually better when the maistros blows
10 sheltered beaches in Ithaca, oriented away from the maistros. Check live wind & waves on CalmBeach before you go.
- 10beaches
- 2organized
- 1with photos
The maistros blows from NW/W, and the split shows up clearly in the data. Of the 25 beaches we have modelled, 10 take no open water toward NW/W; they cluster on the east coast, facing an arc of NE–S. The most reliable of them are listed below. The other 2 sit wide open to it.
The reason is the shape of the coast itself: these beaches have land behind them on the side the wind comes from. They are not necessarily enclosed bays — they simply sit in the wind shadow of the shore opposite.
The trade-off, plainly: the same east coast is open to the opposite wind. On days the wind swings from the east, the shelter reverses and the far side is the better call. So this list narrows the choice — it does not replace the forecast; check live wind and waves on the beach page before you go.
The beaches
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Paralia Filiatro
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…
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Paralia Kaminia
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.
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Paralia Marmaka
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…
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Antri
Practically boat-only — the path down the mountainside is steep, long and easy to lose. No trees, no shade, completely deserted.
Photo credits
- Devtera Kourvoulia: VasCr, CC BY 3.0
Good to know
Which beaches in Ithaca may be better when the maistros blows?
The bays listed here are shielded from the maistros in the exposure model, so they may be more comfortable when it blows. Local conditions still vary, so confirm wind and waves before you go.
Does this guarantee low waves?
No. Shelter shows which coasts are shielded from a wind direction, not guaranteed calm or low waves. On strong-wind days follow local flags and check live wind and waves in the app.
When is the sea calmest here?
Across 10 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 10 of the beaches on this page the sea is typically 19.3 °C in May, 22.7 °C in June, 25.0 °C in July, 26.4 °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.
Wind and waves change every day. See live conditions for any of these beaches before you drive out.
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