CalmBeach Greece
Meltemi options
Beaches in Kythira usually better when the meltemi blows
15 sheltered beaches in Kythira, oriented away from the meltemi. Check live wind & waves on CalmBeach before you go.
- 15beaches
- 4organized
- 9with photos
The meltemi blows from N/NE, and the split shows up clearly in the data. Of the 42 beaches we have modelled, 16 take no open water toward N/NE; they cluster on the southwest coast, facing an arc of SE–W. The most reliable of them are listed below. The other 22 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 southwest coast is open to the opposite wind. On days the wind swings from the southwest, 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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Photo: Julie N. MelidoniThe southwest cove facing Chytra — Melidoni lies at the southwestern tip of Kythira, below the village of Drymonas, a small cove where fine sand mixes with coarser grains. Rising from…
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Paralia ChalkosThe pebble cove below Kalamos — Chalkos sits at the southern tip of Kythira, near the village of Kalamos, a small cove of pebbles and rock facing straight south. Its unusual name…
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KapsaliThe twin bay beneath the Castle — Kapsali lies at the southernmost tip of Kythira, directly below Chora, where two crescents of sand form the island's famous twin bay. The two shores…
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Kapsali Piso GialosKapsali's second shore — Piso Gialos is the second shore of Kapsali, at the southernmost tip of Kythira, spread toward the eastern arm of the double bay, where the low hill…
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Paralia LykodimouRed pebbles and a cave with a spring — Fine pebbles, sand and characteristic red pebbles in the centre-west. In the middle of the beach opens an impressive cave with a freshwater spring…
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Paralia KalamiA hard-to-reach beach with a sunken cannon — A small pebble-and-some-sand beach in the centre-west, with deep, crystal-clear water. On the seabed near the centre of the bay lies a sunken cannon…
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Photo credits
- Melidoni: Julie N.
- Paralia Chalkos: Dionisio Calucci, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Kapsali: Ioannis Fakis, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Kapsali Piso Gialos: Alexey Komarov, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Paralia Lykodimou: Dionisio Calucci, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Paralia Kalami: Alexey Komarov, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Paralia Limni (Palaiopoli): Dionisio Calucci, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Agios Levteris: Dionisio Calucci, CC BY-SA 4.0
Good to know
Which beaches in Kythira may be better when the meltemi blows?
The bays listed here are shielded from the meltemi 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 15 of the beaches on this page, the open water in front of them is typically 0.80 m in June, 0.76 m in July and 0.72 m in August when the meltemi is at its strongest, and 0.81 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 15 of the beaches on this page the sea is typically 18.6 °C in May, 22.3 °C in June, 25.4 °C in July, 26.4 °C in August and 25.4 °C in September — ideal at the height of summer, mild in June. In October it is still 23.4 °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.
Wind and waves change every day. See live conditions for any of these beaches before you drive out.
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