Σύμη · A harbour of painted mansions, sponge divers' stories and coves you reach by boat
Sail into a harbour of ochre and pink mansions, climb the stone steps of the Kali Strata to the old town, take a water taxi to a pebble cove under a cliff and light a candle at the monastery of the Archangel.
Greetings from Symi
Symi
We came in on the morning boat from Rhodes and the whole harbour rose out of the sea in pink and ochre and blue. By ten we were on a water taxi heading down the coast to a cove under a cliff, with water so clear the boat seemed to float in the air. This afternoon we climbed the Kali Strata to Chorio, and now we are sitting on a terrace by the windmills, watching the lights come on in the harbour below.
Hour by hour
A quiet harbour at breakfast, a boat to a wild cove, the stone steps to the old town and dinner by the water.
Start on the quay in Gialos while the harbour is still quiet, with the fishermen mending nets and the light on the houses.
Take the morning boat to Nanou or Agios Georgios and swim in a pebble cove with no road, no cars and nothing but the cliffs.
Back in Gialos, order the little fried Symi shrimp and the catch of the day at a table by the water.
Look into the Nautical Museum, then browse the sponge shops along the quay, where the sponges are still cleaned and cut on the island.
Climb the wide stone steps to Chorio, wander up to the windmills and the castle, and watch the harbour turn gold below.
Stay up for a tasting menu of Symi and Aegean produce, or walk back down for a table by the clock tower.
Where to stay
Gialos
Hotel Aliki · Neoclassical boutique hotel · €€€
Gialos
Iapetos Village · Boutique hotel · €€€
Kali Strata
The Old Markets · Boutique hotel · €€€€
Only on Symi
What makes Symi different from every other Greek island.
Gialos was rebuilt in the 19th century by families made rich by sponges and ships, in a neoclassical style with pediments, tiled roofs and colours from ochre to rose. Strict rules now keep it that way, and the view as your boat turns into the bay is one you will not forget.
For generations Symiot divers worked the sponge beds of the eastern Mediterranean, first naked on a single breath with a flat stone to carry them down, later in heavy diving suits. In 1913 the Symiot free diver Stathis Hatzis dived to around 80 m to find the lost anchor of an Italian warship. Sponges are still sold all along the quay.
The Kali Strata, the 'good street', is a broad stairway of stone steps from the back of the harbour up to Chorio, lined with old captains' houses. Walking it at sunset is the island's evening ritual.
The monastery of the Archangel Michael at Panormitis draws pilgrims from all over Greece. Sailors call on him for a safe voyage, and the story goes that bottles with offerings thrown into the sea find their own way to his bay.
“Nireus from Syme brought three balanced ships, Nireus, the most handsome man who came beneath Ilios, after the flawless son of Peleus.”
Towns & villages
A harbour of painted mansions, where the boats come in under a clock tower
Gialos is the harbour of Symi and the first thing everyone sees: a deep, narrow bay with tall neoclassical houses in ochre, pink, cream and blue stacked up both hillsides, all built in the years when sponges and ships made the island rich. Fishing boats, yachts and the ferries from Rhodes tie up along the quay, tavernas put their tables at the water's edge, and the Kali Strata climbs from the back of the harbour to Chorio above. In the middle of the day it is busy with day boats; by evening it is one of the loveliest harbours in Greece.
The old town on the hill, up the Kali Strata, below a Knights' castle
Chorio, also called Ano Symi, is the old upper town, piled on the ridge above Gialos and reached by the Kali Strata, a broad stairway of stone steps. Its lanes are quieter than the harbour, with old captains' houses, small kafeneia, a row of ruined windmills on the skyline and, at the very top, the walls of the castle built by the Knights of St John around the church of the Megali Panagia. The Archaeological and Folklore Museum is here too. The views over both bays are the best on the island.
Things to do
Beach
The morning boats drop you at pebble coves with no road, Agios Georgios Dysalona, Nanou, Marathounda or Agia Marina, and pick you up in the afternoon.
From Gialos and Pedi
Culture
Walk up the stone steps to the old town as the heat goes, past captains' houses, to the windmills and the castle.
Gialos to Chorio
Culture
See the silver icon of the Archangel and the two museums, then swim in the calm bay below the bell tower.
Panormitis, south-west Symi
Good to know
Symi is a small, steep and rocky island of about 58 km² in the Dodecanese, an hour by boat from Rhodes and only a few kilometres off the coast of Turkey. Its harbour, Gialos, is one of the most beautiful in Greece: tall neoclassical houses in ochre, pink and blue rising up both sides of a narrow bay, built in the 19th century when the island's sponge divers and shipbuilders made it rich. Above it, the old town of Chorio climbs to a castle of the Knights of St John. Much of the coast has no road, so the beaches are reached by water taxi, and in the south-west a great monastery of the Archangel Michael stands in its own bay.
When to go
May, June and September to mid-October are ideal. July and August are hot and the harbour is busy at midday with day boats from Rhodes, but the evenings are magical.
Getting around
Walk the town, take the little bus to Chorio and Pedi, and use the water taxis for the beaches. A bus or taxi crosses the mountain to Panormitis. You do not need a car.
How long
Three to five days lets you see the harbour empty out in the evening, take two or three boats to the coves and visit Panormitis. Pair it with a few days in Rhodes.
Getting there
No airport: fly to Rhodes, then take the boat to Gialos, about 1–1.5 hours.
Flights & ferries
A king who sailed to Troy, a castle of the Knights, a golden age of sponges and ships, the Italian years, the surrender of the German forces in the Dodecanese on 8 May 1945 and, in 1948, union with Greece.
Walk through the story