Beach
Take a water taxi to a cove
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
Symi · Things to do
Things to do in Symi
Beaches, trails, festivals, food and wine: the experiences that make this island its own.
Experiences
Our favourite things to do
Ideas for every kind of day, from a lazy swim to a full-day hike.
Culture
Climb the Kali Strata at sunset
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
Visit the monastery of Panormitis
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
Nature
Sail around the island
Day boats go round the coast, stopping at coves, at Panormitis and at the islet of Seskli for a swim and a barbecue lunch.
Day boats from Gialos
Hike
Walk the old paths
Old mule paths cross the hills to monasteries, chapels and bays. Walk through the pines of the south, or from Chorio towards Faneromeni, in spring or autumn.
All over the island
Nature
Smell the phrygana
Walk the coastal road to Nimborios through bare hills of thyme, sage and spiny burnet, and swim at the end of it.
The hills around Nimborios
Food & wine
Eat Symi shrimp
The island's tiny pink shrimp are fried whole and eaten shell and all, with a glass of ouzo on the quay.
Tavernas around the harbour
Festival
The feast of the Archangel
Pilgrims come by boat from across the Dodecanese for the monastery's great feast, with a vigil, a procession and a shared meal.
Panormitis, 8 November
Only on Symi
What makes Symi different
What makes Symi different from every other Greek island.
A harbour of painted mansions
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.
The sponge divers
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.
Some 500 steps to the old town
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 Archangel of the sailors
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.