The island of Sifnos is located in the central aegean sea as part of the cycladic circle southerly of Serifos and in the neighbourhood of Paros and Naxos.

There is of course touristical infrastructure in Sifnos, but not as much as on other more popular islands like Serifos about 15 nm NW and Mykonos which lies about 30 nm northerly.

The island offers seveal nice bay for anchorage and enkoyment of greek holiuday life mixed with touristical advantages without being overwhelming mass tourism.

In the southwestern part of the island, the nice bay of Vathy has a long beach, some holiday villas and a hotel. The bay is spotted with anchored yachts of all sizes and some as well moore on the small jetty close to the church in the NE-part of the bay, where it is deep enough for boats less 2.50 draught.

There is water available - if you have a 60m hose with you or carry it otherwise...

There are 2 "Markets" in Sifnos-Vathy but these are pretty expensive and the quality of goods seems to be a little old. Extremely expensive is the small shop/kiosk directly on the beach and the correlation of friendlyness and sales is really unknown by the owners... it is recommended not to buy here what can be avoided - the next relatively acceptable shops are in Kamares.

The Tavernas on the long and broad sandy beach are typical greek, the seating is wonderful and the view makes every day be a dream!

Kamares is the bay with the port of Sifnos, and in the summertime nearly every hour a big ferry comes in. Especially the big Highspeed-Katamarans offer a great spectacle...
click on the picture to enlarge , the quai is where the sailing boats are seen

The quai in Kamares is reserved for the ferries of course, but on the inner side several boats can drop their anchors and moore stern to quai. Whilst there is no ferry expected, one can come alongside for a short time at the quai´s head to get some water.

The ground of the bay is sand with stones and grass, and many boats just drop their anchor in the middle of the bay, but it is necessary to check own draught, because the water becomes shallow already far from the beach. In Meltemi-times, it is unavoidable to leave a person on board to keep an eye on the anchor, and he/she should be able to handle the boat, because the gusts can be very strong and sometimes boats start to move because their anchor slips. A 2nd anchor is surely helpful.

On the (incoming) leftside/bb-side the water allows mooring on your own anchor and a (very) long line to the rocks on the land, if your boat´s draught is not over 2m.

Some greeks live here in their holiday homes and a sophisticated beach bar lures the youngsters for daytimes, evenings until late in the night ... nice music mostly, but pretty loud.

Kamares is situated as usually all greek port-villages around the quai. Some markets offer fresh food and good quality, prices are acceptable. Some beach Tavernas invite to Saganaki, Souvlaki, Zaziki and all the other greek standards, but as well fish. In August, one needs a lot of patience, because the waiters move pretty slow. If you are hungry, better buy a Gyros to go ....

Ferries go to all directions, this is the heart of the Aegean sea, in a few hours the fastferries reach Athens, Mykonos is nearby as well as Paros, which is the center of Cyclades. As well Crete can be reached in a few hours from here!

The island is nice to see - we rented a Scooter and a motorbike and enjoyed a nice day - but as wll cars are for rent at reasonable prices. MOTO 1 on the corner of mainstreet direction Apollonia, Sifnos´capital village 5km away.The owner was very easy and nice and friendly, the motorbikes were technically ok!

The village of Apollonia has the typical greek ambiance of a "Chorio" - clean white-blue houses, there are many narrow streets with beautiful bars and restaurants and some shops and fashion stores. It has a touch of Mykonos and Serifos, but is much cheaper, and the places are not so packed, what creates mostly a relaxed atmosphere.

From Apollonia the peninsula of Chersonisos ins 20 minutes away. There is a very narrow bay with a smal beach on the end, as well 2 Tavernas. Very nice to stay for some time and relax.
The food is very good, greek..what else ;-)

The bay is really narrow, however, as seen on the picture, a skipper dropped his anchor parallel to the shore and stayed there (it was a very windy day)

Back via Apollonia and more 20 minutes to the south are another several beautiful beaches. Northerly of the very nice beach of Chrisopigi is the fishing village Faros which has a small harbour, where Yachts as well can stay. The view to the island of Paros 8-10 nm east is beautiful, and the beach is very nice, niot overcrowded even in August (but not empty either, of course...)

Some miles southerly the big bay of Makris Gialos is the touristical center of the island - full with typical touristical places, shops, bars. The bay offers many space for boats, so many boats drop their anchor there, especially, when they want to wait for the Meltemin to calm down....

Sail from Sifnos to

southerly

Kimolos (22 nm)   Milos (30 nm)  Folegandros (28 sm) Sikinos (28 nm) Santorin (Thira)  (50 nm)

Crete-Chania  (100 nm)  Crete-Rethimno (100 nm)   Kreta-Heraklion (100 sm)

northerly

Serifos  (ca.12 sm)    Mykonos  (ca.35 sm)  Kithnos (ca.35 sm)   Syros (ca.30 sm)

East 

Paros (20 nm) Antiparos (20 nm)   Naxos (35 sm)

West 

Peleponnes

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