Things To Do in Samos

The slopes of Mount Ambelos, about a 10-minute drive from Kokkari, are where Samos’ wines are born and bred. The island’s wine-making tradition dates back to 1200 BC, and today the place is best known for its sweet wines, like Muscat. If you want to immerse yourself in wine country, there’s an easy walk that leads from the village of Vourliotes to Panagia Vrontiani, Samos’ oldest monastery.

On the island’s north coast, Kokkari is a one-stop shop for watersports. The aptly-named Long Beach here is constantly fanned by sea breezes, which toss up the surf, making it a great place for windsurfing. If you’d rather be a spectator, there’s a taverna on the headland, where you can oversee the action happening on the beach below.

According to legend, this crumbled temple, 10 minutes from Pythagorion, is the site where Hera was born. For the goddess of women and marriage, she didn’t have a lot of luck with men. She married her brother, Zeus, and spent the rest of her life planning her revenge against his mistresses. There’s not much left of the temple today, but it was once home to the third largest colossus in ancient Greece.

Set next to Samos’ town hall, this museum lays out the island’s history in chronological order. Some of the highlights of the exhibition include hoards of ancient silver and gold coins, a collection of classical Greek sculptures and busts, and a small statue of Hera with a Mona Lisa-style smile.

On this pebbly beach, the waves break against a backdrop of the craggy mountains. There are a handful of thatched parasols and sunloungers on the pebbles and the beach is backed by a decent selection of tavernas and cafes.

At the height of summer, this stretch of sand is one of the most comfortable beaches on the island. It’s set 12 kilometres from Samos Town and sunbathers don’t get too sticky here, thanks to a cool breeze, which blows in from the north.

Samos’ rolling interior offers up nature’s equivalent of a legs, bums and tums exercise class – Mount Ampelos and Mount Kerkis will especially test your hiking mettle. If you’re looking for a gentler route, you can trace your way from Kokkari to Kondakeika, taking in pine forests, orchards and hilltop villages on the way.

The name of this beach, 7 miles from Samos Town, translates as ‘fine sand’, and it does exactly what it says on the tin. Unlike some of the pebble beaches on the island, this stretch of sand is golden and powdery. The calm water makes it a big hit with families, and you get views of Turkey from the shore.

This festival is held every summer in honour of the famous Greek composer Manolis Kalomoris, who was born on Samos. Celebrations include concerts and theatre. Symphonic orchestras from as far away as Alaska come over to Samos to perform traditional Greek dance music and more famous works by composers such as Bach.

A²+B²=C² – remember? Pythagoras’ theory is one of the first mathematical equations you learn in school, and Samos is where the mastermind of the theory was born. The town Pythagorion was named in his honour, but there’s more to the place than maths. It’s also got a beach, an archaeological museum and the ruins of some Roman baths.

This beach, near Samos Town, is a mixture of sand, shingle and get up and go. Yes, there are sunloungers on the sand, but the beach is also home to a beach volleyball court, a football pitch and a kayak-hire shop, so people spent most of their time away from them.

Samos Town is the epicentre of this festival. For almost a week, wine-tasting events are held by the harbour. A big stage is set up for the festival and local dance groups and bands perform on it. Some of the local rock bands perform their songs in English as well as Greece.

According to Rudyard Kipling, the elephant got his trunk after a tug of war with a crocodile. But the palaeontology museum in Mytilinii says differently. This place houses the skeletons of hundreds of prehistoric animals, including predecessors of the elephant and the giraffe. This traditional village, 10 minutes from Samos Town, is also a great place to pick up handmade cigars and local wine.

Stretching 1,400 metres into the sky, Mount Kerkis is Samos’ tallest mountain. The trek to the top takes about 3 hours, and the highlight of the journey is a pit stop at the Evangelistria Monastery, where the nuns will welcome you in for a cup of Greek coffee. When you reach the summit, you can look out over the whole island. The drive here takes about an hour and a half from Pythagorion.

Get an earthworm’s perspective on one of the oldest man-made tunnels in the world. Cutting through 1,000 metres of mountain rock, the Efpalinio Tunnel was built in the 6th century BC to channel water to the town of Pythagoria. The hole in the rock was cut away by slaves, and you can walk in their footsteps during a tunnel tour.

Roughly a 10-minute drive from Pythagorion, this pint-sized beach has a lot to offer. The beach facilities include sunloungers, a shower and a changing cubicle. The whole scene is presided over by a tavern, which serves traditional cuisine.