Island hopping in Greece: IOS
Ios was probably our least favorite of all the islands.
It was our second stop on our Cyclades tour, and maybe after having such a wonderful time in Santorini everything might have been a bit of a let down, but either way, we definitely didn’t have the best time here.
We jumped on a ferry at 10:45 in Santorini, and less than an hour later we were already in Ios.
We stayed at Hideout Suites for three nights, and our villa was gorgeous! We had a huge private swimming pool, so it was extra hard to leave the room in the morning.
Ios is a big party island, but it just felt like a cheaper version of Mykonos (which we avoided on purpose), so we didn’t love it too much. It may be fun if you’re visiting with a group of friends, but if you’re a couple we wouldn’t recommend it.
There are two famous beaches in Ios: Milopotas or Manganari. Although Myiopotas was literally 10 minutes away from our hotel, we decided to rent a car and go to Manganari every day… we liked it so much better.
Chora, the little town, was very charming and cute… and the views from the top were incredible. The first night we watched sunset right above the city, on the highest spot of Chora.
The second night we decided to go to Odysseas Elytis Theatre, and we are still not sure if you’re allowed to go there. Once we parked our car, we walked up a little hill and we got to this small tower, but there was nobody else around. We climbed over a few rocks and then we saw an outstanding view of the island. The sky was on fire and the sun was setting right in front of us; it was magical!
On our third and last night we drove down to the port and tried to get a few photos there, but to be quite honest, this was our least favorite sunset spot in Ios as there was nothing interesting to look at.
WHERE TO EAT IN IOS:
The Mills, it’s a typical greek tavern, the food is quite cheap and quality is pretty good. Make sure you bring a sweater because it gets super windy at night!
Katogi, it’s located in the center of Chora. We had to wait for over an hour for a table, but the great food and refreshing cocktails made it worth it! Not sure if they take reservations, but try and call in advance if you don’t want to wait for as long as we did.
Drakos, a tavern located in Milopotas. Probably the best place if you want to have dinner right by the water, and they have great quality fish.
Our ferry from Ios to Folegandros was at 7:45am, but since we were quite happy to leave, we didn't really mind the 6:30am alarm!