Spetses, Greece: Island Guide, Beaches, Sights & Hotels

The island and Spetses Town

Spetses Town is the island's only significant town and stretches 2 kilometers along the coast, full of mansions and cobbled streets set with pebble mosaics in marine motifs. Because cars are banned, no new villages grew up elsewhere and the existing hamlets stayed small, so getting around is by bus along the coast, by bicycle or by horse-drawn carriage. The tourist centre is the new port, Dapia, with its tavernas and cafes, a bank, a bakery, a supermarket and a pharmacy, and the buses to the beaches leave from here. The ferries cannot reach the shallower old port, which keeps its Greek wooden boats, yachts and three windmills and is arguably the prettier of the two. Spetses has a long naval history: excavations at Agia Marina found Bronze Age boats and a fortress wall, and the island later gave the Greek revolution its fleet and its famous female admiral, Laskarina Bouboulina.

History & heritage

Spetses owes much of its modern character to one man, the tobacco magnate Sotirios Anargyros, and it celebrates its revolutionary past every September at the Armata Festival. Both the pine forests that cover the island and its landmark grand hotel date from that early-20th-century revival.

Sotirios Anargyros & the Poseidonion Grand Hotel

Sotirios Anargyros was the tobacco magnate who shaped modern Spetses and built its landmark grand hotel. Anargyros returned to the island in 1899, reforested its hills with the pine trees that still cover it, and funded the Anargyrios & Korgialenios School. He opened the Poseidonion Grand Hotel in 1914 on the Dapia waterfront, and it remains the island's landmark grand hotel overlooking the harbour.

The Armata Festival

The Armata Festival is Spetses' flagship annual event, held on the second weekend of September. The festival re-enacts the naval battle of 8 September 1822, when the island's fleet helped repel the Ottoman navy off Spetses. Its climax sets a mock Ottoman flagship alight in the harbour, drawing thousands of visitors to Spetses Town each year.

The beaches of Spetses

Agioi Anargiri, on the west side of the island, is the best and most popular sandy beach, reached by bus or by the quieter beach-boats from the port. Spetses Town Beach is a small, shallow pebble-and-sand beach with all amenities close by. Agia Marina, 2 kilometers south of Dapia, is a mostly sandy beach among cypress and pine trees with a little pink-and-white chapel, tavernas, sunbeds and watersports. Zogeria, in a bay with a white church and a taverna, is the locals' favourite, while Vrellos and Agia Paraskevi lie to the north-west and Xylokeriza to the south-east. For every beach see the Spetses beaches guide.

Sights of Spetses

Spetses played an important part in the Greek war of independence, and the Museum in Spetses Town holds the bones of the island's freedom fighter and admiral, Laskarina Bouboulina. The Bekiri sea cave at Agioi Anargiri beach served as a hideout for islanders during the war with the Turks. On the edge of the old port stands the Agios Nikolaos monastery, seat of the island's bishop, built in 1805 on a mosaic square with a white-marble bell tower of Tinos marble. Other old churches include Agia Triada and the Agia Marina chapel in Spetses Town, and day trips run to nearby Epidaurus, Corinth, Hydra and Poros. The Hatzigiannis Mexis Museum, in the 18th-century mansion of Hatzigiannis Mexis, one of the island's first governors, traces Spetses' history from its Bronze Age finds to the War of Independence. Spetses also holds a literary claim: the British novelist John Fowles taught at the Anargyrios & Korgialenios School in the early 1950s and set his 1965 novel The Magus on the island. For more, see the Spetses sights guide.

Bike & bicycle rental

Bicycles and bikes are permitted on Spetses even though cars are not, and the first rental is not far from the new port. Ilias Rent-A-Bike is on the Agia Marina road, just around the corner of Analypsi Square, and offers a pick-up and drop-off service that brings the bike to your accommodation and collects it later. Telephone +30 6973 886 407.

Where to stay on Spetses

Most accommodation is in and around Spetses Town, close to the Dapia port, the beaches and the buses. For every hotel, apartment and studio on the island see the Spetses hotels guide.

Kastro Studios & Apartments, Spetses Town

Kastro Studios & Apartments is a beautifully renovated old mansion in the centre of Spetses, 100 metres from the Dapia port and close to Bouboulina Square, with a freshwater swimming pool, a pool bar and direct access to the beach. The studios and apartments are decorated in traditional style with TV, a cooking corner, a refrigerator, a private bathroom and a balcony, and the bus station 100 metres away serves every beach on the island.

Economou Mansion, Spetses Town

Economou Mansion stands on the seafront, a 10-minute walk from the centre of Spetses. Built in 1851, this traditional mansion blends 19th-century furnishings and decor with modern comforts such as free WiFi and satellite TV, and its spacious suites have large verandas overlooking the sea. A homemade breakfast is included and served by the pool, and the gardens have stone walls and pebbled courtyards, with a cosy fireplace lounge in winter.

Getting to Spetses

Ferries run several times a day from Piraeus, most of them fast boats that take about two and a half to three hours. Spetses is also connected to Porto Heli on the opposite mainland, a crossing of about 10 minutes, and smaller tourist boats sail to the village of Kosta, where there is a nice beach.

Frequently asked questions about Spetses