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Route · 7 days · round-tripYacht charter route · Cyclades

Paros via Syros & Mykonos.

A week-long sailing loop from Paros through Sifnos, Syros, Tinos and Mykonos: sheltered swim bays, marble villages and easy town quays in the Cyclades.

The route

Day-by-day route

Click any pin on the map or any day in the route summary below to see that day's stop, story and photos.

Vathi
Day 1

Paros → Sifnos (Vathi Port)

A 24-mile reach west to open the week, dropping the hook in Vathi's near-landlocked bay where the pottery kilns still smoke.

Distance

22 NM

Sailing

~4.4h at 5 kn

At a glance

Route at a glance

Best season

May – mid-October (peak Jun – Sep, meltemi Jul – Aug)

Duration

7 days

Departure

Paros

Sailing area

Cyclades

Route summary

Click any day to jump back to the map and see its photos, narrative and mooring tip.

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The full story

Day-by-day journey

Named anchorages, mooring notes and things to do for every leg of the week — the map follows along as you scroll.

Day 1 / 7
Vathi
1
Day 1

Paros → Sifnos (Vathi Port)

The first leg runs about 24 miles west, enough to shake down the boat and let the crew find their sea legs before anything demanding. Vathi sits behind a narrow entrance on Sifnos's south coast, and once you're inside it feels closer to a lake than an Aegean bay. The bottom is clean sand, holding is reliable, and the surrounding hills knock the wind flat by evening. Sifnos has fired clay for centuries; you can still see kilns on the slopes above the water. We usually anchor off, swim before the light goes, then row in for dinner at the taverna by the quay, where the seafood comes straight off the day boats. If your legs want stretching, the chapel of Chrysopigi is a manageable walk or a short taxi across the island.

Things to do

Watch the potters at Vathi's kilns

Swim the sheltered head of Vathi bay

Taxi across to Chrysopigi's islet chapel

Order baked revithada chickpeas at a kafeneio

Mooring tip

Drop on sand in 4-6 m anywhere inside the bay; it holds well and shelter is all-round. The short quay takes a few stern-to boats at roughly EUR 15-25 a night, but the anchorage is honestly the nicer option.

Kamares
2
Day 2

Sifnos (Vathi) → Kamares Harbor

Barely two hours' sailing, so there's no rush to leave Vathi. Kamares is where the ferries land and where most charter crews reprovision, a broad bay on the west side backed by a sand beach and a line of tavernas. It takes the northerlies well but stays open to the west, so keep an eye on the forecast if a westerly is due. This is worth an afternoon ashore. Sifnos earned its reputation as the Cyclades' kitchen here, and the mastelo, lamb slow-cooked with wine and dill in a clay pot, is the dish to order up in Artemonas. The bus climbs to Apollonia in fifteen minutes if you'd rather wander the whitewashed lanes. Back on the quay, the sunset over the harbour mouth earns its own drink.

Things to do

Ride the bus up to old Apollonia

Order clay-pot mastelo lamb in Artemonas

Swim the sheltered sand at Platys Gialos

Sundowner on the Kamares waterfront

Mooring tip

Anchor off the beach in 5-8 m of sand, or go stern-to on the little quay for EUR 20-30. If the wind backs into the west and the bay starts to roll, slip round to Platys Gialos or back to Vathi for the night.

Syros
3
Day 3

Sifnos → Syros (Ermoupoli or Finikas)

Give this one a proper start. It's around 32 miles north-northeast, a long, satisfying beam reach when the Meltemi is in its usual mood, so reef early and let the boat do the work. Ermoupoli surprises people. It was the busiest port in Greece a century and a half ago, and the wealth left behind a marble town of neoclassical mansions, a miniature opera house and the vast Miaouli square. The town quay sits deep in the harbour and holds in almost any wind, which is why so many crews time the week to overnight here. Climb the stepped lanes to Ano Syros, the older Catholic quarter under the hill, for the view back down over the roofs. Before you leave, buy a box of the soft loukoumi the island has made since the 1830s.

Things to do

Climb to San Giorgio in Ano Syros

Buy loukoumi from an old confectioner

Cross the marble of Miaouli Square

Detour to Finikas bay for a swim

Mooring tip

Go stern-to on the town quay using your own anchor; there's no charge and the shelter is genuinely all-round. If it's full in high season, Manna marina next door runs EUR 60-80 a night with lazy lines.

Tinos
4
Day 4

Syros → Tinos

The channel between Syros and Tinos does something predictable in summer: it squeezes the north wind and hands you an extra five knots, so what reads as a gentle forecast can feel lively on the water. It's a quick passage, though, and the trick is timing. Aim to have the lines ashore by four, before the swell starts wrapping around the breakwater. Tinos rewards a car more than most islands. Inland you'll find hundreds of ornate dovecotes, the marble-carving village of Pyrgos where sculptors still work the local stone, and Volax, a strange plain of round granite boulders. The local artichokes turn up braised with lemon and dill in the village tavernas. Save the evening for the light on the boulder fields.

Things to do

Tour the marble workshops of Pyrgos

Follow the dovecote path near Falatados

Braised Tinos artichokes in a village yard

Sunset among the Volax boulders

Mooring tip

Berth stern-to in the new harbour for EUR 25-40; the sand is only moderate holding, so lay plenty of scope and dig the anchor in hard. When the Meltemi tops 25 knots the inner fishing harbour is the calmer, safer bet.

Mykonos
5
Day 5

Tinos → Mykonos

The hop across to Mykonos is barely worth reefing for, though the same channel effect applies and the last mile past the harbour can be gusty. Book your berth at Tourlos ahead of time in July and August, ideally the day before, because the new marina fills fast and the old town quay only stays comfortable in a light northerly. There's no reason to hurry in. Drop anchor at Ornos or Psarou first for a long lunch and a swim while the day-trippers thin out. The island's real treasure lies a short sail west: Delos, the sacred island the ancients held as Apollo's birthplace, its marble lions and ruined streets worth a full morning. Come evening, the crowd drifts to Little Venice, where the houses stand with their feet in the sea and the sun drops behind the windmills.

Things to do

Spend a morning in ancient Delos

Lunch at road-free Agios Sostis beach

Sundown drinks in Little Venice

Walk out to Armenistis lighthouse

Mooring tip

Tourlos New Marina is the sensible overnight, stern-to at a steep EUR 70-110 in peak weeks; reserve online at least a day ahead in July and August. Only take the old town quay if the northerly is under 18 knots, otherwise it becomes untenable overnight.

Paros
6
Day 6

Mykonos → Paros

This is the leg crews remember. Twenty-two miles southwest with the Meltemi over your quarter, sails goose-winged or poled out, the boat surfing down the fronts of the swells. It's one of the more dependable downwind runs in the summer Cyclades, and it goes quickly. Naoussa waits at the end, a working fishing village on the north coast wrapped around a tiny harbour, the ruins of a Venetian fort half-sunk at its entrance. Boats still land octopus here, and you'll see it drying on lines outside the tavernas that ring the water. Take the tender across to Kolymbithres to snorkel around the wind-sculpted granite, or hire a car up to Lefkes, the old marble-paved capital in the hills, and taste the wine at one of the Marpissa vineyards on the way.

Things to do

Snorkel the granite rocks at Kolymbithres

Taste wine at a Marpissa vineyard

Grilled octopus on the Naoussa quay

Wander the marble lanes of Lefkes

Mooring tip

Naoussa's harbour is small and popular; stern-to runs EUR 30-50 and it's often full by five, so arrive early. If you miss a spot, anchor in Plastira Bay just to the east on sand in 5-7 m, or drop down to the bigger, easier quay at Parikia.

Paros
7
Day 7

Mykonos → Paros (Check Out)

Checkout mornings are calmer if you prepare the night before: settle the bill, bag the rubbish, and leave the boat tidy so the handover is quick. Bases here want the yacht back by nine, when the manager walks the deck and cabins with you and checks the hull and gear. Assuming nothing's amiss, the security deposit is usually released within about a week. If your flight is later in the day, there's time for a proper breakfast on the Parikia waterfront and a final swim at Golden Beach on the south coast, where the long stretch of sand catches the morning sun. Parikia airport, PAS, is only a quarter of an hour from town, so transfers are painless. It's a gentle way to end a week that asked a fair bit of the crew.

Things to do

Walk the handover with the base manager

One last swim at Golden Beach

Breakfast along the Parikia waterfront

Fifteen-minute transfer to Paros airport

Mooring tip

Have the boat back on the quay at Parikia or Naoussa before nine so the base manager can inspect on schedule; the deposit typically clears within a week of a clean check. Fill the fuel tank the evening before to avoid the morning queue at the pump.

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