Top Milos Beaches

Milos has around 40 beaches, spread all around the island. Some are unreachable by ground, only by sea. Among them there are a few that are true gems not just of Milos but of the whole Cyclades Islands. Being without a boat of some sorts is thus pretty limiting.

If you have just a car or a scooter you’ll still be able to visit awesome beaches but it is important to know which ones can be reached and which ones you’ll need to book a boat tour. I’m going to list thus the best beaches on Milos, specifying which ones can be accessed only by sea. I won’t repeat often about the quality and colour of the waters as everywhere I went it was perfectly clear, as you would expect from a proper greek island 🙂

Sarakiniko

An out of this world place, unmissable for every Milos visitor. White, friable rock, some pebbles at the mouth of the small bay where the sea cuts into the rock and lets you access it comfortably. You can take a very long walk over the white rock on both side, east and west, of the bay and absolutely do so as it is an awesome place for lunar-like pictures.

Sarakiniko

Beach itself is easy to reach, a road ends up a few tens of meters from it, parking available around it. There are no tourist facilities here, just sun, sea and white rock. If you’re up for a good dive, head on the west side over the rock and jump in a small “pool” that opens to the wide sea.

Come here early, it gets crowded. Best time would be before 11:00. It is one of the best Milos beaches after all, can’t expect to be it all for you 🙂

Tsigrado

This is a tiny bay, enveloped by creamy volcanic rock. It can be reached by car up to the border of the rocks but you’ll have to climb down a makeshift wooden ladder after having walked over the rock for a few meters. Not exactly an easy access to the beach, making it more suited for fit people with no mobility impairments.

Tsigrado

If you do climb down the rock, you’ll find a small sandy beach with crystal waters. Naturists may be found here too, being somewhat secluded. Obviously, no facilities to be found. It is worth a trip as it is close to other beautiful beaches on the southern side and can be easily visited on the same day as other beaches.

Kleftiko

No proper beach but another unmissable place for any visitor. Stunning rock formations on the sea, in italian I we would call them “faraglioni”. There are at least a dozen, you can swim among them all and rest near the main coast, where the sea is shallower. You will definitely need a boat here. Book a tour back in Adamas, there are a couple that just do Kleftiko if you don’t want to spend a whole day on a boat or, better, take a longer one and explore the whole coast of Milos. All the boat tours stop at least half an hour here.

Kleftiko

If you come here at sunset, the sun’s light will illuminate the west side of each rock while leaving the other side in perfect shadow. That’s your moment for dramatic, contrasting pictures.

Firiplaka

One of the biggest beaches in Milos. Long and sandy, with some pebbles on the west end (the naturists’ spot). Easily reachable by car, there’s a small parking spot just above the beach and then you descend to it by foot. One of the most popular beaches in Milos also due to its accessibility, it is well worth coming for swimmers and families alike, as the sea is not deep for many meters in but then opens to allow space to swim. A restaurant/bar is available for refreshments and shade.

There’s a rock right on the beach that provides a great spot for pictures. On the other side of it the beach ends for a while and then opens again, making it perfect if you need more privacy or want to sunbathe topless/naked. On this area the volcanic rock has a plethora of colours, ranging from the white to the red to the light green, showing the diversity of minerals present on Milos.

Provatas

Another large beach on the south coast. Reachable by car and with a nice restaurant facing the sea, it is a sandy beach among cliffs of red rock. During sunsets everything looks red. Pretty popular, do come here early as the amount of apartments around it and the easiness with which it can be accessed by car make it a well frequented spot on the island. For families it is great, facilities, sand and shallow waters make it a place you’ll return often to.

Gerakas

A dramatic place. A large rock slide looms over this beach, facing southside. The beach itself is small and pebbled, unimpressive if not for the slide that cuts into the rock on the north side, showing different shades of brown/white rock, making you feel like everything can fall down on you at any moment. Some people tries to climb it but it is far from easy, probably doable only up to 30% of its height.
Gerakas fall from the boat. Getting closer would make it impossible to show it in full (it’s truly tall)
As you can imagine, there’s no way to reach it by road, only by the sea. Some boat tours stop here but others don’t, so get informed which one does. To me it is an unmissable spot on Milos for its dramatic view while you’re swimming and deep waters so be sure your boat tour has it included. Mine let us swim to the beach and back, for well over half an hour, and it was absolutely worth it.

Mytakas

It is 2 beaches at the price of 1. On the east side there’s a handful of houses directly on the sea, facing a small bay with multiple tiny sandy patches of beach. On the west side instead there’s a longer, sandy, beach, with a bar in the middle and sunbeds available for rent. The advantage here is that if you want calmness you go on the east side and there will always be at most a dozen of people present, at the worst; otherwise, walk to the western side and you’ll have an amazing beach, with shallow waters for many meters in, facing the north sea and thus more open to waves when the winds are stronger. If you’re bored of swimming in calm waters, this is the beach for you.
There’s a road that ends right in the middle of the 2 beaches. Not many people come here, preferring the nearby Sarakiniko. But it would be a crime to not pay a visit to this amazing piece of the island, just a bit less beautiful than the best spots on Milos. Surely one of the best Milos beaches.

Glaronissia

Not a beach but rock formations on a group of tiny islands on the northern side of Milos. Obviously you need a boat to go here, check with the various travel agencies if they stop here because many won’t. And it would be a shame, because the rock formations are amazing, black basaltic prisms similar to the more famous Giant’s Causeway in Ireland. Difference here is that you can swim around them, go inside sea caves carved out of the basaltic rocks and fish too (I was told it is a great spot for catching bigger fishes than those visiting the beaches on the mainland).
Another lunar place, contrasting with black rock the white rock of Sarakiniko. Ironic that they are nearly in front of each other (you can glimpse the white rocks of the famous beach from here).

Paliorema

Surreal beach on the eastern side of the island. In itself the beach is not more beautiful than others and wouldn’t make this list if wasn’t the old place of the sulfur mines in the past. There are remainings of the building hosting the miners around the beach and this gives an unique feeling of an abandoned place to the beach.
There’s still a lot of spots where you can see the red rocks due to the mineral present in the area. Part of the sand is indeed red. Watch out for the metal pieces of tools left by the miners. There are no facilities here, or it wouldn’t have such an abandoned feeling, but the road stops nearly right on the beach so it is doable with a car. A few boat tours also stop here for a few minutes to take pictures so you can use this way to visit it too.

Santorini often comes to mind when thinking about Milos. Same volcanic origin, same colorful towns perched upon a cliff (Plaka vs Oia), same arid landscape, same colorful rocks. But Milos has far better beaches. They’re more variegated, more diverse and Santorini has no equal to Kleftiko nor Sarakiniko. No greek island offers so much diversity in terms of beaches than Milos.

You won’t regret any second spend on any of them 🙂