The Sporade Archipelago, June, 2025

The Sporades Archipelago is a group of Greek islands in the northwest Aegean Sea, known for their lush greenery (something that is indeed very rare in the Aegean sea), crystal-clear waters (not so rare), and charming traditional villages. The name "Sporades" means "scattered," reflecting how the islands are spread out off the eastern coast of mainland Greece. There are four main inhabited islands in the Sporades. 

Skiathos is a bit of a party town with many beach resorts. It's home to the main airport for the archipelago, so much of the tourism starts here.

Skopelos is Known for its pine-covered hills and traditional architecture. But most notably, it's known as the primary filming location for the movie Mamma Mia!.

Alonissos is a quieter, less-developed island, home to the National Marine Park of Alonissos, and I suspect, where all the locals go to get away from the tourists.

Skyros is the southernmost and largest island. Ironically it also has the least population of the Sporade archipelago. It must also be one of, if not the, most remote islands in the whole Mediterranean.

Skiathos

We had planned to spend a few days in Skiathos then slowly move East through the Sporades before making our way South towards the Dodecoanese Archipelago, however as usual, the weather had other plans. We needed to seek shelter and the only safe place for us was on the Skopelos town quay. We would come back to Skithos once the weather improved. In fact, we came back twice. The following photos are from our 3 individual visits to Skiathos. The highlight of which was the open air screening of Mumma Mia the movie. What a blast…

Skopelos

Skopelos island is gorgeous. It's green and lush and unlike anything else we have seen on the Aegean side of Greece. Skopelos town is very cute and was a great place to hang out while the bad weather passed. We hired a car one day to explore the island further. We visited the famous church and beach used in the filming of Mumma Mia, and did some much needed shopping. However, possibly my favourite thing about Skopelos was the awesome little Mexican restaurant we found in one of the back alleys.

Alonissos

We only spent one night at Alonissos and sadly we didn't make it ashore (well that's not true, we did visit a cute little beach bar for a sneaky sundowner). However, from the water the island looked beautiful and left us wanting much more. We plan to come back to the Sporades in the next year or two and spend more time here as we really liked it. It was time for us to get moving on towards the Dodecoanese. Our last stop in the Sporades will be Skiros. 

Skiros

As we endured the 12 hour sail South East towards Skiros, it became clear to us, that the North West Islands must be just out of reach for the worst Meltemi winds. We had experienced lovely moderate winds up there, which were great for sailing and sitting at anchor. However, as we approached the centre of the Aegean, the Meltemi was making its presence known. By the time we arrived at the island of Skiros, we had gusts in the 30 knot range. Strong winds are something we would become very accustomed to over the coming weeks. 

The town quay in Linaria (the main town on Skiros) was lovely. Small, but lovely. It was also rather entertaining given we were tied up right next to a massive ferry that seemed impossibly large inside. It was like watching a clown car unload. And God knows where those vehicles were going. Early the next morning we caught a bus to the other side of Skiros and up to the Chora that sits high on a hill, overlooking the beach resorts of Molos. The Chora was nothing special, however it offered some spectacular views and a chance to get lost in the winding alleyways. We did see some groovy beach art by the road on the way back to NJ. A pleasant distraction from our taxi drivers Grand Prix qualifying demonstration.

From Skiros we make our way into the Dodecoanese Islands, even more wind and more wind after that. But that's a story for another time…