Milos is just excellent. Loved Milos. Would go back there tomorrow. It's not quite on the beaten track that most tourists follow, but it beginning to head that way a little. The better restaurants on the island are pretty busy, and then there's a sharp and clear gap between the next level of quality, with a lot of tourist fodder restaurants. The port town of Adamanatas is where the worst of the tourist nonsense seems to occur, with other towns/villages much less 'invaded' in the shoulder seasons. Certainly there are things to do on Milos, aside from sunbathing, but with so many amazing beaches, why would you bother?
Milos can be harder to get around than some islands, as the roads tend to turn to dust at certain points. If you want to get to the truly isolated places you can a) jam onto a boat with dozens of other people also wanting to do the same, or b) hire a 4x4. Your insurance won't cover trips too far to the West of the island, which means you have a limited number of beaches you can visit if you go with 'standard car' option. There are some truly excellent options
We stayed at Paleochori beach rather than Plaka or Adamanatas, which was a great decision. It takes a little longer to get set up, a little bit of a drive, and not too many amenities, but a lovely place to be based.The beach itself was relatively quiet, with a scattering of nudity (partial mostly) at either end of the main beach. To the left of the screen is more of the same, with a rocky area at the end. If you cross that, then full nudity was the norm in our experience.
But this was not the best in life. And I am, if nothing else, motivated to find as close to the best as I can achieve... Unwilling to join the young ripped set who jumped on aforementioned boats, and not fussed about forking out for a 4x4 we head off for what is arguably the most lovely (easily accessible) beach on the island - Fyriplaka...
From all accounts, the levels of nudity on this beach can be variable, but it was a good mix when we arrived. There is a distinct nudie section at the leftmost edge of the beach, past the rrock in the centre. As you got closer to the left edge, clothes became less and less common. Toplessness was common, even at the 'party end' with the kantina, music and umbrellas.
Both of us stayed swimsuited for the first hour or so, my partner wasn't keen to go the 'all nude, all of the time' section. This was less about the nudists and more about the pseudo-voyeurs. The beach is made up of amazing rock formations, and these often seemed to be an excuse for pasty, middle aged, British tourists to wander up the length of the beach looking directly towards those reclining on it ("Oh no, we're not here for the nudity, we're looking at the ROCKS..."). I'm sure that the rocks did play a part in all the walking and looking, but it was slightly uncomfortable with the fairly direct gazes of people who weren't naked themselves.
We located ourselves in the slightly more mixed section, more toplessness than full nudity. After settling in (and thoroughly enjoying the beach in and of itself), and seeing various 'waves' of clothing loss and gain, I took off my shorts in the water, and then walked back to my towel nude. Due to the mix of clothing options, this didn't seem out of place, except that it may have helped one nearby couple make a decision themselves and joined in - making the nude section slightly longer than previously.
The beach was lovely, although the wind picked up from time to time. The water was very warm and clear. It was quite the scenic spot, with the colours of the rocks being QUITE viewable from the water and the beach without the 'close inspections' the (mostly) British seemed quite invested in.
Grade: 8/10
Difficulty of access: 3/10 (it can be a little hard if you have difficulty walking at the early stages)
Likelihood of others being around: 10/10
Ease for a skinny dipping newbie: 5/10
Gosh I loved this beach!
We stayed in Crete in June 2015. We had visited nearby Krios as a part of our Cretan holiday, as it was a nearby beach that had a reputation for being a bit more sheltered when the wind starts blowing (as it does!). Krios itself was nice enough, pebbled, deep, quite cold water, with the side furthest from the cantina being more likely to be nude. There were a number of people in the buff, and I joined them for a bit (tucked away, as I do), but a wave of clothed people coming through changed the overall tone quite quickly. Especially as those clothed people were laregly made up of classic stereotypes of the loud, brash American, noisily laughing and shouting, sucking the pre-existing serenity out of the place. We had heard there were underwater ruins at Krios and tried to find them, and saw others snorkeling about looking for them to no avail.
While at Krios though we noticed a (very) small number of people filing up the rocks on far side of the beach, and decided to see where they were disappearing to.
A brief, steep climb of maybe 5 minutes and we were wandering through swathes of thyme humming with local honey bees. Looking back at Krios... with its noisy Americans.
We could see the potential for another bay over the ridge quite quickly, so continued for about 15 minutes in the heat, walking through quite rocky terrain, before seeing the best possible version of what we hoped for.
What looked like a totally human free beach sheltered by rocks on either side, forming a 'lake.' After another 10 minutes of scambling through brush and over rocks we discovered it wasn't human free, but it was clothing free. Until my partner decided to stay clothed! The majority ruled though, and I swam in this glorious, glorious, secluded place for a couple of hours naked.There was total silence the whole time we were there. It was almost a rule that people didn't shout, speak above a whisper, or splash about like idiots.
The water is mostly chest height, but does get a little deeper at various points. And it was here we discovered the ruins we had heard about. Pillars in the sand, and underwater, and the base of a Roman temple submerged to the left of the picture. We didn't have a mask or snorkel, and it began to get a bit late, so we wandered back to home base.
Surprisingly (to me at least), my partner was super keen that we come back the next day, so we did. Interrupted only once, I spent over six hours in uninterrupted nakedness (except for the hastily bought mask and snorkel). Again surprisingly, a couple of hours after the one group came and went, my partner joined me in the nude. Easiest beach in the world to convert someone to the benefits of skinny dipping it turns out!
Grade: 10/10 (My first post to set the bar high)
Difficulty of access: 6/10 (does involve climbing a bit at first, a 25-30 minute walk in the hot, hot sun, no road access)
Likelihood of others being around: 2/10
Ease for a skinny dipping newbie: 9/10
