Bernie Van Der Linde
Depending on what you are looking for in a Greece island, we would say Tinos is definitely worth visiting. The island is by far less touristy than its neighbours, Mykonos to the south, Syros to the west and Andros to the north.
Which is the best Greek island to visit in the Cyclades?
Tinos is not your typical Greek island when travelers search for a Greek holiday in the Cyclades. Competing Greek islands like Mykonos, Andros and Santorini are better known due to the hype created by influencers and social media. To be honest, these islands deserve the hype around them because they offer something really special. However, be warned, Mykonos and Santorini come with a hefty price tag.
We suggest reading more about these islands on this travel blog to understand what the hype is all about.
- Bernie Van Der Linde
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What is Tinos known for?
Tinos is double the size of it neighbour Syros. Surprisingly, Tinos is known for double-story, white palace-like dove aviaries (dovecotes). The bottom level of the dovecotes are often used as store rooms by farmers. Moreover, the island is also known for it natural beauty, authentic (art) villages, charming tavernas and ancient stone footpaths to forgotten ruins and world-renowned churches.
Interestingly, Pyrgos is the birthplace of several famous Greek sculptures like Giannoulis Chalepas whose sculptures can be admired in The Cultural Foundation of Tinos.
What make Tinos worth visiting?
Tinos is one of the best Greek islands to visit for people who crave more than beautiful beaches and party vibes. Thick, white ‘icing-like’ plastered buildings are adorned with marble arches in charming villages. We learned during our trip that the horizontal lines in the plaster have a definitive purpose, which is to cool down the buildings because they create shaded cavities on the building. Tinos islands also has an abundance of archaeological sites, significant monasteries and Venetian castles to satisfy your wanderlust.
Is Megalachari worth visiting?
Tinos is often in the headlines due to the pilgrimages to the Holy Church of the Virgin Mary, Evangelistria also called Panagia Megalochari. Megalochari means “with all graces” which is a term associated with the Virgin Mary. It is here that worshippers crawl on their knees from the harbour up several flights of steep stairs to plea for forgiveness and to receive blessings from the Virgin Mary. Every year, on the 15th of August, thousands of worshipers flock to Tinos island to participate in the religious pilgrimage and festivities on the island.
What are the most popular festivals on Tinos?
In true Greek spirit, Tinos is known for its many festivals (i.e. the August pilgrimage, artichoke, wine, honey, raki and oregano), mouthwatering patisseries, and historical windmills (of which many are lately being transformed into guesthouses). In addition to its many beaches, there are also more than 150 km of well-market hiking trails linking smaller villages.
Things to do in Tinos
We curated a list of the most important things to do in Tinos. We were fortunate enough to have some assistance from our friendly assistant at Aktio Aegeou Hotel (look out for our feature article). Eirini instinctively placed a map of Tinos in-front of us and started circling the most significant places to visit. You can thus rest assured that our recommendations are approved by a Tinos local too.
Must visit places in Tinos
- Panagia Megalochari also called ‘Our lady of Tinos”
- Tinos town (Chora)
- Dyo Choria
- Pyrgos
- Panormos (the marble village)
- The Marble Crafts Museum in Pyrgos
- Volax
- Tinos has some one of the best souvenir shops. If you walk from the harbour towards Panagia Megalochari church in one of the side streets you will find many charming boutiques and souvenir shops. We found the most wonderful souvenir shop owned by the nicest mother and daughter team.
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, it is sometimes difficult to give the specific directions to place on Tinos, Andros or Syros because they are mostly written in Greek. We often asked people in restaurants or shops to tell us what the names of the businesses are in English. Yet, in most cases they could not tell us because they did not know.
The church of Panagia Megalochari
The church of Panagia Megalochari is located on a hill above Chora, which is the capital of Tinos. Prior to visiting Tinos we didn’t know much about the pilgrimage taking place in Tinos. During our visit, I regularly caught myself starring with an open mouth as I tried to make sense of this sacred phenomenon taking place in front of my eye. I sincerely hope worshippers will forgive my ignorance. As a devoted Christian, I admired the people’s devotion to their religion. Yet, secretly I recalled the painful carpet burns my brother and I endured when we crawled hands and knees through the corridors of our house as kids. This was our way of amusing ourselves when my parents took their siesta (still a big thing in Greece), particularly on Sundays, when we needed to be quiet.
Nevertheless, the exterior of the marble-clad complex is very impressive but even more so one you step foot inside. There are the intricate chandeliers, well-preserved artifacts and breathtakingly beautiful ceiling paintings.
Watching the people give praise and worship was something that will stay with me for long time.
The church is within easy walking distance from the harbour. We highly recommend strolling along the many alleys past some designer boutiques on the island. Miras is worth paying a visit for exceptionally beautiful summer dresses.
Tinos Town or Chora (as most capitals of Greek islands are known)
Pyrgos (village in Tinos) also called Panormos
Before I describe Pyrgos on Tinos it should not be confused with Pyrgos on Santorini (where it sits on top of the highest hill on the island). Pyrgos is one of the largest villages in Tinos and known for marble! Here you can admire some of the best marble walkways, marble fountains, marble arches, marble churches and and the most impressive cemeteries in the Cyclades. There is also a very interesting marble monument. I would say Pyrgos in its entirety is a marble museum. You will find it difficult to spot a place that is not adorned with this magnificent (valuable) stone dating back several civilisations.
What is the entrance fee for the marble museum in Tinos?
Tickets cost three euros per adult, pensioners enter free.
Dyo Choria
Dyo Chora is one of the places we enjoyed the most on the island. Here you can admire water springs and enjoy lunch at one of the many picturesque restaurants like Petrino café, Dio Horia, Akrovatis, Sto Kapaki (our favourite).
Instagrammers alert, this village offers some of the most Instagrammable spots. You will notice a massive tree in the centre of the village with many tables and chairs around it. This is often the place where festivals are held on Tinos.
Volax also called Volakas
Volax is a tiny village (17 km from Chora) with an estimated population of 53. The village is known for Greek poems written on doors and walls all over the village and massive red-granite boulder formations on the outskirts of the village. Some say Volax has a moon-like landscape, although this was not quite our impression and (in our view) not really worth visiting.
Even though, this village has some interesting (expensive) artworks on display there is not much to see besides the art. The village is particularly well-known for hand-weaved baskets. Although the baskets were very expensive I could not resist buying some to hang on the walls of my house in Melkbosstrand, South Africa.
It took us less than forty-five minutes to stroll through the village. Our impression of it was rather disappointing. We spent six days on the island and therefore had adequate time to visit most of the recommended places.
Yet, if you only have limited time on the island, we rather recommend visiting Pyrgos, if you are into art and beautiful scenery.
The Marble Crafts Museum
The marble museum gave us a new appreciation for this ancient stone. The museum showcases the history of marble-crafting on the island.
Falatados
Besides many historical ruins that make for beautiful photos, we did not find this village very interesting. There is a charming church in the village with magnificent marble features, but that is about it. Nevertheless, we enjoyed walking the alleys to find some beautiful photo spots.
Best beaches on Tinos
Tinos has hundreds of small (unofficial) beaches ranging from rocky to black sandy ones. Some beaches are more popular than others, but we didn’t see any luxurious beach bars like you would find in Milos, Santorini, Mykonos or even Syros and Andros. If you are just looking for a beach holiday, we believe there are nicer islands to choose from.
Skiladar beach
This beach is one of the prettiest beaches on the island. It was directly where we stayed at Akti Aegeou hotel. There is also a great beach bar nearby.
Kolymbithra
The prettiest beach on Tinos is at Kolymbithra which has a mikri (small) and a megali (big) beach. Megali has a somewhat boho feel with more modest sunbeds, umbrellas and music pumping. The best part is the beach bar, which operates from an old turquoise Volkswagen Bus.
As I mentioned earlier, we had the perfect beach day weather on our last day on this island and that meant ‘beach day’ and we chose mikri Kolymbithra beach. The location was quite nice, but strangely there is a concrete slab as you walk into the sea, which we didn’t find very pleasant (or environmentally-friendly).
Kionian Bay
Kionian Bay is really pretty. We enjoyed watching young boys jumping from the rock to the crystal clear waters beneath them. I tried to convince Petra to jump, but she was adamant not to jump as she didn’t know if her body could hold up to the forces of the water at her age. For those who don’t know, Petra was in her younger days a trained diver who could do the most difficult dives from 10 meter.
There is a very pretty, small church above the water’s edge where we enjoyed taking beautiful photos.
When is the best time to visit Tinos?
We visited Tinos at the beginning of July. Even though we had nice warm weather, we had very strong Meltemi winds almost every day of our six-day stay. On the last day we had no wind so we could explore some of the best beaches on the island. We drove around the island to find pretty beaches. Yet, there was none that really impressed us.
Things to know before visiting Tinos
Island hopping in Tinos
Tinos is a short 30-minute ferry ride from Mykonos. And from Tinos to Syros is also a 35-minute ferry ride. Then from Tinos to Andros takes 1 hour 35 minutes by ferry.
How to long should you spend on Tinos
We stayed for five nights, which, we believe, was a bit too long. If you have extra days, we recommend also visiting Syros for a few nights.
Where to stay on Tinos
We stayed for three nights at Akti Aegeou Hotel and two nights at Aeolis Tino Suites.
Akti Aegeou is a family-friendly resort-like hotel with a fabulous restaurant serving amazing food. Here, we met the nicest owner-run family. We highly recommend having dinner at their restaurant that is also open to non-residents. Our friendly waitress, Eirini, recommended Imam Bayildi which is a Turkish type of grilled aubergine. This was one of the best meals we had on the island. Look out for our follow-up article about Akti Aegeou hotel. You don’t want to plan a holiday to Tinos without staying at this very affordable and charming family-friendly hotel.
Other hotels on Tinos
Where to eat on Tinos
There are many charming taverns right on the water’s-edge in Tinos. Like on all the other Greek islands in the Cyclades you need to look far to find a place that doesn’t offer good food. It is difficult to make a direct comparison but we found food (and accommodation) in general a bit cheaper than on Andros and Syros.
- Megalos Kafenes is one of the oldest cafes on the island.
- Kolimvithra beach has a great setting and charming atmosphere. We love the bohemian feel of this restaurant with its converted VW Combi beach bar.
- To Thalassaki is one of the best restaurants for Tinos inspired seafood.
We had a super light lunch at Edesma To Souvlaki Tis Renas.
If you’re looking for a good seafood restaurant on the water’s edge, we highly recommend Tsipourokatasi.
Foods to try on Tinos
Tinos is known for fourtalia, a type of omelette made with potatoes. Because we don’t really like omelettes, this was not one of our favourite dishes.
If you enjoy custard deserts we highly recommend trying galaktoboureko (made of semolina and filo pastry) or portokalopita (a type of pie made from oranges). There are many great videos on YouTube on how to make galaktoboureko desert.
How to get to Tinos
Getting around on Tinos
Our concluding remarks about Tinos
Tinos is celebrated for its cultural heritage and archeological significance. This island offers a perfect blend of spirituality, tradition, and authenticity. Although we did not have the best weather in Tinos due to almost five days of hectic wind, this is not always the case on Tinos.
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- Milos, Greece: Where to stay and what to do
- Andros: The most underrated island in the Cyclades
- The ultimate guide to the best Greek Islands
- Greek ferries: The biggest mistake we made on our island hopping trip
- The shocking truth about Greek ferries
- Syros: The queen of the Cycladic Islands
- What makes Santorini irresistible?
- Santorini versus Mykonos – Which island is the best?
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Until next time, Your travel buddies, Bernie and Petra xx
