PATMOS ISLAND

Practical update (August 2026): This article describes our 2017 visit and the inaugural Patmos Revelation event. Patmos still has no airport; current Dodekanisos Seaways routes include Patmos with Kos, Leros, Rhodes and, on selected sailings, Samos and other eastern Aegean islands, but services are seasonal and not every route runs daily. Recheck schedules before committing to connecting flights or ferries. The event programme, hotel details and restaurant information below reflect our trip and may have changed.

World Tourism Forum which was held in Istanbul, and since we kept in touch, as a result he invited us to Patmos as the only Turkish Travel Bloggers to watch the organization. We didn't miss the chance to see one more Greek island, made our arrangements and went to Patmos. The name of the organization we attended was Patmos Revelation, a running and open water swimming competition. The name of the organization was quite fit with the island since the island is a destination that combines religion and natural beauty because it is already known as Jerusalem of the Aegean and at the same time, it is an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

World Tourism Forum

Patmos is part of the Dodecanese island group. Dodecanese literally means twelve islands, but actually it consists of around 175 islands. It is one of the important Christian pilgrimage destinations, together with sites such as the House of the Virgin Mary near Ephesus in Türkiye. Because of this, the island is familiar to tourism almost for 2000 years. While it means good food and fine wine for some, it also means belief and religion for others.

THINGS TO DO IN PATMOS

GRIKOS BAY

Grikos Bay is a very nice neighborhood about 5 km from Skala. There are taverns, hotels and cafes around this longest beach on the island. It is popular with its easy going and quieter atmosphere than the other places on the island. The swimming competition was held on the beach of Patmos Aktis Suites & Spa Hotel. The swimmers jumped into the sea, we jumped to the open buffet and made a late breakfast while watching the great scenery of Grikos Bay.

Patmos Aktis Hotels & Spa’da

Apparently, Grikos Bay is one of the most popular spots in Patmos Island. We loved the beach and the sea, but mostly the cute restaurants with great seafood. We had a nice dinner just by the sea, literally on the sand at the restaurant of Patmos Aktis.

SKALA

Skala is the main port and the busiest place of Patmos Island. Patmos ferry arrives here since Skala literally means Port. Here is like a little bazaar of a little town and you can find here nice restaurants, cozy cafes and shiny gift shops.

Here, we spend two nights. We strolled through the narrow streets of Skala, shot millions of pictures and taste the finest delicacies of Greek cuisine in Pantelis Restaurant.

Taxis are the easiest way to getting around Patmos. There is a taxi station just by the Patmos Ferry Station, so we got a taxi from Skala to Chora and paid 7 Euros.

CHORA VILLAGE

Chora is a typical Greek village. It feels like you're the only person in the whole island, and nobody came here since the medieval times. It's like a ghost town until the sun goes down. After that, both the locals and the tourists come out from their homes, restaurants start to prepare their delicious mezes, chic and stylish people started to gathering at the terraces to make toasts against the most spectacular views of the Aegean Sea.

Chora is more simple and plain than the other Greek villages. The narrow arched alleys are as beautiful as the scenery and it is impossible to miss the beauty of some 500 years old buildings.

The windmills of Patmos is a must see in Chora. They're conveniently located at the entrance of the village. The best time to see the windmills of Patmos is the sunset since the view is breathtaking. You have to consider too, that the weather is way more cooler than the day.

Since we stayed in Archontariki Suites, we spent too much time in Chora. We loved the serenity and the calmness. We always prefer terraces wit a view but there is a busy inner courtyard, too. We just followed the music sound and found this cute courtyard.

MONASTERY OF SAINT JOHN

Monastery of Saint John is a unique in every aspects and it stands on the top of Chora with all its glory. It is one of the most important Greek Orthodox monasteries. It is founded in 1088 and active since then. It is said that the celebration of Easter in Patmos is a unique experience but we were here on an ordinary date. Maybe next time we choose the Easter.

The entrance fee for the Monastery of Saint John is 2 euros per person and you have to dress respectfully like all of other Orthodox churches. You can find nearby restaurants and gift shops if you need a break.

THE CAVE OF THE APOCALYPSE

This cave is situated 1 km. away when you're going down from Chora to Skala. Actually this is the most important place to see in the whole Patmos Island. It has a dark and mystique atmosphere. It is believed that Saint John received his visions and compiled them here, as we know now the Book of Revelation.

The Cave and the Monastery and Chora are all declared by the UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1999.

BEACHES OF PATMOS

The island's surface are is just 24 km2 but it has a coastline over than 60 km. This means that the island is a heaven for sea-lovers. Some of the beaches are sand and some of them pebble while you can find shade on some, the others are fully exposed to Mediterranean sun but it is certain that you can find a beach for yourself. Our choice is always a sand beach.

KAMPOS BEACH

Kampos Bay is the most popular beach of the island and it is almost 6 km. away from Skala. It's both sand and pebble, and it is very quite despite its popularity. Here, we didn't rent a sun bed, instead we sat down under a tree's shade and spent the whole evening here.

Kampos Beach is very suitable for families with children. Sea is not too cold and getting deeper smoothly. We had our lunch from a tavern just across the beach. They were a little slow but they were happy and cheerful as always. If we wouldn't wake up too early, we definitely would stay here for the dinner, too.

PETRA BEACH

Petra Beach is a little off-path. We needed to walk half an hour to reach it. There was no tree, no shade just the bare Aegean sun. Later we noticed that there was a drive way too =). No problem, we're only at 22.500 steps today.

Jul 4, 2017 at 5:41am PDT

Even if the color of the water was superb, the weather was a million degrees and the beach was pebble so we didn't looove it. We mostly find a shady spot under a tree and lay our towel to the beach but there was only a slim tree on the whole beach. We used it's weak shade with a frappé from the beach club next door but we couldn't survive much :D.

After Simon climbed to the rocks and played his new face mask a little, literally saved us by bringing his car.

AGRIOLIVADI BEACH

We loved Agriolivadi beach. It is centrally located just 1,5 km away from Skala. It was sandy and the sea was crystal clear. There were many beach clubs around but guess what we did? Found a shady spot and laid our towels under it.

Later we noticed that we actually were in front of a restaurant called Agriolivadi. In this case, we didn't miss the opportunity to drink a cold Greek frappé and played backgammon listening to the nice music coming from the restaurant.

GRIKOS BAY

Grikos Bay was the place where the swimming competitions of Patmos Revelation took place. This was the best beach to our standards with its sandy beach and pristine water. There are many restaurant and clubs you can spend your day or you can rest under a shade of tree.

I am sharing my endless experience about swimming :D

Such a blogger person I am :D

There is an interesting story about a shepherd who lives alone on a neighboring little island, Tragonissi Island, with his goats. Naturally we couldn't meet him but it's a nice story. We couldn't swim in this beautiful sea since we were invited as a blogger and there was an ongoing swimming competition.

SKALA BAY

There is another beach just 500 metres from Patmos Skala Port. Here was again very nice to our standards. The beach was sandy and the water was crystal clear, most importantly the cafes here were very quiet.

Since our ferry to Samos was at 16:00, we layed down under the shades of straw umbrellas, drank frappes and played our daily backgammon. This beach is conveniently located very close to ferry station, so it is a nice idea to spend the day until your ferry.

We spent our day in Evelyn Café but the other cafés were practically the same. We always prefer light meals, so ordered a Club Sandwich. According to our experiences, they really know how to make a sandwich. We paid 6 euros for this delicious sandwich.

WHAT TO EAT IN PATMOS?

Most of the restaurants are located in the bazaar in Skala. Since driving is not easy in the island's narrow and twisty roads especially after a glass of nice Ouzo, most of the tourists prefer here due to its convenient and safe location. We spend our first night here, in Pantelis Restaurant. As long as we see, there is not a distinct difference between Patmos and other Greek islands' cuisine. We tried grilled octopus, Greek salad, tzatziki and some home cooked meals very similar to our home country, Turkey. Pantelis is kind of an average Greek Restaurant but we liked it with its dimmed lights and location close to the sea. We felt like we're in Ayvalik, a Turkish coastal town just across the water. If you're in a true tavern, there is always rebetiko, dance and laughter. Here was the same, 3 men played and sang some rebetiko till midnight. We loved here!

At the second night we were at Plefsis, the cute restaurant of Patmos Aktis Hotel. Here we tried grilled octopus, fried squid, a Greek salad and lots of local Ouzo. The food and the service was really good. The waiter who served us was an Albanian who came Patmos just to work. We chit chat a little bit, talked about our common culture and the words we shared in our languages. A little tip, if you're in Patmos in the low season, you should check the restaurant if they're open or not.

Patmos Aktis Suites & Spa Hotel

Another choice is Chora. We couldn't try any of it but here there many bars and restaurants at the inner courtyard of Chora. Tourists come here from all over the island to see there night time. Other than the courtyard, there are other places by the hillside. These places see the whole Patmos. Even if we couldn't find a spot in Jimmy's Balcony, we suggest you to come here just by the sunset. The view of sunset is amazing but when it got dark, most of the scenery vanishes. Even though we couldn't a spot at the Jimmy's, we didn't give up and found another spot just 100 mt. away. Even it was looking like a gift shop or market rather than a cafe, we loved our time there. We got coffee, watched the tourists (as if we're not) and went back to our hotel after sunset.

We had one of our lunches at a restaurant named Ta Kavourakia at Kampos Beach. Ta Kavourakia is also a hotel and one of the few establishments around but still the food was amazing.

Our table at Ta Kavourakia at Kampos Beach

The last day we decided to go to Skala and spend the whole day there. Since it is so sunny and hot at noon hours, we went to a place called Meltemi 200 mt. away from Skala. There was lots of shade and it was little breezy like its name suggested. The day before, we were at the next door, Rabella's Place. They were alike in terms of decoration and menu. We ordered a club sandwich and fresh orange juice in Rabella's and cold espresso in Meltemi.

WHERE TO STAY IN PATMOS

Places to stay in Patmos are mostly clustered in the port area, namely in Skala. Here you can find a place to stay from B&B's to 5 star hotels. Another favorite location to stay in Patmos is Grikos Bay, 4 km. away from the center. Here, we spend a little time in Patmos Aktis Suites & Spa Hotel. Didn't stay but we had their breakfast and used their beach.

Grikos Bay.Patmos Aktis Suites & Spa Hotel

We stayed in Archontariki Suites in Chora. We loved the hotel with it's great view and huge rooms. Here we shared a detailed blog post about the hotel. If you prefer somewhere else, you can check Patmos Hotels from here.

Patmos otelleri

HOW TO GET TO PATMOS?

This is kind of tricky. Since there is no airport on the island your options are kind of limited. First of all, you can fly to one of the closest islands with an airport which is Leros or Kos and you need to take a boat or a ferry from there or you can directly take a ferry from another close location to Patmos. Actually going from one Greek island to another with a ferry is really hard if they're not in the same island group. Luckily we were in Samos Island at that time, and there was a direct ferry from Samos to Patmos Island. We bought our ferry tickets from Dodekanisos Seaways and the trip took 2.5 hours.

The extra effort required to reach Patmos may have helped protect its atmosphere. Regular ferries use Skala port, while many large cruise ships anchor offshore and bring passengers in by tender.

WHAT IS PATMOS REVELATION?

Patmos Revelation is another version of Santorini Experience which is organized by the same team. It was open to for professional and amateur athletes at all ages. First day 1 nautical mile open sea swimming competition and the other day 2 different running (5 and 15 km) races were held. They asked if we're going to swim or run at the organization but we decided to just observe the races to be able to keep our cool (literally:) I'm not even mentioning that the National Greek Swimming Team was there to race. We keep exercising and I believe we'll be ready for the 10th Patmos Revelation. See you there in 2027!