The Atokos pig island is a small private island in the Ionian Sea. Black pigs walk its pebbles and swim in the shallows. Find more trip ideas on Greece Tours.
This guide covers the island’s size, owner, protection and wildlife. It then compares the four ways to reach it.
Where is the Atokos pig island, and which islands surround it?
The Atokos pig island is an Ionian Sea island off the coast of Acarnania. Wikipedia gives its position as 38.488 degrees north and 20.812 degrees east. Ithaca sits to its south-west and Kastos to its north-east.
The gaps are short. Ithaca is 9 kilometres away and Kastos 8 kilometres, according to Wikipedia. The Greek site travel.gr measures a longer leg. It puts the Atokos pig island 13 nautical miles from Skorpios, another private island.
Kastos, the nearer of the two neighbours, has one village and a population of about 40, says its Wikipedia article. Administration splits the pair: Wikipedia assigns Atokos to the municipality of Ithaca and Kastos to the municipality of Lefkada.
How big and how high is the Atokos pig island?
Euro Weekly News, Travel Extra and travel.gr give the Atokos pig island 4.5 square kilometres, while MedGulets gives 4.7. Wikipedia puts the highest point at 334 metres, and MedGulets repeats that height.
Kastos makes a fair yardstick. Wikipedia lists it at 5.901 square kilometres with a highest point of 142 metres. Atokos is the smaller of the two, yet it stands 192 metres higher.
The Echinades article calls Oxeia alone lofty and gives it 421 metres. That puts the summit of the Atokos pig island 87 metres below the Oxeia summit.
What are the Echinades, the island group that holds the Atokos pig island?
The Echinades are a group of islands in the Ionian Sea, off the coast of Acarnania. Wikipedia says the name comes from the echinus, or sea urchin, because the islands have sharp and prickly outlines.
The same article splits the group into three clusters. The Drakoneres lie in the north, the Modia in the middle and the Ouniades in the south. It says the Venetians knew the islands as Kurtzolari. It names seventeen islands and calls nine of them cultivated.
The Echinades article does not mention Atokos in its text. The Atokos article still files the island among the westernmost Echinades. The Key Biodiversity Areas register lists the island by name in its site title, Echinades, Kalamos and Atokos islands.
The register describes that site as 25 small islands close to the Akarnanika mountains. Scrub or bare rock predominates, though Kalamos and Petala are wooded. It names livestock-farming and tourism as the main human activities.
Who owns the Atokos pig island, and why did a sale fail?
The shipping magnate Panayiotis Tsakos owns the Atokos pig island, according to Wikipedia and MedGulets. An attempt to sell it, pitched with hotel development as the upside, went nowhere. MedGulets links that failure to the Natura protection.
Neighbouring islands did change hands. MedGulets says Oxeia, the largest island of the group, was bought with surrounding islets. The buyer was Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, then emir of Qatar.
Sources differ on the owners’ own visits. Travel.gr reports a rumour of one yearly feast on 15 August. The feast takes place on the largest of the island’s three or four beaches, beside the chapel of Agios Ioannis. Wikipedia says the family sometimes visits in September.
Private ownership does not close the shore. Wikipedia and MedGulets both state that visitors are allowed to land on the Atokos pig island.
What protection covers the Atokos pig island?
The Atokos pig island lies inside a Natura protected area, according to Wikipedia, Travel Extra and Greek Reporter. Euro Weekly News ties the status to rare marine life, and travel.gr mentions rare sea flora.
The Key Biodiversity Areas register adds numbers for the wider site named Echinades, Kalamos and Atokos islands. It confirms the site, covers land and sea, and measures about 366 square kilometres, with 36.22 per cent under protection.
The register gives raptors as the reason. It calls the site particularly important for breeding and wintering raptors. It lists three species of global concern, two of them wintering in single figures. Part of the area is a candidate special area of conservation.
It names illegal hunting and tourist developments as the major threats to biodiversity. Those threats cover the whole site, not the Atokos pig island alone.
What grows and lives on the Atokos pig island besides the pigs?
Thick scrub covers the steep slopes of the Atokos pig island, according to Cycladic Spaces. Goats share the land with the pigs, and All Over Greece describes a rich seabed that suits snorkelling.
The Wom Travel describes aromatic scrubland that smells of pine resin and wild thyme in summer heat. Wikipedia mentions cicada-filled woods near the foot of the main hill.
MedGulets calls the goats the island’s full-time population. Travel.gr adds a fisherman who is almost always there with his caique. Italian crews return each year on their yachts.
SiViaggia, an Italian travel site, also describes a jagged coast with small bays, sea caves and white pebble beaches.
Are the animals on the Atokos pig island pigs or boars?
Sources name the animals four ways: black pigs, feral pigs, semi-wild pigs and wild boars. Euro Weekly News settles the question with one species, Sus scrofa. That label covers wild boar, feral pigs and their hybrids.
Euronews and AFP write of black pigs. Travel Extra writes of Mediterranean black pigs and wild boars. To Vima and The Wom Travel say semi-wild, while Cycladic Spaces and Wikipedia say wild boars.
Euro Weekly News calls the herd a small, isolated group of feral pigs that has grown used to tourists. It contrasts them with boars and boar-pig hybrids living in and around dense urban areas on the Costa del Sol.
Greek Reporter covered a video of two tourists chased by a boar in the sea near Ithaca. It judged the behaviour a chase, not an attack, and noted that boars carry sharp tusks.
How did the pigs reach the Atokos pig island, and when did the fame begin?
Nobody has settled how the pigs reached the Atokos pig island. Travel Extra calls the arrival an unsolved riddle. It gives two local stories. Sailors left the pigs behind, or they descend from livestock that swam ashore from a historic shipwreck.
Greek Reporter agrees that the arrival is a mystery. It adds that boars are excellent swimmers. They enter the water to cool down, find food or travel to new areas, sometimes between islands.
In September twenty twenty-one, travel.gr wrote that the island’s goats had gained a family of black pigs that year. Wikipedia says the boars made the island remarkable in the 2020s.
Euro Weekly News says clips on TikTok and Instagram then spread. Boat operators from Ithaca, Lefkada and Kefalonia began fielding requests for pig trips. Euronews says the island grew into a draw for thousands of tourists, particularly in the summer season.
Which bay holds the pig beach on the Atokos pig island?
The sources disagree. Travel Extra says the pigs roam One House Bay, popularly called Pig Beach. Cycladic Spaces and Euro Weekly News point to a second cove, Wild Boar Beach. Pig families are spotted there more than in the other cove.
Wikipedia and MedGulets name only two anchorages. One House Bay sits on the eastern shore and Cliff Bay on the southern shore. The label Wild Boar Beach appears in the tourist articles. No source used here says whether it is a second name for Cliff Bay.
Cycladic Spaces describes One House Bay as bright, with smooth white pebbles. It calls Wild Boar Beach rougher, backed by steep cliffs and shady trees. Euro Weekly News gives the same contrast, a smooth white-pebble inlet beside a rougher, cliff-backed cove.
Travel.gr counts three or four beaches in all. It says the water turns milky blue over fine white sand. Elsewhere it turns green, where green slopes reflect in the sea.
What does history say about the Atokos pig island?
The sources used here say little about the early history of the Atokos pig island itself. Cycladic Spaces reports local lore that links it to the travels of Odysseus. It adds that archaeological traces hint at past residents.
The same article says no settlement survives. Wikipedia adds that the census figure it cites for the island records no resident population.
The wider Echinades have a longer paper trail. Wikipedia says Homer describes the islands as inhabited, while Thucydides and Scylax call them deserted. Strabo simply calls them barren and rugged.
Wikipedia also records that the Battle of Lepanto was fought at or near the Echinades. None of those passages names Atokos itself.
What is missing from the Atokos pig island?
The Atokos pig island has no village, no pier and no tavernas, according to Cycladic Spaces. MedGulets adds that there is no water, no fuel and no shop, so every supply arrives by boat.
The Wom Travel lists what else is absent: beach bars, loud music, rows of sunbeds and umbrellas. Euro Weekly News says nothing on the island sells food or drink. Travel Extra says there are no hotels or ferry ports.
All Over Greece counts two buildings on the island. They are a small chapel of St John and a two-storey house that belongs to the owner. Wikipedia adds a well of brackish water beside the path from the beach to the chapel.
How can you reach the Atokos pig island at all?
Only by sea. Cycladic Spaces says no ferries or scheduled services run to the Atokos pig island. Visitors arrive on a day cruise, a private boat, a sailing yacht or a rigid inflatable boat.
The sources describe four routes, and the next two sections compare them:
- A shared day cruise from Nydri on Lefkada.
- A small excursion boat from a harbour on Ithaca that heads straight for the island.
- A private cruise or speedboat from the east coast of Kefalonia, or a private RIB from Lefkada.
- Your own rented or chartered boat, hired on Ithaca, Kefalonia or Lefkada.
Our swimming pigs Lefkada page follows the Nydri cruise through its day, so this page compares the crossings instead. Travel.gr confirms the last route: boats for the Atokos pig island can be rented on all the surrounding islands.
How do the departure points compare for the Atokos pig island?
Nydri, Sami and Ithaca are the departure points that sources name for the Atokos pig island. Nydri offers shared cruises, Sami private boats, and Ithaca short runs that head straight to the island.
Nikana describes the pig tour from Nydri as a day from 9 am to 5 pm. The first stop is the Papanikolis cave on Meganisi, then about 1.5 hours of sailing to Atokos. Two GetYourGuide cruises from Nydri last 8 hours each.
Our Nydri boat cruise page covers the other day boats from that quay. Travellers who stay on Lefkada can compare more departures in our Lefkada island guide hub.
Two private listings run from Sami. One is a 7-hour cruise to Atokos and south Ithaca with free time in Vathy. The other is a speedboat day of 7 to 8 hours.
The Wom Travel names Sami and Poros as the Kefalonia departure ports. It adds a second plan. Take the morning ferry from Sami to Ithaca, then join an afternoon boat to the pig beach.
Ithaca lies 9 kilometres from the island. Euronews says Renato Bisa, who organises excursions from Ithaca, makes trips to the island each day as demand has risen. The Wom Travel says Ithaca guides sail straight from small harbours to Atokos before visiting other bays.
The Ithaca boat trip page covers the island’s own coves. A private RIB listing leaves Lefkada for Kefalonia, Ithaca and Atokos. The day lasts 8 hours, and the group size is up to 9.
Which route to the Atokos pig island suits which traveller?
A shared Nydri cruise suits travellers based on Lefkada, and the Sami boats suit a Kefalonia base. Ithaca runs suit anyone whose main goal is the island. A private RIB suits a group of up to nine.
Ask how the landing works, because the sources differ. Nikana says the boat anchors at a safe distance because of shallows, and small boats carry guests to the beach. The Lefkas Cruises itinerary describes the Atokos stop as a swim from the boat to the beach.
Check the clock on a shared day. Nikana warns that island stops last about 1.5 hours. It recalls a boat leaving Ithaca before the writers returned, and the crew came back for them.
The three private listings from Sami and Lefkada carry a private group label on GetYourGuide. Each lasts between 7 and 8 hours. They give a group of friends or a family its own boat to the Atokos pig island.
When do boats reach the Atokos pig island, and what weather stops them?
Nikana says Lefkada excursions, including the pig tour, run from late spring until the end of September. At the edges of the season, in late spring and in October, departures depend on boat occupancy and weather.
Euronews adds that thousands of tourists come, particularly in the summer season. The Wom Travel says midsummer gives the calmest seas and the brightest water colours. It names June and September as the months with lower tourist pressure.
Wikipedia prefers One House Bay because it is sheltered from the prevailing north-west winds. Even there, mooring is safe only in calm weather. MedGulets says easterly winds make the bay uncomfortable and at times genuinely dangerous.
The Wom Travel reports that the main bay can fill with anchored boats at the height of summer. MedGulets agrees that arriving late can mean nowhere left to swing at anchor. It calls the Atokos pig island one of the standard stops for boats working through the inner Ionian.
What do travellers ask about the Atokos pig island?
Why do people call it Pig Island?
Euro Weekly News says social media fame spawned the nickname. It now appears as Piggy Island or Pig Island on tour listings and travel blogs. Euronews notes that the island is jokingly known by that name.
Can you sail your own boat to the island?
Yes, in calm weather, says Wikipedia. MedGulets gives depths of roughly 5 to 15 metres over sand at One House Bay. It calls long lines to the rocks normal practice. Cycladic Spaces adds that a rib boat or kayak can cross on a calm day.
Can you stay overnight at the Atokos pig island?
Only in settled weather, says MedGulets. It also notes that no lights burn ashore after dark. The result is a night sky that is rare in the Mediterranean.
Do longer sailing routes include Atokos?
MedGulets says Lefkada, Meganisi, Kalamos, Kastos, Ithaca and Kefalonia all lie within easy reach. The island therefore fits a week of short hops. It adds that gulet cruises call in for an afternoon swim.
What happens to an excursion when the wind rises?
Nikana says Lefkada excursions are cancelled in wind, and the money is refunded or the date is changed.