Symi keeps one of the calmest nightlife scenes in the Dodecanese. The island builds its evenings around the harbour of Gialos, not around clubs or beach bars. Waterfront tavernas, ouzeri and a small set of relaxed bars carry the night, set against the lit mansions that ring the bay. This guide covers how a Symi … Read more
Symi carries a history that reaches from Homeric legend to the present island. The small Dodecanese island lies between Rhodes and the Turkish coast, and its rocky harbour has drawn sailors and traders across every age. Its story runs through the ships of Troy, the Dorian settlers, the Rhodian state, Roman and Byzantine rule, the … Read more
Symi keeps its museums in Chorio, the old upper town above the harbour of Gialos. The Archaeological Museum of Symi occupies an old mansion and shows finds from the island and nearby. Its collection runs from antiquity through the age of the Knights. A folklore section and a preserved captain’s mansion display the traditional life … Read more
The Symi Festival is the summer cultural programme of Symi, a small Dodecanese island set between Rhodes and the Turkish coast. The festival runs across the warm months, roughly from July into September, and fills the island’s evenings with free events. Music, theatre, dance, film screenings and art exhibitions make up the core of the … Read more
Small taxi-boats are the main way to reach the beaches of Symi, the Dodecanese island near the Turkish shore. The road network on the island stays short, tied to the port, the upper village and the monastery road. The coves along the east and south coast hold no road or only a rough track. Boats … Read more
Symi builds its food scene around the harbour front of Gialos and the lanes of Chorio. Tavernas, ouzeri, mezedopoleia and fish restaurants line the water and sit under the neoclassical mansions. The signature dish is the tiny Symi shrimp, garides Symis, fried and eaten whole with ouzo. Fresh fish, octopus and seafood fill the menus … Read more
The clock tower and the nautical museum stand together on the Gialos waterfront of Symi. The tower, known as the Roloi, rises at the entrance of the harbour. It is a tall white neoclassical tower, topped by a clock and a statue. The tower dates from the age of the island’s sponge and shipping wealth. … Read more
Agios Vasilios is a remote pebble beach on the southwest coast of Symi, set in a double bay below bare hills. Two coves sit side by side under dry slopes, with grey pebbles along the water and no road to the shore. Walkers reach the bay on old stone paths from Chorio, a route of … Read more
Symi offers clear, deep water that suits both snorkelling off the rocks and scuba diving from a boat. The small Dodecanese island sits in a bright, salty sea where visibility runs long and the water turns deep close to the shore. Dive centres based in the harbour of Gialos run boat trips out to reefs, … Read more
Symi keeps a full Orthodox religious calendar, and its feasts run from Easter in the spring through the summer panigyria to the great feast of the Archangel Michael at Panormitis Monastery in November. Easter stands as the most important date, with candlelit processions of the Epitaphios through Gialos and Chorio on Good Friday and the … Read more
Symi neoclassical architecture defines the face of this small Dodecanese island. Tall mansions painted in ochre, deep red, pink, blue and pastel rise in tiers around the harbour of Gialos and climb the hill of the old town of Chorio. Merchants and captains built them in the nineteenth century from the wealth of sponge diving, … Read more
Agios Emilianos is a small whitewashed chapel that stands on a tiny islet just off the west coast of Symi, in the Dodecanese. A short stone causeway links the islet to the shore, and visitors cross it on foot to reach the chapel door. The islet sits in a sheltered bay with clear, calm water … Read more