Koukounaires Skiathos

The first thing you may notice when arriving in Skiathos is the length of the runway as I believe it’s has the shortest jet runway in Europe and as such, the braking on landing is fairly violent. Jets up to a 757 land there but for weight reasons most of the Jets takeoff with very little fuel and then have to land at Thessaloniki mainland Greece to refuel, this can add 30/60 minutes to your journey home.



Skiathos is one of the more expensive Greek islands and the film Mama Mia used the Skiathos pier as the ferry staging to the Island of Skopelos



In 2003 we stayed at the Mandraki Hotel on a B&B basis in the resort of Koukounaires. The accommodation inside was the usually basic Greek standard but we had a good view over the grounds and pool.



The breakfast was good and served on a balcony terrace which surrounded the hotel.





In Greece ones accommodation usually has leaking basins and a British holidaymaker well travelled in Greece showed me he had five different sized plugs in his case ready to fit any bathroom sink but none of them fitted his leaking sink.

Koukounaires is well known in Skiathos and has one of the best beaches on the island. The beach is quite long but narrow. There are taverns placed at the back of the beach where you can have lunch and refreshments.







Day trippers often come by boat from Skiathos harbour each day because of its popularity.



There is a saltwater lake at the back of the beach and the whole area is considered a nature reserve.





Getting to the beach involved a walk through this area and across a bridge where a river from the lake flowed out into a small harbour.

We got friendly with some holiday makers and they kindly invited us out for the day in their hire jeep which allowed me to take some photos of the island over the higher ground.







There was also a nudist beach not far away from us but we did not participate, we did however, find a small quiet beach with a tavern where Mrs delboy could wear her designer costume.LOL









There was some lovely scenery all round and my camera came into full use.





In Koukounaires there were a good number of restaurants spread along the beach road where you could have Chinese, Italian and even Greek meals.





Koukounaires was at the end of a bus route which allowed us to do a trip to Skiathos Town. Now there appears to be no limit to the passengers that can get into the bus, one just has to find a place to breath. If you needed to get off before the end of the line it was trial to get passed all the people.

Skiathos Town had a big harbour full of the sort of boats that Daryn would dream of owning. The harbour was a very scenic place indeed. Along the harbour were many tavern’s and one is spoilt for choice for a meal.







We enjoyed our day there and we eventually boarded the bus back to Koukounaires and experienced again that cosy friendly journey back to our apartment.

All in all, ideal for beach, sun bathing, walking and eating whilst watching the world go by.

Brilliant, you must have lots of photo albums matey ,it looks really nice and peaceful dont know if I could appreciate all that piece but maybe for a couple of days ,I would love the views for the day time walking , taking photos. Well done another fantastic piece of work.

Love it Del, great stuff (particularly the scenery ones).

Did someone mention nudist beaches.... Think I can feel another review coming on

oh yes, I remember banana beach from our trip many years ago, it was actually a rather pleasant beach, but the tourist boats came ever so close to the shore if you know what I mean!

great photos, brings back some good memories.

Thanks to Mac posting, I must have missed this one first time round mate. Rep.

Yes . . . I've only noticed this now too . . . I'm getting into holiday mode . . .
Rep from me DB!

I booked a last min deal for some friends yesterday to here, £411 each for a week s/c, Magna apartments, I think they are nearer the smaller beach from the description (a short walk through a pine forest?).
They go tuesday.

not heard of the Magda apps Mark but on looking it up, I think it based at the far end on the lake going into the Pine woods on the right of the picture. The main beach is accessable at the end of that lake and there also a bus stop (end of the line stop) which runs to Skiathos town. Restaurants run along the main road this side of the lake. The restaurants are fairly well spread out over an area of 3/4 mile, following the edge of those buidings in the foreground



they would come in to the beach via the far end of this picture



They have the option of going to the quieter beaches the otherside far right

A couple of things i picked up was you need a torch as the wood path is dark. Also if they have a studio the aircon is 40euros a week and the appartments are 75 euros because of its location there is little wind so aircon is needed. Fairly basic Greek accom but clean.

All may have change since we have been but food was fairly expensive in Skiathos

Have to say the beaches look really nice, I love that secluded beach with the big bar

Daryn wrote:

Have to say the beaches look really nice, I love that secluded beach with the big bar

Do you mean banana beach? I thought it was nice when we visited a few years ago, but my mate went more recently and said it got a bit rowdy. They were get the club18/30 crowd there. Shame, since it was a nice beach, it could get busy but not rowdy.

OHHHHHHHHHhhh spoilt the tranquility but I suppose they need the money more

Thanks for the tip about the torch, i'll pass it on.

They are aware of the extra cost of the a/c, cheers.

the other thing is to get them to take the mozzie stuff with that lake around, nothing horrendous but make sure they have it on