If you’ve got your eye on Milos, it’s very likely your visit was inspired by images of Sarakiniko Beach. Also known as the moon beach in Milos, this beach is a famous spot in Greece and draws thousands of people every summer to the quaint island of Milos. If Sarakiniko Beach has been on your bucket list, read on to discover the different ways you can get to Sarakiniko Beach in Milos!
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Where is Sarakiniko Beach?
Sarakiniko Beach is found on the northern side of Milos. It is only a 10 minute drive from the Milos ferry port in Adamantas and a 15 minute drive from the Milos airport.
How to get to Milos
Milos is one of the Cyclades Islands in Greece and can be accessed via ferry or plane. The airport is only for domestic flights, so if you’re coming from outside of Greece, you’ll need to transfer in Athens. The most common way to get to Milos is by ferry and is easily accessible from Athens, Ios, and Santorini islands.
How to get to Sarakiniko Beach
There are a number of ways to visit Sarakiniko Beach.
Bus
Due to the popularity of Milos’ moon beach, there is a dedicated bus that operates between Adamantas and Sarakiniko throughout the day. You can find more information about the Milos buses on their official website here. The bus timetables are published online (and these are updated often so be sure to check the right dates close to your visit) and you can view the route between Adamantas and Sarakiniko here. When we visited, one bus ride was charged at €1.80 (regardless of how far your journey is – one price per bus trip) and you pay when you get off rather when you get on with cash only. The bus takes you right to the carpark; however, they can be very busy, they don’t run as frequently as they could and they start later in the morning. if you want to visit Sarakiniko Beach early in the morning, unfortunately, the bus probably isn’t suitable but if you just want to visit to enjoy the beach later in the day, it’s an easy and cheap option to do so!
Car or Quad Bike Hire
Milos is quite a big island and I would highly recommend booking a car, scooter (moped) or quad bike for your time on the island. I would also strongly recommend booking this in early – unfortunately we didn’t so we missed out. When we arrived and asked around, there were some larger cars and scooters higher than 50cc still available but we didn’t feel comfortable driving a large car on the right side of the road and unfortunately we weren’t insured to drive a scooter higher than 50cc. So be sure to plan and book in advance.
If you book a car, scooter or quad bike there are many options for parking at Sarakiniko Beach. However, as the beach gets busy early, you may need to park a little further back and walk down.
Walk
This was the option we ended up with… Staying in Parasporos Village (highly recommend this accommodation – the family who own the accommodation were so lovely and welcoming), Sarakiniko Beach was about a 40 minute walk from our accommodation. As we couldn’t get a quad or scooter hire and the bus left too late to get there early, we were left with walking. Walking to Sarakiniko Beach is doable but it’s not great and there is nothing to see on the way. However, we did it and it got us to Sarakiniko Beach early in the day so it was fine. By the time we had finished at Sarakiniko Beach, the bus was operating so we caught the bus back into town.
Tips for visiting Sarakiniko Beach in Milos
It’s busy
Sarakiniko Beach is very popular. Famous on Instagram and a big reason why many people visit Milos, expect there to be people at Milos’ moon beach even early in the morning. The beach is quite spread out though so there is still options to get nice photos but don’t expect to have the place even remotely to yourself. By about 830am/9am there were the regular crowd (not just photographers) as well and it was clear the beach was going to get very busy throughout the day.
It’s so much fun
Seriously – even when people started arriving from 830am, it just made the beach even better. Cliff jumping and swimming are really popular at Sarakiniko Beach and the atmosphere at the beach just feels like the definition of summer. Highly recommend staying at the beach even once the crowds come in to enjoy the experience!
Expect to see cats.
Sarakiniko Beach is the only place in the world where not only have I seen cats on a beach, but a fair amount of them – I think at least 7 or 8. They were very friendly and calm and just added to the Greek charm.
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