Small Cyclades: Four Quiet Islands Between Naxos and Amorgos

The Small Cyclades, four little islands strung between Naxos and Amorgos, keep an older and slower version of Greek island life that visitors can reach only by sea.

Iraklia, Schinoussa, Koufonisia and Donousa make up the group. Most travellers have never set foot on them, although British newspapers singled out Koufonisia and Iraklia among Europe’s hidden gems in June 2025.

None of the islands has an airport, so Small Cyclades Lines, which has worked the route since 1956, remains a lifeline for locals. The company now sails a single ship, the Express Skopelitis.

Getting around the Small Cyclades

Cars are scarce on all four islands. During July and August, however, small local buses with low-priced tickets run through the day.

Most visitors walk old field paths, cycle between beaches or catch small summer boats along the coast. That unhurried pace is the whole point of the Small Cyclades.

Still, each island keeps its own character, from wild Iraklia and green Schinoussa to sociable Koufonisia and remote Donousa.

Iraklia: trails, caves and a hilltop fort

Iraklia is the westernmost of the Small Cyclades and, at nearly 18 square kilometres, the largest. It is also the quietest, with about 150 year-round residents.

Dry cliffs and wild thyme rise to Mount Papas, 420 metres high, a steep two-hour climb from Panagia. On a clear day, the summit takes in some 19 neighbouring islands.

Beyond the port of Agios Georgios and the village of Panagia, a third settlement, Agios Athanasios, stands nearly abandoned.

Excavations at Livadi have turned up finds from the third millennium BC. Above Livadi Beach, a Hellenistic fort also overlooks the bay, about 30 minutes away by marked coastal path.

Eight signposted trails cross Iraklia. The most rewarding, a 90-minute walk from Panagia, reaches the Cave of Agios Ioannis, where legend places the Cyclops Polyphemus.

During summer, small boats run to Alimia on the south-west coast. There, the wreck of a German World War II aircraft lies close enough to the surface for snorkelling.

Schinoussa: green hills and pirate caves

Schinoussa, the next island along from Iraklia, covers 9.5 square kilometres and has about 250 residents. Its low green hills and farmed hollows make it the softest of the Small Cyclades.

Chora, also called Panagia, sits on a ridge 1.2 kilometres above the port of Mersini. By comparison, smaller Messaria lies among vineyards and vegetable gardens.

People have lived here since antiquity, and the island played a supporting role in the Early Cycladic civilisation centred on nearby Keros. Byzantine-era ruins of raided churches recall centuries of piracy, before families from Amorgos resettled it in the mid-19th century.

A 90-minute circuit links Chora, Messaria and the coast, passing two former pirate sea caves and a Venetian-era lookout.

Rock climbers also head to Charakas Gorge for its bolted limestone routes. Its dozen-plus beaches, most reached on foot, offer a new one for almost every day of a Small Cyclades stay.

The island also falls within the EU’s Natura 2000 network for its migratory birdlife.

Turquoise water and twin islets

Koufonisia is the outlier. A narrow strait divides its two islets: Ano Koufonisi, home to about 400 permanent residents, and uninhabited Kato Koufonisi.

That makes Ano Koufonisi the largest settlement in the Small Cyclades, as well as the busiest. Its turquoise water, often compared with the Caribbean, has made Koufonisia a destination in its own right.

Chora, its only village, is a tight grid of whitewashed houses, walkable end to end in minutes.

From there, a coastal path heads east past a run of beaches to Pori, about 40 minutes on foot. It then continues to the Pisina rock pool and Devil’s Eye sea cave.

Each summer, a kaiki crosses to Kato Koufonisi, where free campers gather on wilder, largely unserviced beaches.

Keros, visible from the eastern shore of Koufonisia, is a protected archaeological site, not a casual stop. A major ceremonial centre of the Early Cycladic world, it yielded marble figurines now held in museums in Athens and beyond.

In 2025, the Avax Group committed to funding a new five-year research cycle there. Back in Chora, a few bars stay open late, but the mood on Koufonisia stays more sociable than rowdy.

The end of the line

Donousa, the northernmost and final island in the group, feels the most remote of the Small Cyclades. It covers about 14 square kilometres, with a population in the low hundreds.

Caves riddle its jagged north-east coast, while sheltered sandy bays line the south. Stavros, the main village, rises in a tidy amphitheatre above the harbour.

A fortified Geometric-era site at Vathi Limenari points to a long history, while a short-lived mining industry closed in 1938.

The best known of Donousa’s five marked trails follows the coast from Stavros to Kalotaritissa in about 90 minutes.

Summer boat trips also visit two sea caves on the wilder north-east side. Spilia Tichou hangs with stalactites, whereas a cave at Kavos of Moschonas shelters Mediterranean monk seals.

For decades, Donousa has drawn free campers and travellers seeking real isolation. In May 2026, the German travel website reisereporter.de ranked it Europe’s second-best ‘secret’ destination.

Of all the Small Cyclades, it remains the island where the outside world feels furthest away.

Source: travel.gr

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