Our Milos sailing tour with Oneiro Milos

We love a good sailing day tour. We’ll always try to book one if we’re staying at a resort. We love being on the water, doing a bit of snorkelling, feeling like we’re getting away (relaxing on our already relaxing vacation, you get the idea…) If we’re lucky (or if we book the sunset tour :P), we are treated to a glorious sunset over the water.

A sailing trip in Milos is similar, and yet completely different.

We definitely recommend a sailing day tour as a part of your Milos experience. It’s one of our “top five things to do” in our traveler’s guide to Milos. Not only is it fun being on the water, it’s the *best* way (and possibly the only feasible way, at times) to explore Milos’ southern coastline. And you do not want to miss this coastline.

Milos southern coast is one of the most unique features about the island. It’s one of the reasons we ultimately chose it for our Greek island itinerary (you can read about planning your Greek island itinerary here). The coastline here is all dramatic volcanic rock, carved into pillars and arches and caves. The most famous is Kleftiko, along the southernmost tip, which used to be a pirate’s lair! Exploring this area by boat, getting to snorkel through the arches and rock formations, swimming in a cave – these were some of our favourite Milos memories.

This part of Milos is remote, and some areas are hard to access by car. Kleftiko cannot be accessed by car – it requires nearly an hours worth of hiking. That, and you can’t appreciate the fascinating coastline like you can from the water. To get the full Milos experience, we recommend a sailing tour.

There are so many sailing tour options!

You can book your Milos sailing tour in Adamas, the port and largest town on the island. There are tours you can book online in advance, but you can also wander down the pier toward late afternoon/dusk and choose a tour that way. This lets you check out the boats and speak directly with the captain or team member, and gives you a good feel of what you’re signing up for.

There are two main Milos sailing tour options, the half-island tour, and the full-island tour.

1) Half-island tour (or sometimes called “south coast” tour)

This is either a half day or full day tour. (We highly recommend the full day, which gives you plenty of time to snorkel, visit the beaches, and explore the caves.) These tours go to Kleftiko and back. We recommend this one, because it concentrates your time around the west and south coastline, the area that is most fascinating and difficult to explore on your own.

2) Full-island tour

These tours go all the way around the island. This means you’ll get to see some other great sites (eg. Firiplaka and Tsigrado beaches, as well as the famous Sarakiniko beach along the north). However, you won’t be able to spend as much time at each of the stops. We feel this wasn’t as good of a use of our sailing day as the half-island tour, as we were able to easily make it to the other spots on our own. However, if you like sailing and being on the water, it’s still a great option!

Our other recommendation is to book a catamaran or a sailing vessel, as opposed to a tour boat. The tour boats (sort of look like miniature ferries) are more crowded, sometimes with multiple decks, and move slower than sailboats.

Our experience with Oneiro Milos

We’ve only been on one of these tours, so obviously cannot directly compare them. But we chose Oneiro Milos with Captain Elias, and we were extremely happy with our choice. (And thus we’re passing on the recommendation!)

Captain Elias is the number one rated tour in Milos on Tripadvisor, and for good reason. We first discovered him there (he has a website now, but back then I don’t even think he did!) We spoke to him at the dock while we were booking. He is friendly, but we didn’t feel pressured at all, unlike some vendors who can be overly pushy.

His tour goes down to Kleftiko and back again. It departs early in the morning, and returns mid-afternoon. The tour provides a light breakfast, a full lunch, and a generous spread of appetizer and Orzo (Greek island liquor).

We were in a very small group, with a few other couples (less than 10 guests), and had a very personalized experience.

On our way down to Kleftiko

There is a lot to see and do as the boat makes its way south. First of all, the coastline is so dramatic! An incredible, different view around every turn.

We stopped by one of the secluded western beaches in Triades Bay. There are many other day tour vessels, but Captain Elias tries to plan the day to avoid running into other tour groups at the same places.

Our favourite spot was Sikia (or Sykia) cave. Captain Elias took us in batches by tender through the cave. This was our first Milos cave experience, and it was incredible. The water was so clear, and the cave floor was a mosaic of different colours. After passing the cave… it opened into a *beach* within the cave. How cool is that?! We spent some time here enjoying the beach and taking some gorgeous photos. (Feature photo)

Kleftiko

For centuries until the 1820s, pirates hung out here and ambushed merchant ships passing through the Aegean. I can see why! This area has so many caves and recesses, all formed from the other-worldly volcanic rock that makes up much of Milos.

We spent a lot of time exploring the caves here, weaving through the archways by tender. We also did a lot of swimming and snorkelling. Elias provided all the snorkelling gear.

On our way back to Adamas

We stopped by another remote western beach on our way back, but we were all too spent to do much actual swimming. Instead, we had a delicious spread of appetizers and Captain Elias introduced us to orzo, a Greek island anise-based liquor.

We unfurled the sails and enjoyed a relaxing ride back into port. On our way back, you pass by many of the fishing villages by the water. The largest of these villages is Klima (still very small by any standard). We didn’t stop here, but you get a very picturesque view of the white sugar-cube houses with their brightly coloured doors and shutters. These villages are all very close to the main towns in Milos, and are a short drive away if you want to explore them by foot.

Final thoughts

Our sailing day trip was one of the highlights of our time in Milos. It’s definitely a must do, recommended for anyone staying more than one day.

Our experience sailing with Oneiro Milos was a definite 10/10! We especially liked the tour for its small group size and personalized experience. Captain Elias took into account the preferences of everyone on the tour – when he realized a few of us were into photography, he went out of his way to take us around the caves by tender. He and his crewmate provided a steady stream of informative and entertaining information. Oh, and the delicious food didn’t hurt either!