If you want to feel like you’ve gone to the moon while being on one of the most stunning and charming islands in Greece, just head on over to Sarakiniko, Milos! After spending a month in Turkey, we originally planned to spend around 10 days in Greece, instead, we ended up accidentally spending an entire month. Hopping from one Greek island to the next on ferries is easily one of the best European summer activities. We ended up visiting 6 islands that month, and of them all Milos was my absolute favorite. Sarakiniko, Milos was the first thing I ever saw of the island of Milos, and I just KNEW I had to visit ASAP.

While Milos is definitely on the map in terms of tourism, it’s nowhere near the level of Santorini or Mykonos. So while you won’t be the ONLY tourists visiting Sarakiniko, Milos, it’s not like trying to catch sunset in Oia, Santorini while being crowded from every possible angle by sweaty tourists looking for the best sunset selfie.

Since Milos is fairly busy, this guide will walk you though everything you need to know to visit Sarakiniko, Milos to have the best experience possible at this unique moon beach!

What Makes Sarakiniko, Milos Special?

Milos is a member of the Cycladic Islands in the Aegean Sea, a collection of volcanic islands. What makes Sarakiniko, Milos so unique is the rolling white cliffs that truly make it feel like you’re participating in some sort of moon landing, while also being surrounded by the most beautifully blue seas you’ve ever seen. The morning and evening light is stunning, and in the afternoon you can escape the brutal heat by cliff jumping into the sea below.

It’s also called referred to as Sarakiniko Beach, which is in my mind a bit of a misnomer since it’s not reallyyyy a beach (although there is a VERY tiny area that has a little sandy beach that could fit like 20 people haha). It’s really more of a rocky cliff area with cliff jumping spots, but not the kind of area you lug out beach chairs and umbrellas.

How to Get to Milos

If you’re on a time crunch, depending on where you’re coming from you can technically fly into Milos since they do have a small airport. I’d recommend taking a ferry from another island or from Athens instead though! It’s a quintessential Greek island experience to island hop on the ferries. To book ferry tickets use the app FerryHop. You can select your ports, times, and buy your tickets all in the app just like you would for a flight.

Where to Stay in Milos

We booked out ferry from Paros to Milos at the last minute and only planned our trip about 3 days in advance so our choices were really slim! We ended up booking at Malion Rooms. It was actually the most expensive place we stay in a whole month in Greece, but still very reasonable for peak season in the Greek islands at around $110 a night! The couple who runs the hotel is SUPER sweet and I’d definitely go back and stay again. It’s a great location with awesome A/C, good wifi and really nice patios attached to the rooms.

How to Get Around Milos

My number one tip for visiting the Greek island is to rent mopeds! It’s easily the best way to bop around and experience everything the islands have to offer, not to mention it’s just really freaking fun. Here’s a things you need to know before renting scooters in Greece:

• You will likely need an International Drivers License. In the US you can get one from AAA for $20 (or free if you have a AAA membership). When you go for your appointment you will need to bring 2 copies of a printed passport photo (you can get these at most CVS or Walgreens locations), cash to pay the $20, and your valid drivers license. There’s no down time waiting for your International Drivers License to come in, you’ll walk out with it in hand!
• To rent anything over 50cc you will need a valid motorcycle license from your home country.
• If you’re not comfortable renting a moped, I’d recommend ATVs. They’re just as fun as mopeds, but a little more expensive.
• Most scooter rentals should cost you around 30 euros a day, give or take a little depending on the time of year/which island you’re on etc. ATVs can be around 50 euros a day
• I try to always pay for them in cash if possible just to avoid any unexpected charges on my card after dropping off the moped. I’ve never had any charges like this on my card, I’m just overly cautious.
• If possible, try to pick places that don’t require you to leave your physical passport. I always keep a few printed color copies of our passports in my suitcase and I try to use these when possible since I REALLY don’t like being separated from my passport. We’ve had to leave it once or twice when we didn’t have a lot of options and it was fine, I just don’t prefer it.
• Parking is MUCH easier with a moped or ATV than with a car. The roads are narrow in the islands and the parking can be sparse. It’s must easier to find a small spot for your scooter than trying to safely park your car somewhere.
• We always share a moped and I just ride on the back, it’s cheaper and easier that way for us.
• ALWAYS WEAR YOUR HELMET

Cost of Visit Sarakiniko, Milos

Free! The only cost to visit will be based on your transportation there, whether you take a taxi, moped, ATV, etc. It’s free to park, free to visit, free to swim!

What Time of Day to Visit

Sarakiniko, Milos can get pretty crowded in the afternoons at peak “tourist hour” but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad time to visit! It’s a really huge area with tons of spots to hang out and explore without feeling too overwhelming.

Sunrise and sunset are supposedly STUNNING so I’d highly highly recommend either visiting at sunrise and then just hanging out for a few hours until the sun is hot and bright enough to have fun cliff jumping, or visiting twice. Once in the hot hours of the day (sometime between like 10am – 4pm) and then again at either sunrise or sunset. We didn’t have time to do this because we had a travel emergency we had to take care of but I definitely want to go back!

How Long to Spend at Sarakiniko, Milos

How long you should plan to spend at Sarakiniko, Milos really just depends on what all you want to do and explore! If you want to get a good tan, you could bring a few thick towels and lay them out on the rocky volcanic shores, or spend a few hours cliff jumping from various highs and spots. There are usually some locals jumping too so you’ll be able to tell which spots are safe to jump from.

In general, I’d say 2-4 hours is sufficient just depending on how you’re feeling.

PRO-TIP for Sarakiniko, Milos

CHECK THE WEATHER. The ways you can enjoy Sarakiniko, Milos is VERY dependent on the winds. If the wind is too high (like when we were there) you will not be able to cliff jump or swim at all anywhere besides the mini-beach area. The waves will be too high and it’s incredibly dangerous. To safely cliff jump or swim the waters should be fairly calm, not huge high crashing white peaks that throws 10 foot wave splashes into the air. If you check the weather ahead of time you will be able to plan your visit around the days with lower wind levels.

Facilities Available

I always like to know what the bathroom situation is going to be like everywhere we go, gotta plan my bathroom breaks ahead of time! So, maybe it will be helpful too for you to know that there are no facilities at Sarakiniko, Milos. No bathrooms, changing rooms, shower stations, info desks, nothing.

When you get there, theres a small parking lot area with a walking path leading down to the cliffs. Depending on the time of day you’re there, there’s sometimes a small food truck there selling water, coffees, snacks etc. which can be nice if you need a little bite!

What to Wear

• Clothing: I’d recommend wearing shorts, and a tank top or t-shirt. It can get REALLY hot, so you’ll want to be wearing something breathable. Make sure to have your bathing suit on underneath or at least bring it with you to change into! (If you bring it to change into, there’s no where to change, you’ll just have to do it under a towel or in front of everyone haha)
• Shoes: the path out to the cliffs is filled with tiny rocks so if you don’t like having rocks in your shoes I’d wear tennis shoes and then bring a waterproof shoe to change into. That way you won’t have to be barefoot when trying to climb out of the water after swimming. I wore my Mephistos to walk around, and if we’d been able to cliff jump I would’ve changed into my Chacos.
• Sunglasses: if it’s a windy day like it was for us, the tiny rocks can just come flying up right into your face while you’re walking, not to mention the sun reflects like 100x brighter off the white landscape of Sarakiniko, Milos compared to other beaches. I always travel with 2 pairs of these SOJOS sunglasses from Amazon because they’re just so easy, cute, they’re polarized, and if I break & scratch them I don’t feel bad because they’re usually around $15 a pair! I’ve purchased at least 4 pairs in the last few years haha
• Sunscreen: not only does the sun reflect aggressively into your eyes, it reflects off the white rock and will burn you even more than the sun alone already will in the Greek islands. Wear sunscreen and put it on beforehand to make sure you get a good base coating. Always make sure to wear reef safe sunscreen (this COOLA one smells incredible!) when swimming anywhere besides the pool because we all love swimming with all the colorful fishies so lets try to protect their homes!

What to Bring

• Underwater Phone Case: I LOVE being able to take videos underwater, jumping into the water, etc. But it’s also nice just to not worry about it! So I bring this waterproof case with us ANYTIME we’re basically anywhere near the water haha. I attached this floaty wristlet to it so if I drop it it won’t sink to the bottom of the ocean.
• Snorkel & Mask: we didn’t get these until after Greece, but a lot of the reasoning was it would have been SO nice if we’d had our own to snorkel anywhere we wanted in the islands. We brought this snorkel & mask and a set of travel fins with us to Asia and Africa and used them ALL the time!
• Travel Towel: we pretty much never travel anywhere without our compact travel towel. This was no exception! If you swim, you will definitely want to be able to dry off afterwards before hopping back on your moped. It’s also nice to be able to use it to sit on since the ground is really rough here.
• Bring lots of water & a few snacks in case you end up staying longer than planned! I always keep some bananas or oranges and a few GoMacro bars (my fave meal bar) in my bag when we’re out exploring! You’ll also want lots of water because it’s can be veryyy HOT in Milos. If you run out hopefully the little food truck will be there so you can snag some!
• Bag Lock:we always use this collapsible book-bag for day trips & exploring because it folds up into a tiny ball for packing. We use a small bag lock on it just to try to keep an extra layer of security on our moped keys, wallets, etc when we go swimming and leave our things on shore.

Spots of Sarakiniko, Milos to See

Sarakiniko is a pretty large area, but there’s a few viewpoints and areas to see that are really pretty or make for good photos! The areas aren’t marked by signs or anything so I’ll do my best to try to explain the different spots and how to find them, but worse case just keep walking and wandering around and you’re bound to stumble on them!

When you walk down the path from the parking lot, if you go straight you’ll come to the flat-ish area where waves commonly splash up, sometimes up to 10-15 feet high depending on the winds that day! Once you get there, walk to the left which is where most of the cool spots to see are. You can go to the right hand side afterwards before you leave.

PS: just so there’s no confusion, these are not official names of these spots, I’m just naming them to make it easier to explain!

Sarakiniko Beach – the Narrow Mini-Beach

To the left of the entrance path, there’s like a little valley area you’ll need to get down to to access the rest of Sarakiniko, Milos. There’s a few different ways to get down, you can kinda climb down the rocks or take the winding pathway around the rock face. Once you make it down you’ll come across the really narrow mini-beach area I mentioned before. It’s cool but not the best beach to hangout at. If it’s super windy that day though you can still safely swim here since it’s protected by the cliffs on each side

Angled Cliff Above Sarakiniko Beach

My Favorite photo we took at Sarakiniko, Milos was sitting on top of this angled cliff overlooking the tiny Sarakiniko Beach area. To get there all you need to do is walk around to the left of the sandy beach area and then climb up the slanted rock and sit down while someone takes a picture standing from the beach area! Be careful climbing up, the rocks can be really slippery, if you slipped climbing up you wouldn’t like fall off a cliff or anything but you’d probably get some nasty scrapes. If you go to sit for a photo be VERY careful, sit down and scoot towards the edge so you don’t risk falling from there.

Natural Bridge

I think the prettiest and most unique views at Sarakiniko, Milos is of the natural bridge. It’s also one of the most popular cliff jumping spots. To get there, stay to the left after the sandy beach area and climb/walk up the slanted white rock and then you should be able to see it from there! Worst case just follow the shoreline as best you can to the left. If it’s really windy or the waves are high DO NOT TRY TO JUMP HERE. It would be incredibly dangerous.

Moon Cliffs Falling Into the Ocean

One of my favorite views at Sarakiniko, Milos was standing on the end of the cliffs and have impressive drops of at least 20 feet into the ocean. If you stand at the right position you can see them stacked side by side into the horizon. The best view are if you just keep walking past the natural bridge area along the “shore” line. There’s a couple of cool view points and if the water is calm there may be a few brave people cliff jumping here!

Lunar Surface

If you want to really feel & look like you’re walking on the moon, walk inland a little bit behind the natural bridge area and there’s a cool narrow canyon you can walk into. It dead-ends maybe 40 feet in (this may be way off I’m pretty bad at estimating distances haha). The photos here make it look like you’re definitely on another planet though! Worth looking at for 2 minutes since you’ll be right there.

View Point on the Right

Once you’re ready hanging out and exploring the left side and about ready to head out, walk back to the main path you came down when you arrived and keep going to the “right side” of the path you arrived at. You may have to climb up the rocks a bit to get up there, but it’s worth it! It’s usually emptier up there too because most people stay down at the the general area or over to the left hand side.

Final Thoughts on Sarakiniko, Milos

The are of Sarakiniko, Milos is absolutely worth the time to explore! It’s what originally drew me to Milos, and I’m so so glad it did! Some of the other highlights you should make sure to explore while in Milos are:

• Fyriplaka Beach
• Tsigrado Beach
• Paleochori Beach
• Firopotamos Beach
• Ancient Theater of Milos
• Town of Trypiti
• Town of Plaka

Have you been to Sarakiniko? Comment and tell me what you thought!!