Things to do in Paros, Greece: Paros Island Travel Guide

Save to Find It Later!

Welcome to my Paros Island travel guide! In this Paros blog post, you will learn everything you need to know on things to do in Paros, one of the most beautiful Greek islands! If you want to know all about what beach you should go to, I have a separate article that takes you through Paros best beaches.

In this Paros travel guide, I will tell you all about our itinerary, accommodation, transportation, activities and, of course, our budget for Paros island. 

During my Greek vacation, I spent one week on Paros Island and one week on the Island of Santorini. I tell you all about my trip to Santorini in my blog post on the things to do in Santorini. If you go to Santorini, you won’t want to miss out on Pyrgos village either!

But for now, let’s get into the things to do in Paros.

Things to do in Paros: what to know before your trip

-The currency used in Greece is the Euro. I advise you to order some BEFORE your trip if you are not from the EU as the fees could be higher once in Greece.

-The language spoken is Greek. However, Greek people speak English and French very well.

-If you have a EU phone plan, it will work in Greece. If you are from outside of the EU, you will find Wifi at hotels and restaurants.

-Greece is very safe and so are the islands ! Obviously, always be mindful of your stuffs wherever you go.

-There are ATMs everywhere in the towns and most restaurants/shops accept credit and debit cards. However, always bring cash with you just in case.

-It is really easy to travel from one Greek island to another either by plane or ferry. Not all islands have an airport and the easiest way to go from on to another is by ferry. You can book your ferry tickets via Ferryscanner.

Itinerary and Budget

We booked our flights in May, 4 months before our actual trip. Firstly, we searched our flights on Skyscanner and ended up booking them with Go To Gate.

Secondly, we flew from Dublin to Paros with a layover in Athens. We left late on the Friday and landed early on the Saturday, so we had a full Saturday there. I highly recommend doing this as you will save one day of vacation ! Our layover lasted about 2 hours for a total of 9 hours of travel.

The first flight to Athens was operated by Aegean Airlines. We loved this company ! Our departure time was delayed 40min which was due to… our time of departure. We left late at night and so we expected that there would be some delay due to the accumulation of the day. So no surprise there. We got fed a real meal and they were really generous with drinks as well (we did ask for water AND juice/coke multiple times and they were happy to serve us).

The second flight to Paros Island was operated by Olympic Air and lasted about 20min. Olympic Air was on time and pretty comfortable. The flight was very short though so there is not much to say about it.

The total cost for our flights (round trips) for two people was 926€ which is 463€ each. That included one 23kg hold luggage (not each) and a cabin luggage each. As a side note, we took the ferry to Santorini for about 30€ each and flew back from Santorini. As it was our first time, Santorini ferry port was very chaotic and overwhelming and we even lost a bit of money there! We have written a dedicated guide on Santorini ferry port to help you save time and money and make your experience much more enjoyable than ours!

Know that we heard there are direct and cheaper flights from London.

Where to stay on Paros Island

For this first week, we decided to book a studio in Parikia, one of the two main towns on Paros. Parikia is a jewel of the island and we did not regret one second staying there. You can watch our Studio Tour in this video :

The studio was part of an hotel and was called Anna Parikia’s Studio. There are lots of accommodations to choose from in Parikia. We use Booking to research and book. Booking rewards you with points so I advise you to create an account and accumulate points to get discounts later on.

I have to say that this studio came with two perks : the view and the fact that the owners let us use the hotel’s very nice pool.

This studio with two double beds, one private bathroom, one kitchenette, and a balcony cost us 640€ for 7 nights. The taxi from Paros Airport to the studio cost us 20€.

Transportation and Budget

For Paros, we decided to use the buses. I was kind of nervous as I LOVE being free and go wherever I want whenever I want. However, I found the bus system to be excellent! Paros transportation is very easy to understand. Here’s an example for the month of August of how often the buses come and where they go:

You can see that for the main destinations (Naoussa, Parikia) and for the best Paros beaches (Piso Livadi, Golden Beach, Logaras, Punda Beach, etc), buses come and go every hour. However, for other destinations, they don’t come as often but with a bit of organisation, you can still manage to get there.

Tickets are between 1,80€ and 3,40€ based on your destination. It’s a pretty good deal if you are on a budget or if you can not drive, or, if you just want to rest.

One thing I have to say, though, is that Paros beaches in the north of the island are accessible by bus but also by taxi boat from Naoussa. On our first day, we took the bus to Naoussa and wanted to take the taxi boat to Kolymbithres Beach. However, it was super windy and none of the taxi boats were working. So, just keep that in mind when planning out your days. On Paros, you can also rent bikes or bicycles to get around.

Things to do in Paros

You might be wondering what are the things to do in Paros. Well, don’t you worry, I got you covered. There are lots of things to do in Paros. As I said before, Paros island, Greece is a real gem. Let’s see what there is to do on Paros and Antiparos.

GOING TO THE BEACH

The main activity in Paros certainly is going to the beach. And that’s amazing as it is free! Perfect for a budget vacation. Staying 7 full days, we managed to go to 9 different beaches and some of these were the best beaches in Paros! You can also learn more about the best beaches in Paros in this article. Further, beaches are accessible by bus or car. You will usually find sunbeds for 10 to 40€ for two sunbeds and one umbrella. Some of the top beaches in Paros are Kolymbithres beach, Logaras beach, and Santa Maria beach.

WATCHING THE SUNSET IN PAROS

Yes, everyone talks about Santorini’s sunset. But girl, let me tell you, Paros sunset is as beautiful if not more. Watching the sunset is definitely one of the best things to do in Paros.

Sunsets in Greece are very beautiful (very similar to the ones in Corsica if you’ve been there) and worth seeing. In Parikia, you can see the sunset from the windmill or the long walk by the restaurants.

You won’t regret it as you watch the colours melt into the blue water.

GETTING A MASSAGE ON THE BEACH

Another activity is to get a massage at the beach ! We got ours at Logaras Beach and it honestly was the best massage I’ve ever gotten (and I’ve gotten A LOT lol). We paid a total of 35€ for two massages of 20min each.

RENTING AN ATV TO EXPLORE PAROS ISLAND

One of the best things to do in Paros is renting a quad at least for a day. It will allow you to explore the island a lot more. To clarify, we paid 55€ for 24h.

ROAMING AROUND THE STREETS OF PARIKIA AND NAOUSSA

Things to do in Paros include visiting towns like Parikia and Naoussa. I’ve heard that Lefkes is nice too but we did not make time to go there. I can highly recommend Parikia. We found it so so so pretty and typical. You can tell that Paros is not as touristy as Mykonos or Santorini as everything is still authentic. Paros is definitely one of the more quiet greek islands.

CHECK OUT THE WINDMILLS

Windmills are everywhere on the greek islands and especially on Paros island. In Parikia, there are several of them. One at the beginning of the promenade and one on the top of the village. The best is to roam around and find new ones as you go!

FROM PAROS TO ANTIPAROS and ANTIPAROS BEACHES

For our last day, we decided to go to the small island by Paros called Antiparos. We took the bus to Punda and then the ferry Paros-Antiparos for 1,30€ per person. Antiparos is also very authentic and typical. What to do in Antiparos, you ask? Well, we recommend it for a day trip but we wouldn’t stay there for the night as it is pretty small and there isn’t much to do. Going to Antiparos beaches is definitely a good idea. There are a few beaches on Antiparos you can just walk to from the port. You can also roam around the streets and have lunch or have a drink.

PAROS NIGHTLIFE

Paros Nightlife is pretty good. The restaurants on the promenade are busy and you can eat while watching the sunset. The streets are also busy with small authentic boutiques and ice cream shops to cool off from the hot day you just had!

Best Restaurants in Paros

There are lots of restaurants and cafés everywhere that serve breakfast, lunch and dinner at any time really. In this article on the best restaurants in Paros, you will find the ones we tried and what we thought of them. Experiencing the amazing Greek culinary specialities is a great way to visit Paros as well.

I hope you found this Greek island travel guide helpful ! If you have any question, don’t hesitate to ask them in the comments below ! Thank you for reading !

– SAVE THIS POST –

Any questions? Then drop them in the comments or on insta @twolostexplorers and I will get back to you asap.

Did you like this post? If you liked this post, then don’t hesitate to share it by using the share buttons on the side.

Want to save this post? You can pin the following images on pinterest to save this post.