Travel guide Cyclades
The best time to go dans les Cyclades
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Practical information for travel dans les Cyclades
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Edition 2025/2026
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Where to go dans les Cyclades?
The most beautiful tourist sites
Petit Futé's best addresses dans les Cyclades
Discover the most beautiful addresses selected by the authors of Petit Futé.
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Featured articles des Cyclades
Where to go in Greece away from the crowds in 2025? The 14 best places
Published on 13/06/2025 Ideas for holidays & weekend
In 2023, Greece was the ninth most visited country in the world, with over 30 million annual visitors. So it's not uncommon to have to share your landscapes with the crowds. Fortunately, with more...
Where to go in Greece away from the crowds in 2025? The 14 best places
Published on 12/06/2025 Ideas for holidays & weekend
In 2023, Greece was the ninth most visited country in the world, with over 30 million annual visitors. So it's not uncommon to have to share your landscapes with the crowds. Fortunately, with more...
Visit the Cyclades in 2025: which island to choose for your vacation?
Published on 28/05/2025 Activities and experiences
How would you sum up the Cyclades? Our memory is ofa magical archipelago, where the blue of the sea blends with the dazzling white of traditional houses. Each island has its own charm and unique atmosphere....
How to travel dans les Cyclades
How to go alone
It is very easy to organize your own stay on the islands by booking independently the accommodations and the boats according to your desires. Note that it is necessary to book well in advance in high season to avoid unpleasant surprises. Finally, the Cyclades are a safe destination and its inhabitants are very welcoming.
How to go on a tour
The Cyclades have always fascinated French holidaymakers. Thus, many tour operators offer tours from one week to one month combining several islands by ferry, plane or sailboat. It takes at least 15 days to visit up to 4 islands. The destination can easily be combined with a visit to another archipelago or to Athens. You should also know that many cruise ships pass through the islands in Greece.
How to get around
By plane. Quite expensive, most of the trips are to and from Athens, but some airlines also offer inter-island flights.
By ferry. A few major ferry companies can be found all over the country. The schedules are more or less respected and, often, you can also board your car.
In the car. The car is one of the most efficient means of transport to discover the islands.
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Ideas for holidays and week-end breaks dans les Cyclades
No time to do everything, it's obvious. Greece in general and the Cyclades in particular are one of those places from which we come back saying that we will inevitably return. Indeed, it is impossible to say that one has "done" the Greek islands, as each island, even in the same archipelago, is different. Its lovers know that the Cyclades are not limited to the cliffs of Santorini nor to its whitewashed houses. From Andros to Mykonos, through Folegandros, the archipelago offers many other facets: archaeological sites and monuments classified by UNESCO, but also landscapes of a breathtaking wilderness. Still unknown to tourists, some of the outlying islands like Anafi or the "small Cyclades of the East" have remained authentic and full of surprises. Everywhere, sea and nature live in perfect harmony, allowing to combine the exercise of hiking with the pleasure of swimming!
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Discover les Cyclades
They would hold their name of the nymphs that the irritable Poseidon would have transformed into rocks. But their name could also come from the word kuklos or "circle", since they draw a halo around the sacred island of Delos. The Cyclades are 39 islands, surrounded by countless islets, but only 24 of them welcome tourists and are presented here. But we are in Greece, no doubt about it. This archipelago is bathed in mythology. Of its history, one often retains only the Antiquity, but the archipelago also crossed all the stages of the history of the country. It is difficult to "fly over" such a rich and complex country. In many ways, it remains very oriental. Religion has a predominant place, both Orthodox and Catholic. Without forgetting its culture which is also ours: with arts, sciences, philosophy, mythology constitutes one of the pillars of the heritage..
The 12 keywords dans les Cyclades
#Atlantide
Do the remains of this legendary civilization sleep somewhere off the island of Santorini? Despite the many inaccuracies relayed by Plato, several historical arguments allow to locate Atlantis in a Greek perimeter. Are the secrets of the decline of the ancient Minoan civilization engraved in the caldera?
#Basilic
Basil has a special place in the life of the islands. You will see it everywhere, in every window, in front of every restaurant, on every terrace... but never in your plate. Although basil grows everywhere (in pots), it is hardly used in the local cuisine. It is a decorative and lucky plant.
#Blue
It is a postcard cliché and a reality in the Cyclades: bright white houses next to churches with a resplendent blue dome and golden beaches bordering a turquoise blue sea... It is easy to understand why Luc Besson shot his film The Big Blue in these islands... More precisely in the waters of Amorgos.
#GREEK COFFEE
You will be amazed by the thousand and one ways of preparing coffee in Greece. To order it, ask for: éna elliniko, which means "a Greek". In the summer, there is nothing like an iced coffee that is drunk iced (Nescafé based) or freddo (espresso based). Coffee can be ordered without sugar(sketo), a little sweet(metrio) or very sweet(glyko).
#CHATS
We all know this cliché of the Greek islands: a small port, a white chapel and languid cats. These felines are indeed everywhere, especially near the fish taverns that border the ports of the Cyclades. If you give them a few bones at the end of the meal, try to do it discreetly, to avoid the reproachful eye of the manager.
#DELOS
30 minutes from the turbulent Mykonos, a world of memory and silence survives. This "museum island" was classified by Unesco in 1990. Delos has been inhabited since prehistoric times, but it was the Ionians, in the first millennium BC, who made it a panhellenic political and religious center, comparable to Olympia and Delphi.
#Churches
They are everywhere in the archipelago, which is also home to one of the country's largest pilgrimage sites in Tinos, the Greek Lourdes. Moreover, the churches are sometimes so numerous that they cannot even be counted, as in Sifnos. In some islands, the Catholic churches share the spotlight with the Orthodox churches.
#MATI
The mati means "the eye", meaning "the evil eye". This notion is part of a widespread popular superstition. Beware: if you suddenly start yawning, feel tired or have a headache, you will most likely be given a " se matiasan" : literally "the evil eye has been cast upon you".
#MELTEMI
The meltemi is the north-northwest wind that sometimes blows violently on the coasts of the Cyclades, especially in August. When it rises, the beaches exposed to the west can become impassable. This is especially the case for hydrofoils, such as ferries, which will be the first to be cancelled in case of strong winds.
#Easter
Here, this week is sacred! The procession of theepitafios on Friday, the mass on Saturday evening, followed by a big meal and the mayiritsa (a giblet soup), and on Monday, with 50 days later a new celebration. Beware, hotels, especially in religious islands like Tinos, are often fully booked.
#PASTÈQUE
Karpouzi (in Greek) is the fruit of summer. Watermelons can be bought by the kilo in supermarkets and from roadside hawkers. And it's often the gift of the house in taverns, after a good meal on a hot summer's day. The region of Greece that produces the most is Elide, to the west of the Peloponnese, near Olympia.
#TAVLI
Tavli is the Greek version of backgammon or backgammon. This game is very popular in Greece and is played for hours on end on the terraces of cafes. You usually order it with your drink, or you follow the sometimes colorful games played by your neighbors. Often the dice rolls are followed by flowery expressions.
You are from here, if...
You like to spend time, but really a lot of time, at the table, and especially at any time. And rather at the tavern than at home!
You never order one dish for yourself: you prefer to have several and to stick your fork into all the mezzes on the table.
In general, you like to talk, debate and argue (for real). Among your favorite subjects of discord: soccer or politics.
You are religious, superstitious, or both. Impossible to pass by a church without signing.
You often arrive late. You love the expression "para pende". In Greece, everything ends at "minus five", meaning at the last minute... or a little later.
You value your personal freedom. You can stop smoking in bars, but if you want to wear a seatbelt or a helmet, we'll see..
In general, you should not bother driving. Turn signal is optional and double parking is still quite practical, isn't it?
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