Serifos

Serifos lies in the western Cyclades, between Kythnos to the north and Sifnos to the southwest, roughly 170 km southeast of Piraeus. The island covers about 75 square kilometres and rises to 585 metres at its highest point. According to the 2021 census, Serifos had 1,241 permanent residents, down slightly from 1,420 a decade earlier — a population density of around 16.5 people per square kilometre.

The island's capital, Chora, sits dramatically on a hilltop above the main port and still incorporates marble blocks salvaged from earlier ancient structures into its medieval fortifications. Serifos owes much of its modern history to iron ore: mining flourished here through the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the island was the site of a violent 1916 miners' strike led by Constantinos Speras that helped establish the eight-hour working day in Greece. The mines closed in the 1960s, and the old mining harbour of Mega Livadi, along with the sheltered bay of Koutalas, still bears traces of that era.

Today Serifos relies chiefly on tourism and small-scale farming, with Livadi as its main port and anchorage. Its position between the busier islands of the western Cyclades means many gulet cruises in Greece call in here, drawn by the quieter bays and the dramatic silhouette of Chora above the harbour.