Plaka Forest

Plaka Forest is a small pine woodland on Kos, tucked beside the road between Tigaki and Kefalos, just a few minutes' drive south of Kos International Airport near the village of Antimachia. Tall pines shade a network of picnic tables and footpaths, giving the area a cool, quiet feel that contrasts with the island's busier beach resorts and makes it a popular rest stop for drivers crossing the island between the north and south coasts.

The forest is best known for its resident peacocks, which wander freely among visitors, alongside a colony of stray cats, terrapins, and squirrels that have made the woodland their home. Feeding and photographing the birds is popular with families, though pulling feathers from them is both unkind and, under Greek law, an offence, and rangers ask visitors not to disturb the animals unnecessarily.

Inland stops like this are often folded into a longer day out, with Plaka Forest counted among the sites that make it one of the anchorages you'll visit on a private gulet charter from Kos, alongside the island's coves and beaches, when guests want a break from the water.