Spetses Island

Spetses sits at the southwestern end of the Argo-Saronic chain that runs down from Aegina through Poros and Hydra, close in against the eastern Peloponnese: the resort towns of Porto Heli and Costa are in plain sight across a narrow strait. The island covers about 27 sq km and rises to a single wooded summit, Profitis Ilias, at roughly 245 m. Private cars are largely kept off it, so horse-drawn carriages, scooters, bicycles and water taxis do most of the moving around.

Its money and its reputation both came from the sea. Spetsiot ships and Spetsiot fortunes were central to the Greek War of Independence, and the island fitted out the squadron commanded by Laskarina Bouboulina. Bouboulina is often described as a native of Spetses, but she was born in a prison in Constantinople in 1771, the daughter of a captain from Hydra; her family moved to Spetses when she was four, and it is here that her house, now a museum, still stands. The Armata festival on the second weekend of September reenacts the naval battle fought off the island on 8 September 1822, and the summer calendar also takes in the feasts of Agios Mamas, Agia Paraskevi and Agia Marina.

Spetses Town

Dapia, the main harbour and square of Spetses town, is where the ferries and hydrofoils from Piraeus come in. Behind the waterfront, marble squares and narrow alleys are lined with sea captains' mansions in a Venetian-influenced neoclassical style; there is an open-air cinema and a long promenade that fills up for the evening walk. Two of the grandest buildings were paid for by Sotirios Anargyros, a tobacco magnate who put much of his fortune back into the island: the Poseidonion Grand Hotel, opened in 1914 and for decades the summer address of Athenian society, and his own mansion, whose entrance is flanked by two Egyptian sphinxes. He also endowed the Anargyrios and Korgialenios School. The Hatzigiannis Mexis mansion now houses the Spetses Museum. Walk out of town in either direction and the scent turns to jasmine and pine, on paths used for trekking and horse riding.

Waters and Anchorages

There are two harbours: modern Dapia and the old harbour of Baltiza, where the boatyards still work. Dapia takes an uncomfortable swell from arriving commercial traffic, so Baltiza and the coves around the coast are the better overnight options. Crews running the Argo-Saronic circuit treat the island as one of the anchorages you'll visit on a private gulet cruise in Greece, usually slotted in between Hydra and Porto Heli.

The water off Spetses drops away steeply, which is why it has hosted competitive freediving: in June 2007 the Austrian diver Herbert Nitsch set a No Limits world record of 214 m here, and several other record attempts have been staged off the island. Closer to the surface it is easy swimming and snorkelling water, warm from June to September, with August highs around 32°C and a sea that averages roughly 26°C. Jet skiing, water skiing, paddleboarding and canoeing all run off the busier beaches.

Popular Bays and Beaches

Agios Mamas is the town beach, right beside Dapia: sand and pebble, shallow, with tavernas and bars behind it, and easy with children. North of Dapia, Kaiki has fine pebbles, a beach club with cabanas, canoe and ringo rides and a bar that keeps going after the sun drops. Agia Marina, near the old harbour and its metal lighthouse, is the water-sports beach, with water skiing and flyboarding and a chapel on the hill behind it.

Further round the coast the bays get quieter. Vrellos, on the west side, has beach volleyball and a pine-covered slope climbing to Profitis Ilias, the best sunset view on the island. Zogeria, on the north coast, is a cove of sand, rock and stone falling into deep blue water. Agia Paraskevi is sheltered and backed by a pine grove that supplies the shade; nearby Agioi Anargyroi is known for its water sports and for the Bekiris Cave, a sea cave hung with stalactites and reached by boat or on foot from the beach. Xylokeriza, at the southeastern end, is the quietest of them, for swimming, snorkelling and very little else.