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Ios at a Glance

With 108 sq. km of land mass and 81 km of coast line Ios is a decent sized Greek island and only 107 nautical miles from Piraeus. Ios has a population of about 2,000. Its a very beautiful and mountainous island, Ios has very little cultivated land.

Ios offers three large bays and many smaller ones. Those with private boats will enjoy the many secluded bays and beaches. Some of the nicest beaches of the all the Greek islands exist on Ios. Ios town also known as 'Chora' is remarkable for its blue-domed churches. Food is a bit more expensive as it mostly imported by ship.

Local Islanders call Ios Nio, a contraction from 'Sthn Ios' meaning: in Ios. The ancient Ionian's who colonized it called it 'Nios' maybe for the same reason, maybe not.

In antiquity Ios was covered with oak trees and must have been magnificent. The oaks were used to make boats and now the island has few trees. Most of the oaks remaining are concentrated in the center of the island at Perivola, where there are fresh water springs.

Before the heavy duty partying of summer starts, spring is the best time to enjoy this truly wonderful island in a normal state. In early spring, you can still see Ios as Lawrence Durrell did, full of silences, fractured only by some distant church bell or the braying of a mule or the tinkling of goats bells.

Taken over by youth in summer Ios is the party island to end all party islands–the mother of party islands! It is so popular with Irish vacationers, they claim Ios stands for Ireland Over Seas. Homer is said to be buried here on Ios. In summer It's very doubtful that he rests in peace. Great times are to be had on Ios!