Kos Panormitis Ferry

Kos Guide

Located in the Dodecanese group of islands, the Greek island of Kos is around 4km from the coast of Bodrum in Turkey. The island is around 40 km long and 8 km wide and has a number of towns and villages. The main town and port is also called Kos, but the island's other villages include Kefalos, Tingaki, Kardamena, Mastihari, Antimachia, Marmari and Pyli. Kos Town is usually quite and there is lots to do there. There are plenty of restaurants, bars and clubs in the town which have led to the island as a whole becoming very popular with tourists. For those visitors looking for a bargain, practically everything is available in the island's shops from ceramics to fur, shoes to books and clothes and jewellery to leather products. The most popular tourist centres on the island often also have many small shops offering handmade goods such as ceramics and embroideries along with more traditional local products such as honey, herbs, wine, sweets and spices.

There are daily services between Kos and Piraeus along with services between Kos and the rest of the Dodecanese, the islands of the north eastern Aegean and Turkey. The trip by conventional ferry can take up to 13 hours, depending on the intermediate stopovers, and the trip with a high speed boat can take between 5 and 8 hours.

Panormitis Guide

The Greek island of Symi is one of the Dodecanese group of islands and lies to the north of the Greek island of Rhodes and is close to the coast of south western Turkey. The island does not have many beaches and those that it does have tend to be mostly shingle with larger stones under the water and have few facilities and offer little shade. However it is known for its peace and tranquillity although visitors should note that summer temperatures can reach 40°C or more in July and August and makes the shelter of the port a hive of activity.

A popular attraction on the island is the Monastery of Panormitis that is located on a bay that shares its name. Many people visit the monastery from around the country on its celebration day, the 8th November, where pilgrims to the monastery are offered food, wine and free accommodation. Many believe that the monastery was built on the site of an ancient temple but ancient archaeological findings have not been found to back this up although the existence of the monastery dating back to the 15th century has been proved by a manuscript that dates back to 1460.

Symi is a popular destination for day trippers as there are regular daily ferry services operating from the Rhodes port of Mandraki.