The white arches
Natural rock bridges that small boats pass beneath.
dronepicr โ CC BY 2.0 ยท Zde โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Zde โ CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท Zde โ CC BY-SA 4.0
**Free** โ you pay for the **boat trip**, and there is no other way to arrive. โ **โ Boat size is the most important decision**: **small boats (semi-rigid) genuinely enter the caves and arches** and reach coves nothing else can; **large boats and catamarans only pass in front** and stand off โ **ask explicitly before booking**, because this is the commonest disappointment on Milos. โ **Most trips are full-day** (6โ8 hours) and circle the island; shorter half-day trips exist. โ **โ Cancelled in wind** โ the southwest coast is exposed and cancellation is common; **do not book a flight for the next morning** and leave a spare day. โ **Seasickness is possible** on this stretch โ prepare. โ **The boat sometimes has no shade** โ hat, sunscreen and water. โ **Swimming is in deep open water** โ a buoyancy aid for anyone not a strong swimmer. โ Book a day or two ahead in season.
**White arches and caves rising out of turquoise sea, with no road to them** โ on the southwestern coast of Milos, reached **by boat only**. The name means **"the thieves' hideout"**: these caves and hidden coves were a **pirate refuge**, where crews concealed their boats and struck at passing ships โ the rocks themselves hide any vessel inside from the open sea. The formation: **white volcanic rock** cut by the sea into **arches, tunnels and caves** that small boats pass beneath and inside, with **intensely clear turquoise** water below, because the bottom is white. โ People swim in the coves between the arches and enter the caves by swimming. โ And there is nothing there: **no beach, no facilities and no shade** โ it is a full boat excursion, usually **a day or a half day**.
Natural rock bridges that small boats pass beneath.
Hollows entered by boat or by swimming, the light inside blue.
Exceptionally clear because the bottom is white rock reflecting light.
Kleftiko, 84800 Milos, Greece
**With three questions โ and boat size is the decisive one.** โ **First: how big is the boat?** **Small rigid inflatables (RIBs/semi-rigid)** for ten to twenty people **genuinely enter the arches and caves** and moor in narrow coves โ that is the experience you came for. **Large wooden boats and catamarans** are slower and more comfortable **but stand off** and enter nothing. โ **Ask plainly: ยซdoes the boat go into the caves?ยป** โ **Second: how long at Kleftiko itself?** Some full-day trips circle the whole island and give you only **45 minutes** there; others give two hours. Ask in minutes. โ **Third: what is included?** Lunch, drinks, snorkelling gear, buoyancy aids. โ **And a fourth that matters**: **what is the cancellation policy in wind?** Cancellation is common โ make sure you are refunded or moved to another day. โ **And book early** in July and August.
**Yes โ it is the one thing on Milos that should not be missed.** โ **First reason: there is no alternative.** Kleftiko is **entirely unreachable by land** โ no road, no path, no viewpoint. It is the boat or nothing. **That differs from most Greek sites**, which can at least be seen from a distance. โ **Second: the trip itself is the product.** A day trip gives you not only Kleftiko but a **circuit of Milos**: coves, sea caves and beaches unreachable by land, swim stops in water nobody else reaches, and sometimes **Polyaigos** โ the uninhabited island opposite, with its striped rock. โ **Third: Milos is a maritime island by nature** โ its coasts are the product, not its interior; anyone who stays on land sees half the island. โ **The one caveat**: **wind**. If your only day is blowy, the trip may be cancelled with no substitute โ **so book it for your first days rather than your last**, leaving spare days in hand.
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