Anaxos Skoutarou

Five minutes from Petra is the small village of Anaxos, with a nice stretch of beach with lots of tavernas and a view of Molyvos. Anaxos is a former resort town with several outdoor swimming pools for public use. Well, not exactly public use but if you buy a drink you and your kids can hang out there all day. The pools are salt water however, as are many of the pools on the island so if you are looking for the wonderful chlorinated water you are familiar with then you should probably ask before you dive in. At one time Anaxos was a popular destination for package tourists and it still pretty much has that feel, but there are lots of individuals and even some people who like it so much that they come back every year though I generally skip a year or so between visits. The beach can be crowded on weekends when locals from the surrounding villages come, like the beach at Petra, but if you like people that should not be a problem. Unless of course you don't like people in which case you you can rent cars, bikes and motorbikes in Anaxos and there are some coves and beaches along the coast where most tourists don't even know about. But actually in the last few years Anaxos has seen less tourism, which to the merchants of Anaxos is not a good thing, but for people like me, and maybe you, who prefer quiet places to touristy places, Anaxos may be just the place you are looking for. A place that used to be touristy but isn't anymore, like Sigri. And if you have kids there are few places in Greece that are better.