The Best Airbnbs and Holiday Apartments to Book in Sifnos, Greece

The best holidays are often in the hardest places to reach. Sifnos Residence is just that: a traditional building clinging to a mountainside at the end of a winding road. From the pergola-covered balcony, you can pull up a canvas deckchair and look out over the sapphire bay of Platis Gialos. The slate-like mosaic floors and cheerful blue window shutters help keep the indoor temperature cool during the midday heat.

For many people, visiting a Greek island means finding accommodation as close to the Mediterranean as possible. At Aegean Eye, the communal balcony, bound by a blue picket fence, practically overhangs the water. The studio apartments neatly squeeze a kitchenette, bed and dining table into the space. Charming Kastro village, a minute’s walk away, includes the ruins of an Ancient Greek acropolis, a blue-domed church and some excellent restaurants lining the village’s narrow, winding streets.

Live like a local in the centre of Artemonas, the cultural heartland of Sifnos, where art galleries dot the warren of narrow streets and stone steps. There are plenty of stunning white churches with blue, onion-dome roofs around the village, as well as a handful of round windmills, such as the two next door to this apartment. Feeling more like a home than a holiday let, there is space within to sleep up to five people, and the kitchen comes with a full-sized oven and fridge-freezer.

Fancy staying in a traditional Cycladic home right on the beach? At Ammos Holiday House, you can wake up and walk out of the front door onto the sand of Cheronissos Beach and go for a dip in this sheltered sea inlet, with its colourful fishing boats and clear water. And because this holiday apartment is on the remote northern tip of Sifnos, it mostly retains its tranquil atmosphere throughout the year.

Niriedes Hotel is a great place for an active family holiday in Sifnos. There’s a playroom for the kids, a gym for the adults and a pool for everyone, which overlooks the sweeping bay. The interior is given a touch of rustic charm through the use of flotsam art and springs of Mediterranean plant life, such as olive branches and lavender. A kitchenette and fridge give guests the option to dine in or try one of the highly rated restaurants along the Platis Gialos seafront.

Little boats bob in the crisp blue water at Faros, while tables and chairs are placed in the shade beneath the trees at the edge of the beach. Sifanto Mare Apartments, with its floral-crochet art and spacious living areas, is the ideal base from which to explore the village. Start the day off with a good breakfast, using the kitchen’s orange juicer and coffee percolator, then soak up the fishing settlement lifestyle from the comfort of a veranda swing chair.

Set back a few hundred metres from Platis Gialos Beach, surrounded by olive orchards, are the beautiful, crisp white apartments of Blue Fish. You can choose a room with or without a kitchen, although both options include a fridge, so you can store ingredients to prepare a traditional Sifnian lunch, such as tomatoes, homemade bread, feta and locally grown and produced olive oil. Bedrooms utilise hypoallergenic bedding, and a clean, minimalist approach is taken with the decoration.

If you’d like to stay close to the best nightlife of Sifnos, but remote enough that you can’t hear your neighbours, Thymonia is an excellent choice. The bare-brick villa sits across the valley from the dazzling farm terraces that step down from Apollonia, capital of Sifnos, on one side, and Kastro on the other. Large windows fill the pristine, white interior with natural light. The villa sleeps up to four people.

Sun and sea are practically guaranteed in Platis Gialos, but the real charm of this seafront house is the surrounding garden, including a palm tree plantation and olive trees, cut through by stone paths. In the evening, everything is lit up in warm tones, including the pergola-covered patio area. The house sleeps up to four guests, and there are many Greek restaurants a short stroll away.