Poros: A Destination with Endless Holiday Options

Press conference in Athens: Alexandros Dimitriadis, Poros Port Authority, Poros Mayor Yiannis Dimitriadis and Ilena Papaioannou from the island’s municipality. Photo © GTP

Photo © Katerina Nomikou

The Municipality of Poros this year has announced a comprehensive tourism development strategy that will focus on holding events and cultural activities, reducing car circulation on the island in the evenings, restoring local transport via boat rides and extending the tourist season through alternative forms of tourism.

Poros is a green island situated in the Saronic Gulf, 32 sea miles from the Piraeus harbor of Athens.

“Poros is a perfect destination within easy reach of Athens. The cost to holiday on the island is not high and it boasts high quality services”, Poros Mayor Yannis Dimitriadis said on Wednesday at a press conference in Athens held for journalists and local travel agencies. Poros counts some 4,000 beds in hotels, many of which have been renovated.

According to the mayor, the municipality aims this year to attract visitors from Athens and will focus on promoting the island’s competitive advantages which include its short distance from the Greek capital and its natural environment.

The Municipality of Poros is also keen on adding wedding tourism to its new strategy and referred to the neighboring heart-shaped islet Daskalio (photo, right) as an ideal destination for weddings, honeymoons and romantic milestones. Photo © GTP

The mayor added that Poros is in very close distance to other popular destinations, making it ideal for travellers to combine their stay on the island with short day-trips to Epidavros, Hydra Island and Trizina.

In regards to events and happenings, this summer Poros will host the second Poros Arts Festival, a rich arts and cultural program that will run in open spaces on the island. The program will include concerts, plays, dance events, painting and photography exhibitions. “Something will be going on at Poros every week”, Mayor Dimitriadis underlined.

All events will be open to Greeks and tourists on the island. Scheduled concerts will include performances by renowned Greek artists such as Thanos Mikroutsikos with Aphrodite Manou, the Greek band Apurimac, the legendary rock and roll band The last drive, the Dysanatolia group and many others.

“Our goal is for Poros to become even more famous as an ideal holiday destination for Greeks and foreign visitors”, the municipality’s tourism head Dimitris Prokopiou said.

“The island of Poros is a unique traditional village that offers marine tourism and water sports, strolls in the fantastic lemon grove and authentic Greek nightlife… The rich cultural program for 2015 gives Poros great added value in relation to other nearby destinations”, he added.

Poros also boasts the largest and safest port in the Saronic Gulf. Last year, the island’s port accommodated some 3,000 yachts and boats every month from April to October. For the past 14 years, Poros has been the host destination of the East Med Yacht Show, an event that welcomes international charter professionals, private yacht brokers, travel agents and tour operators, giving a broad display of Greek luxury crewed yachts for charter.