With fantastic, crystal-clear waters and enchanting views of wildly beautiful landscapes, the beaches in Mani rival those on the islands.
Its wild landscape, with imposing tower houses, awe-inspiring caves and stone-built traditional settlements that enchant every visitor, is one reason to love Mani. Another is its distinctivebeaches. Each with its own character.
Organized or untouched, with their crystalline waters ending in the embrace of mostly pebbled but also sandy coves, the beaches inLaconian and Messenian Manioffer choices both for visitors who prefer an organized, family-friendly beach and for those who choose seclusion and the relaxing hideaways of smaller coves.
The best beaches of Mani
We’ve handpicked and recommend some of the most beautiful beaches of Mani for refreshing dips. Because wonderful beaches aren’t only found on the islands...
Marmari
Considered by many the loveliest sandy beach in Mani, Marmari,feels like an oasis in a rocky landscape of wild beauty. You’ll find itabout 40 km from Areopoli, in the Tainaro area. In essence it consists of two very beautiful sandy beaches with fantastic, turquoise-green waters and enchanting views of the bare hillsides plunging into the sea. The first beach offers umbrellas, sunbeds and a bar, while just a 10-minute walk away there isa second, smaller beach, ideal for quieter swims.
Agia Varvara
Agia Varvara beach is 19 km from Gytheio, near the village of Skoutari. It has fine golden sand with small pebbles, crystal-clear waters and lush oleanders along its back. The beach took its name from the Byzantine chapel of the same name built near the shore. According to local legend, pirates once came ashore on this beachand hid their treasure beneath the church...
Kotronas
Built at the head of a bay on the eastern side of the Mani peninsula, Kotronas is a seaside settlement with gorgeous, turquoise-green waters. Here you’ll encounter a pebbled strip of land between two seas, called Skopa or Nisaki. If you follow it to the end you’ll find the chapel of Agios Nikolaos.
Alypa
The beach of Alypa is in the eastern part of Laconian Mani, 42 km from Gytheio. Thistiny and quiet cove is an ideal destination for tranquil summer getaways. It has coarse pebbles and spotlessly clean, transparent waters, while around it stone tower houses create a unique atmosphere.
Mezapos
18 km from Areopoli in Laconia lies Mezapos, within the lovely bay sheltered by the Tigani peninsula. It is a small fishing settlement with a secret beach between two tall rocks that form sea caves inside. In the numerous caves into which the sea enters, the famed pirate Nikoló Sassaris hid his ships. A beautiful and wild Mani landscape.
Limeni
Seat and port of the illustrious Mavromichalis family, Limeni today stands out for the houses «on» the sea while it harmoniously blends the endless blue with the distinctive stone backdrop and the traces of an old castle-town. It has no sandy beach, nor is it an organized one. Yet you’ll find it hard to resist the temptation to dive into the fantastic waters from the rocks.
Foneas
One of the most beautiful beaches in Western Mani, 2.5 km southeast of Kardamyli. This small cove with wild beauty, white pebbles and cool, turquoise-green waters is a favorite destination for locals but also for visitors to Messinia. A large rock divides the beach in two and offers natural shade. One version for the beach’s curious name speaks of a pirate who was shipwrecked there and killed passers-by. The second version says the killer was a huge snake that devoured the monks’ flocks at the castle-monastery of Vaidenitsa.
Kalogria
About 42 km from Kalamata, right next to Stoupa, you’ll find the beautiful beach of Kalogria, with wonderful, spotlessly clean waters and thick sand. One of the area’s best-known beaches, it is organized and ideal for lovers of watersports. This beach is linked with the author Nikos Kazantzakis, as it was here that he was inspired to write «The Life and Times of Alexis Zorbas».
