Tilos Island

It is a paradise on earth you were looking for! You won’t see the annual influx of tourists on the island. It is only the selected few that come here and if you set foot on the land of Tilos where love for nature is zest for life, you can consider yourselves to belong to their circle.

Spring born from orchid and cyclamen buds lives here, as these flowers chose Tilos to be their natural habitat. The island is also one of the best shelters for Mediterranean seals and loggerhead turtles luxuriating in the waters of the Aegean Sea. Here you can also find out the history of dwarfish elephants.
Tilos joined the European ecological program NATURA 2000. 16 closely guarded reserves – habitats of rare birds and animals – were singled out. And Greek government approved a decision to create a national reserve on Tilos. As a result, 127 bird species of which 46 are rare and endangered and 337 plant species, including more than 30 orchid species can be found on this small island. Protection of natural beauty areas from civil engineering and creation of hiking routes made it possible to preserve vegetation on the island.

Tilos resorts

Megalo Horio – an administrative centre of Tilos – a town with narrow streets and white-blue houses is situated in the heart of the island, in its northern part. It is an amphitheatre-shaped town spread over the hill, on the top of which the ruins of the fortress of the Knights of St.John of Jerusalem still remain. Megalo Horio is built on the place of an ancient town, the ruins of which can still be seen between the houses of the modern settlement. It will be interesting for you to visit the restored Church of Taksiarhis (the beg. of XIX century) and see the frescos of XVI century remained in the ruins of the old temple.
Livadia – the main port of Tilos – is situated to the south-east of the capital. Among the attractions of this town early Christian basilica, the ruins of the medieval fortress of Agriosikia, Saint Nicholas Church with the frescos of XIII century and the Church of Panagia Politissa in Misoskali can be found.
Agios Andonis – is one more port of the island famous for Plaka Beach – an admirable sandy beach situated two kilometers from it. The road from Plaka Beach leads to the top of the mountain where the monastery of St. Panteleimon (XVIII century) surrounded by the walls rises above the venerable cypresses and plane trees.
Eristos beach is considered to be the best beach of the island and is situated two kilometers from Megalo Horio. Such wonderful beaches as Livadia and Agios Andonis are also worth visiting.

History in brief

Tilos was already inhabited in late Stone Age. The archeologists also found the traces of the Minoceans, the Mycenaeans and the Dorians there. V century B.C. when the island joined the Athenian Sea League and IV century B.C. when it gained independence were the periods of island prosperity. In I century B.C. the Romans seized the island. Then they were superseded by the Byzantine Empire and in 1310 the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem settled down here but not for long. The Ottoman Empire conquered the island in two centuries and the Turkish dominion lasted till 1912. As a result of Italian-Turkish war, the island passed under the control of Italy. Only after the Second World War, in 1948 it was allotted to Greece.