Condé Nast Traveller Places Ermoupolis, Syros, Among Favorite Beach Towns in Europe

Archive photo of Ermoupoli town on Syros Island in Greece. Photo source: Visit Greece

Ermoupolis, the capital town of the Greek island of Syros, is on Condé Nast Traveller’s (CNT) list of Favorite Beach Towns in Europe.

The top 20 list of European beach towns was compiled by the travel magazine’s editorial team “to celebrate the unbridled joy of spending your summer at a beach in Europe,” as underlined by CNT editor Lydia Bell. The listfeatures coastal towns, little islands, and secret bays in Croatia, France, Italy, and Greece, among other countries.

Syros is praised as an under-the-radar destination with no selfie sticks, and Ermoupoli is characterized as a “tiny Palermo in the Aegean” by Bell.

Syros, Greece.

CNT’s editor shares a summary of the unique history of the island, which retained neutrality after the 1821 Greek Revolution with its Catholic-Orthodox status. She praises Syros’ cultural and educational wealth, referring to its university and film, jazz, animation, street art, and classical music festivals running throughout the year.

Bell hails the rich architecture the island boasts, with its whitewashed cubic Cycladic houses and its 18th and 19th-century neoclassical houses.

Syros, Greece.

Although Syros isn’t famous for postcard beaches, according to the article’s author, it has a number of sandy and isolated spots ideal for swimming and sunbathing.

Other destinations included on CNT’s list were Hvar, Croatia; Troon, Scotland; San Sebastián, Spain; Madeira, Portugal; Posillipo, Naples; and Porquerolles, France.

Last year, two Greek hotels made it on Condé Nast Traveler’s Best Hotels and Resorts in the World: Gold List 2023, while Greece garnered multiple top 10 positions and honorable mentions in a number of categories of the magazine’s Readers’ Choice Awards 2022.

Condé Nast Traveler is a luxury and lifestyle travel magazine published by Condé Nast, the global mass media company founded in 1909, managing brands like Vogue, The New Yorker, GQ, Glamour, Architectural Digest, Vanity Fair, Pitchfork, Wired, and Bon Appétit.