Is Patmos worth including?
Choose Patmos when Chora, the Monastery of St John and the Cave of the Apocalypse are reasons to travel, with beach time around them. Skala gives you a working arrival town; Chora gives you the historic hilltop settlement; Grikos and Kampos move the stay towards the coast. Our starting recommendation is three or four nights rather than a hurried stop between boats. If your main priority is a direct airport arrival and a large choice of resort areas, Kos is the simpler alternative to investigate first.
Municipality of Patmos: island, settlements and beachesWhere to stay: Skala or Chora?
Skala is the practical first choice for a short stay without a car: the municipality identifies it as the main port and describes its shops, restaurants and waterfront promenade. Choose it to keep arrival, everyday services and evenings together. Chora suits travellers who want the historic lanes and the monastery setting outside a daytime visit. It is not the ferry harbour. Treat the journey up from Skala and the final approach to the room as part of the accommodation decision, especially with luggage or limited mobility. A central Chora address does not imply a level, step-free approach.
Municipality of Patmos: island, settlements and beachesGrikos or Kampos for a beach-led stay
The municipal brochure places Grikos about 4.5 kilometres from Skala on the southeast coast, beside the bay and the Petra or Kalikatsou rock formation. Choose it if the bay and waterfront meals matter more than walking out beside the ferry port. Kampos is about 6 kilometres from Skala and has two distinct parts: Ano Kampos is the upper village and Kato Kampos the beach area. Inspect which one a room listing means. A village-square address and a beach address are not interchangeable even when both say Kampos.
Municipality of Patmos: island, settlements and beachesHow to plan the monastery and the cave
Give Chora and the Monastery of St John a dedicated part of a day. The Cave of the Apocalypse is a separate stop between Skala and Chora, not a room inside the hilltop monastery. Together with Chora, these sites form the UNESCO-listed ensemble described by the municipality. The municipal brochure asks visitors to churches and monasteries to wear modest clothing. This guide does not quote current admission charges or visiting hours; arrange the visits against the sites’ actual opening arrangements rather than assuming continuous all-day access. If time is tight, prioritise these visits before adding a distant beach.
Municipality of Patmos: island, settlements and beachesWhich beaches fit a short stay?
Kampos and Agriolivado are the municipal brochure’s organised-beach choices. Grikos and Petra make sense together for a southeast-coast day, while Meloi is another option to compare with your Skala base. Psili Ammos requires a different plan: the municipality describes access by sea or walking trails, not a road straight to the sand. Do not add it as a quick drive-by stop between the cave and a ferry. Choose it for a day when the access journey is part of the outing, with suitable conditions and enough time to return.
Municipality of Patmos: island, settlements and beachesA three-night plan that leaves two full days
Arrive and settle into Skala, or transfer to the chosen base. On the first full day, visit the cave and Chora, allowing the monastery’s opening arrangements to determine the order. On the second, choose Kampos or Agriolivado for an organised beach day, or Grikos and Petra for a different coast. Leave the final day for departure rather than making an essential sight depend on spare time before a boat. With a fourth night, add a slower Chora visit or a separate beach outing. These allocations are editorial recommendations, not a tour package or a claim about a particular sailing.
Patmos without a car: the current bus distinction
The Patmos Bus timetable headed “from 15/10/2026” publishes Skala–Hora and Skala–Kampos services, with the marked Kampos departure restricted to school days. In contrast, the displayed Skala–Grikos and Hora–Grikos rows contain dashes. That makes Skala the more defensible autumn base for a bus-led stay; do not book Grikos on the assumption that the named route heading proves a current bus. Tickets are sold on the bus. The page also carries a no-service notice for 25 October 2026, illustrating why a timetable date and exceptions matter. This is a dated autumn finding, not a summer or year-round bus promise.
Patmos Bus: timetable from 15 October 2026Getting to Patmos by ferry after a flight
The municipality describes sea access from Piraeus and air arrivals via Kos, Samos or Leros followed by local ferries. An airport on another island is not a Patmos arrival: include the land transfer and the wait for a suitable sailing. Dodekanisos Seaways’ 26 October 2026 northbound listing called at Kos, Kalymnos, Leros, Lipsi and Patmos. Its 31 October listing showed Patmos followed by Leros, Kalymnos and Kos southbound. Those are dated examples, not a guarantee of a sailing on your chosen day. A return through an airport island needs its own booking and contingency night, not an assumed same-day connection.
Dodekanisos Seaways: dated ferry itineraries