Lesvos (2026)
My boyfriend is from the third-largest island in Greece, Lesvos, which is actually where the word "lesbian" originates from as Sappho, the ancient Greek poet, was one of the earliest recorded women to express desire for other women and was from Lesvos!
In September, we decided to visit Lesvos together for the first time, specifically, a gorgeous town on the north coast called Molyvos. We got very lucky with the weather as it was in the high 20s for the most part, and surprisingly we ran into many more people than I’d expected as many of the young people who’d moved away have since moved back and taken over their families' businesses!
Day 1 - Sunday
There are few direct flights to Lesvos but we managed to book an early flight from Stansted, which was smooth and we slept through most of it. We then picked up our car rental and headed from the capital, Mytilene, in the south, towards Molyvos in the north. En route, we passed a spa, Therma, which offered various massages, a swimming pool, a jacuzzi, and Turkish baths. We’d initially aimed to get a massage, or alternatively use the Turkish baths, however we learnt that there was only one masseuse available so we’d have to get the massage one at a time, and the baths were separated by gender, so we ended up just going for a coffee (specifically a freddo espresso) and continuing on our merry way. There was also a tiny church adjacent to Therma, which was very cute.
After driving along olive groves galore, we eventually arrived at Molyvos, and this was honestly one of the cutest towns I’ve ever visited - the town is situated the coast and features cobbled streets, stone houses, and a castle on top of a hill. It was much more quainter than anticipated and pictures I'd seen beforehand simply do not do the town justice.
We dumped our bags at my boyfriend’s dad’s house, got changed into our beach clothes, and headed straight to Congas. Congas is a beach bar and is the place I’d heard the most about by far, by all of my boyfriend’s friends and family alike, so I was intrigued to finally experience the legend that is Congas. Truth be told, it was absolutely wonderful; it is located right on the seafront and has a very relaxed vibe, with comfortable chairs and a selection of delicious cocktails. We swam in the sea and enjoyed some mojitos, and then spent the evening browsing some shops, which offered a lot of lovely souvenirs rather than the usual tat. The town is very hilly, so despite bringing five pairs of shoes, I mainly stuck to trainers and Birkenstocks the entire time.
We walked towards the harbour for dinner, and were surprised by how busy it was. We had to wait a while for a table at my boyfriend’s favourite restaurant, Octopus, so in the meantime we ambled over to the lighthouse and enjoyed the gorgeous sunset. Once we were sat, we ordered white wine, fried courgette flowers, fried cheese, fried whitebait and marinated whitebait. Although everything was nice (especially the fried cheese!), it was a lot of fried food in one go. We were then offered watermelon, which was lovely, and then we headed home to catch up on some sleep.
Day 2 - Monday
I really struggled to sleep on our first night as I had a lot on my mind, but eventually I dozed off and after a small lie-in, we went to my boyfriend’s mum’s house in search of an old computer and digital camera, in order to obtain all of the photographs from them. The house itself was beautiful, which an insane view of Molyvos, so it was nice to see, although we had no luck finding the computer or camera. That said, we did peruse through many photographs and trinkets from my boyfriend’s childhood, which was lovely.
We then headed over to the neighbouring town of Petra, which is another seaside town but appeared to be more touristy than Molyvos. We walked around the town centre and bought a couple of souvenirs, before climbing up to the church located on top of a huge rock in the centre of the city, Panagia Glykofilousa. It was a very cute church, and well worth the climb. We then headed to the Women’s Cooperative for lunch, where we nabbed a sea view and spotted a local child fishing on the pier of his own accord, which was touching. We enjoyed a selection of starters, including stuffed leaves, cheese pies, fried aubergine and courgettes, tzatziki, melitzanosalata, and bread, before moving onto the beef and aubergine main, which was honestly incredible. Everything we ate was delicious, and the service was very good too, I would highly recommend!
We spent the afternoon on the sandy beach in Petra, and one thing I loved about the beaches in Lesvos is that in order to use the sun loungers and umbrellas you just had to buy something from the bar, so I enjoyed a wonderful Gia…giamas lemonade here. We then headed home to shower and get ready for drinks and dinner. We first went to Pirates Bar, which has the best sunset view, where we enjoyed a drink with a couple of my boyfriend’s friends, before heading to The Captain’s Table for dinner. This restaurant is currently owned by another of my boyfriend’s friends and his partner, and it ended up being my favourite meal of the trip! Since we were four people, we managed to get a huge selection and try a bit of everything, which was wonderful. Once it got quieter, the owners joined us too and we ended up drinking and chatting until the early hours which was a lot of fun.
Day 3 - Tuesday
Despite only getting home at 5am, I naturally awoke around 10:30am and was ready to take on the day. We drove to Ampelia beach, which only took around 20 minutes, and the waves were significantly bigger here than in either Molyvos or Petra. There was a pool nearby that was filled with turtles, and we enjoyed some coffees and swam all morning.
There was a small restaurant on the beach called Ampelia, and here we enjoyed cuttlefish (which had a similar texture to squid), a Greek salad, and feta with honey and sesame seeds, all of which were delicious. There were quite a few cats in the restaurant, which I don’t love, however compared to elsewhere in Greece, these cats were relatively chill.
As the evening approached, we headed back home to shower and get ready before walking up to the castle at the top of Molyvos and meeting a family friend of my boyfriend’s. Ironically, she only spoke Spanish and Greek, my boyfriend Greek and English, and I English and Spanish, so there were many two-way conversations, which was entertaining. We had a drink (or in my case some pistachio ice cream) at a café by the castle called Byzantine, over a gorgeous sunset view. We then headed to Souvlaki Bar for a gyros dinner, which my boyfriend had been craving. It was delicious, filling, and cheap!
Day 4 - Wednesday
As soon as we awoke, we walked up to the castle, as it had been closed the previous evening and we wanted to explore it whilst it was fairly cool. The views were nice and my boyfriend told me the lore about the secret underground tunnels connecting the castle to the town and beach. After exploring the castle, we headed to the bakery for some pastries and bought a few more souvenirs, before driving to Skala Sikamnia, a picturesque fishing village nearby. It was beautiful and featured various cute restaurants and souvenir shops - I’d highly recommend visiting!
We then headed to Kagia beach, a nearby pebble beach, where we debuted our water shoes and snorkels as there was lots to see. It was a refreshing swim and a very relaxing way to spend the day. For lunch, we tried a beach restaurant called Poseidon, where we ordered a mixed fish grill (containing sea bream, sardines, prawns, and squid), a Greek salad, and wine, which was absolutely incredible. We were then offered watermelon, and after spending a bit more time on the beach, we headed to the Taxiarchis monastery, which is dedicated to the Archangel Michael, and is a gorgeous monastery. This monastery also makes delicious loykomades, which are fried dough balls coated in honey and cinnamon, and are delicious.
We eventually returned to Molyvos to shower and get ready for dinner. There was live music at a bar called Chat & Chill, so we enjoyed a quick drink here, before heading to a restaurant named Nisi, which was located on a town square and reminded me a lot of many restaurants I encountered in Thessaloniki. We enjoyed some Greek sausages, hummus, and the house salad with goats cheese, all of which were wonderful. We were very kindly offered dessert and a digestif, and then we headed to Molly’s bar for some sangria as another of my boyfriend’s friends was leaving the following day so we wanted to say our goodbyes. This friend had actually been to Madeira a couple of years ago and had declared it his favourite island after Lesvos, which gained him a lot of respect from me. Here we were also offered some free shots by the bartender, which was very kind (and surprisingly delicious!).
Day 5 - Thursday
Delfinia beach is the only sandy beach in Molyvos, and seemed to be quite a popular option with the locals, so we decided to dedicate an entire day to this spot. We arrived bright and early, however the employee still went for a swim and erected various umbrellas before finally coming over to take our order, by which point we’d gotten tired waiting and had gone to order at the bar ourselves.
We enjoyed some coffees and relaxed in the sun the whole morning and when lunchtime eventually rolled around, my boyfriend drove over to Friends restaurant to buy some gyros and brought them back for us to enjoy. We weren’t allowed to eat them on the beach, but we went on a little walk nearby and devoured them there (although they did have mustard in them, which was unexpected). We spent the afternoon sunbathing and enjoying some Aperol Spritzes, and before we knew it, it was time to head home and get ready for dinner.
We drove over to a restaurant called O Gavrilos, which we’d heard does incredible meat. Despite turning up with no reservation, we managed to nab a table (on the condition that we were out within an hour or so), and the food, service, and views were all wonderful. We enjoyed a Greek salad, village sausages with chips, tzatziki, and sheep chops with chips, and then we headed back home for the night. It was a very relaxing day, and truly felt like a holiday.
Day 6 - Friday
We woke up and headed to Golden Beach, located just past the town of Eftalou, which is a 10-minute drive from Molyvos. This beach is fairly remote and features a series of coves. We arrived fairly early and managed to find a hidden cove which offered a lot of privacy, and we spent the morning snorkelling together and sunbathing. The water here became deep fairly quickly and there was an abundance of marine life to see.
We had lunch at the beach restaurant, comprising the catch of the day (sardines), smoked mackerel, a Greek salad, fava dip, bread and wine, which as per usual, was incredible. We then headed back to Molyvos, which meant performing a hill start on the cliff, and immediately headed to Friends to pay for the gyros we’d enjoyed the previous day (as the card machine hadn’t been working). Whilst there, I had an ice cream, and then we went to Congas to chill. We found a super comfy sofa to sit on, and spent the afternoon playing cards and going for a dip, which was wonderful. We enjoyed our most beautiful sunset yet that evening and had a lovely time at Congas.
We then meandered back home, buying a couple of gifts en route, and dining at a restaurant called Gatos, where we enjoyed some red wine and stews, which was delicious. I was slightly nervous as I don’t tend to be big on red wine and meat-heavy dishes, but I was very pleasantly surprised here! It goes without saying that we also ordered a Greek salad on the side, and one thing I found quite surprising in Lesvos was that all of the waiters offered us bread to specifically accompany our salad, whereas I find elsewhere that usually the bread accompanies the soups or stews.
Day 7 - Saturday
Anaxos is the beach town after Petra, and I’d been told that there was a wonderful sandwich spot there called Palatino, so we decided to go there for breakfast on our last full day. Despite signs claiming that they did breakfast, we had to wait about half an hour before it arrived, and mine was missing a couple of items that were stated on the menu, but it was decent and filling. I had ordered a set breakfast with yoghurt, fruit, honey, coffee, toast, butter, a boiled egg, and juice, and my boyfriend had ordered a bacon sandwich and chips!
We then headed back to Congas in Molyvos to swim and sunbathe, and then met up with a couple of friends next door at a restaurant called Ramona, where we enjoyed smoked mackerel, a Greek salad, fried courgette flowers, fried whitebait, and much more wine than I’d anticipated. We ended up feeling pretty merry, and I was keen to keep it going at Congas, however this plan was short-lived. Instead, we spent the afternoon swimming, and when we headed back to Congas for a cocktail, we got chatting to a lovely lady next to us over another stunning sunset.
For our final meal in Lesvos, we chose to return to The Captain’s Table, as I’d enjoyed it so much the previous time we’d dined here, and we felt very looked after and welcomed on each of our visits here. This time, we ordered a Greek salad, smoked mackerel, calamari, marinated whitebait, pita, and king prawns, and we were very kindly offered a Greek dessert, bougatsa, on the house. It was a wonderful meal, although it was bittersweet as we then had to say our goodbyes to everyone and head home for the night.
Day 8 - Sunday
We woke up nice and early on our final morning as we wanted to have one last swim before we left. We'd planned to head to the bakery first, but unfortunately it was closed as it was a Sunday - instead, we picked up some pastries from a nearby shop and then headed to the beach for our final swim of the year. The water was very refreshing, and it was so much fun swimming before most people were awake, although we were surprised to find various other morning swimmers out with us. We also spotted some dolphins in the distance, which was very fun and wholesome.
We then returned home, packed our bags and headed to Mytilene for our flight. En route, we stopped at a viewpoint for a final view of Molyvos, which was sad, and then before we knew it we were back in London.
I was slightly apprehensive about this trip going into it, however it was absolutely wonderful from beginning to end - the town was stunning, the people were lovely, and the food was delicious. I got to meet so many people and had various small-town experiences, including learning gossip about your own family affairs, and hearing the fishmonger announce his catch of the day through the megaphone first thing in the morning. The weather was perfect and it was such a relaxing, enjoyable trip that we’re hoping to return for a few weeks next year if all goes to plan!
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