Kos is the second most popular island in the Dodecanese Islands after Rhodes. The island is only 20 nautical miles from Bodrum, Turkey, and is loaded with resorts and hotels. Plus, it has a great Old Town with tons of historic sites, as well as restaurants and cafes. 🏰 ☕️ 🌸
Fun Fact 👉 Kos is the home of Hippocrates, the “father of modern medicine”! 👨⚕️🩺
Kos has an airport located right in the middle of the island, and has tons to do. If you like beaches, Kos is loaded with beautiful, secluded beaches to explore. 🌊 If you like hiking, Mount Dikeos will give you a challenge and a great view of the island. 🗻 If you like history, Old Town Kos has a bunch of Ancient Roman Ruins to discover. 📚
We found Kos to be not quite as touristy as Rhodes, and a bit more laid-back and relaxed. Also, a bit cheaper in terms of food and accommodation. We didn’t eat out at nice restaurants very often during our island-hopping trip in Greece, but in Kos we did because the restaurants were quite affordable.
If you’re debating between Kos and Rhodes, it really depends on what you’re looking for. Checkout our post comparing Kos and Rhodes here.
👇 Things to Book Now for Kos 🇬🇷
How to Get Around Kos
When you travel the Greek islands, the first problem you always want to solve is how you’re going to get around. A lot of the sites are spread out, and costs and availability vary depending on the season and the island.
If you actually want to explore the island, and not just the place where you are staying in Kos, then you are going to want some wheels. You can rent a motorbike, ATV, or car. Motorbike and ATV seemed to be the most popular means of transportation here, but a car would be the most comfortable. If you’re heading from Old Town all the way across the island to Kefalos, we would recommend a car as the trip is about an hour and you’ll be much more comfortable. Plus you can go much faster.
The buses are a joke and will not allow you to explore the best spots on Kos. If you’re going to visit Kos, it’s worth it to get some wheels and explore the lesser-known spots.
🛌 Here are all your hotel options in Kos
⚠️ FYI For Americans/Canadians heading to Greece 🇺🇸🇨🇦
Something to note that is if you are American and only have an American driver’s license, Greek islands will not rent you a motorbike or ATV – just a car. Also if you are American, you probably do not know how to drive a manual transmission car, meaning you will pay a massive premium on Kos for an automatic. (if there are even any available)
We paid 60 euros per day to rent an automatic car on Kos (by far the most we paid on any of the six Greek islands we visited). This was frustrating because manual cars were going for about 16 euros per day on Discover Cars. (big difference!) We recommend booking WAY ahead of time if you need an automatic car for your time in Kos.
The best thing to do would be to get your international driver’s permit before you come. Here are the instructions if you’re interested. I wish I did this before coming to Greece, and will definitely be doing this as soon as I land back in the US.
➡️ Read: Naxos or Paros – Which is Better? 🇬🇷
The Best Things to Do in Kos
Here are our top things to do in Kos – in the order that we would recommend them! In general, we found Kos to be much more chill and laid-back then pretty much every other Greek island that we visited.
➡️ Read: Best Greece Island-Hopping Itinerary for the Cyclades ✨
1 – Sunset at The Village of Zia
Zia is THE spot to watch sunset on Kos. Zia is a 25 minute beautiful drive from Old Town. Tons of people come here to shop, eat dinner, walk around, and watch the sunset. You get a great view of Kos and the surrounding islands from here as you are way up in the mountains.
Oromedon is an amazing restaurant in Zia if you’re looking for great food and a beautiful view of the sunset. Most restaurants in Zia won’t come with a great view of sunset as they’re blocked by buildings or trees but Oromedon is the spot to have some unbelievably good Greek food with a great view. We would say Oromedon is easily some of the best food we had in Greece, and the prices aren’t too bad considering how upscale this restaurant is.
TIP: Oromedon fills up early. People make reservations days in advance. In the summer the sun sets around 8 – 9 PM, but if you don’t have a reservation you’re going to want to come by 6 PM to make sure you get a table. We recommend calling ahead to make sure you get a table on the side of the balcony so you have a great view of sunset.
2 – Swim to Kastri Island from Agios Stefanos Beach
Kastri Island is a beautiful island with a church on top of it, about a 10 minute swim from Agio Stefanos Beach. I swam over to Kastri Island from Agios Stefanos, spent 15 minutes exploring the island, then swam back. The swim is pretty easy as parts are shallow and you can stand on the ground for a good amount of it. This was definitely one of my highlights in Kos! Make sure you bring water shoes or sandals with you for the swim so you can explore Kastri Island.
Agios Stefanos beach is located right in front of Ikios Aria Hotel, a 5-star stunning hotel with beautiful villas and rooms for rent. You’ll see their TESLAS outside the hotel, and all over the island, as it appears they rent TESLAS to their guests to explore Kos! There are tons of beach chairs and loungers on the sand here for rent – provided by Ikios Aria. (We didn’t stay here, obviously) Book Your Stay at the wonderful Ikios Aria Hotel HERE! 🏨
This is definitely a must-do when you come to Kos ✨ 🙌
3 – Climb Mt Dikeos (Largest Mountain on Kos)
This is the top-rated hike on Kos. It’s about 4.3 miles, here’s the link to the Alltrails route. The hike begins just outside of Zia – the best spot to watch the sunset in Kos.
This is generally considered a challenging hike so you might not want to bring your small children. The views from up here are amazing. On a clear day you can see all of the Aegean islands.
➡️ Read: Top 8 Things to Do in Milos 🇬🇷
4 – Visit Kos’ Best Beaches
Kos has a ton of amazing beaches. Rent a motor bike, ATV, or car and spend a day circling the island and finding the best beaches that Kos has to offer. Kos is known especially for its beautiful, sandy beaches.
⛴️ Book your ferry to/from Kos with Ferryhopper here!
Here are a few we recommend:
- Paradise Beach – relaxing, white-sand (not rocky), cafe and restaurant on-site
- Agios Stefanos Beach – Beautiful sandy beach, can swim to Kastri Island here, right in front of Ikios Area Hotel
- Agios Theologos Beach – Secluded beach, beautiful cliffs, restaurant on-site. Come here if you want solitude. Walk along the cliffs with a perfect, secluded spot to hang out. (but not a sandy beach to lounge on!)
5 – Rent A Bike and Visit Tagaki and Marmari
We rented bikes in Kos Town for 5 euros for the day. You can head West and cycle along the coast to Tagaki (town with hotels, cafes, restaurants, beaches) and Marmari (beautiful beaches).
This ride is mainly along a designated bike path, but does go on the road for the last quarter of the ride. However, by this time there are hardly any cars on the road, so don’t worry. The ride is very safe.
We recommend renting a bike and heading to Tagaki. Here you can enjoy a nice lunch and coffee, hang out on the beach, then bike back to Old Town.
Make sure you inspect the bike before your trip as the bikes we had were pretty rustic. It’s worth it beforehand to make sure you have been given a decent bike.
➡️ Read: Top 7 Things to Do in Paros 🇬🇷
6 – Visit the Asklipieio
The Asklipieio was built to honor the God of health and medicine – Asklepios. It is about a 10 minute drive or a 50 minute walk from Kos Old Town. 8 Euros Entrance Fee. There are a bunch of temples and ruins to see here. This is one of the top things to do for many who visit Kos.
We spent a month in Greece and were tired of paying to see historical sites like this, so we decided to skip this one. But most say it’s really impressive!
🛌 Here are all your hotel options in Kos 🇬🇷
7 – Visit The Historic Sites Near Old Town
There are a bunch of things near Old Town dating back to Roman Occupation in the 2nd and 3rd Centuries. I’m putting all of these in one category as they can easily be visited in one trip by walking around.
Hippocrates Tree
Located right near Old Town, legend has it that Hippocrates (the father of medicine) taught his students under this tree. Located right in front of the Castle of the Knights.
Castle of Knights of St John
This area was built in the 1400’s and is pretty impressive. Built with local stone, you definitely want to check this out.
Roman Odeon
Built during Roman Times in the between 200 and 300 AD! The Odeon was only discovered in the beginning of the 1900s. Free to enter.
8 – White Stone Cave near Kefalos
About a 15 minute drive from Kefalos. You’re going to climbing about 30 minutes from where you park to get to the caves, so make sure you bring good shoes. We didn’t have time to do this during our time in Kos. This place is known to be a great viewpoint overlooking the island.
🚤 Book the best KOS tours HERE ⬅️
9 – Day Trip to Bodrum
Bodrum is literally a 20 minute ferry ride from Kos. If you haven’t been to Turkey, then this could be worth the trip. You can easily take the ferry to Turkey and back in one day. We just finished up 2 Weeks in Turkey, exploring Istanbul, Pamukkale, and the Turkish Riviera (Kas!), so we elected not to do this when we came to Kos.
Things We Wouldn’t Recommend 👎
We read a few blogs before we came to Kos, and found some recommendations for some places that we definitely wouldn’t recommend ourselves. We want to share them with you so you don’t waste your time!
#1 Thing NOT to Do – Therma Beach Hot Springs
For most, this is one of the top things to do in Kos. You can bike here from Old Town in 30 – 60 minutes, and it sounds cool. Who wouldn’t want to visit Hot Springs right next to the ocean?
However, we found this place to be a joke. The “Hot Springs” are not hot. They are lukewarm – if that. The Hot Springs are tiny and crowded. We came on Monday May 20th 2024 and there was hardly any room to sit. Plus, they are not deep. You have to lay down on the ground to fit your whole body in them. Finally, they are out of the way. The Springs are 20 minutes Southeast of Kos, and if you are spending a day exploring the island, they are not on the way to any sights. Once you visit the Springs you are going to have to backtrack through Kos Old Town to visit other sights on the island.
If we could redo our Kos trip, we wouldn’t waste time coming to Therma Beach Hot Springs. The one redeeming thing about these hot springs is that they’re free.
#2 Thing NOT to Do – Visit Antimachia
I read here that Antimachia is a “typical Greek village with charming streets”. Antimachia is right near the airport so we thought we’d check it out on our way back from Kefalos to Old Town.
Let’s just say … we were very disappointed. Antimachia just seemed like an abandoned, dirty Greek “town” with nothing going on. We hardly saw any people on the streets. I definitely would not waste my precious time on the island coming here if I were you!
🚗 We recommend to rent a car through Discover Cars. Book your rental car here!
Map of Things to Do in Kos
This map has everything you could want to do in Kos, including the things we wouldn’t recommend doing like the Therma Beach Hot Springs and Antimachia. We always think it’s easier to plan things when you can see their location on a map, we hope this helps you plan your trip to Kos!
Where to Stay in Kos
We recommend staying near Old Town. This is where all the restaurants and the port are located. Normally we don’t like staying near the ‘Old Towns’ when we travel, but Kos Old Town is not a hectic and crowded place. It’s very manageable.
We stayed just Northwest of center Old Town, on the street Amerikis 24. We highly recommend this neighborhood as it wasn’t too touristy or too crowded, plus there were tons of local restaurants and markets to visit every day. Plus, it was quite easy to park our rental car.
🏨 Book Your Hotel in Old Town HERE! 👈
Where to Eat in Kos
We stayed in Old Town, and mostly ate around here. Here are some of our recommendations. Kos is known for having some amazing Greek food, mixed with a Turkish influence because it’s so close to Turkey.
Kos is also one of the few Greek islands we visited where we felt like the good food was very affordable. We found a number of fabulous Greek restaurants serving very good meals at decent prices.
Giameze – Amazing “small plates” (Tapas) restaurant near Old Town serving Authentic Greek Food. They start you off with Rakomelo here, and then bring out a plate of appetizers for you to pick from. We got the Tzatziki and bread, and then went with the mixed grill for two (14 euros in May 2024). All the food here is great and the servers are really nice. The atmosphere is also great as you’re sitting out on the street corner. We highly recommend this restaurant! It’s a great experience – not too touristy either.
Oromedon – Located in Zia, this is THE spot to watch the sunset. This place served some of the best food we had in Greece, at a surprisingly affordable price. There’s no way you won’t like the food here, this is easily some of the best food I’ve ever ate in my whole life.
How to Get to Kos
To get to Kos you’re going to take a plane or ferry. We took Blue Star Ferries from Rhodes and found it to be very comfortable. It was a 5 hour ferry for 14 euros. This was our first ferry to Greece and were shocked at how spacious and comfortable the ferry was. There’s a bunch of cafes and restaurants on board, and we had a couch and chairs all to ourselves. (We always book with Ferryhopper)
Ferry 🚢 From Bodrum in Turkey (20 minutes), Rhodes (2-6 hours depending on if you get a direct or not), Astypalea (4 hours). Book your ferry to Kos here.
Plane ✈️ There are a ton of direct flights from Europe, and especially London. Kos (and Rhodes) are loaded with British tourists. You can get a round trip from the major airports in Europe for as little as 100 euros.
Summary – The Best Things to Do in Kos
The island of Kos is a wonderful place. It’s not too crowded, has wonderful food, and pretty decent beaches. The view of sunset from the mountain village of Zia is absolutely wonderful. To this day, the food in Kos is some of the best food that we’ve ever had!
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Enjoy your trip to Kos! We would love to know what you thought of this Guide to Kos in the comments below. Thanks for reading.
