Agios Fokas Beach, Skyros: Near the Bay Where Achilles Is Said to Have Set Sail, Among Ponies Whose Own Origin Nobody Fully Agrees On

Greece | Skyros | Sporades

Agios Fokas sits below Pefkos, on the southwestern stretch of Skyros, and the wider area carries a specific mythological weight that several independent guides connect to the nearby bay of Achilio. According to legend, Thetis, the mother of Achilles, hid her son on Skyros to keep him from the fate that awaited him at Troy, placing him under the protection of King Lycomedes. Odysseus, knowing the war could not be won without him, eventually found a way to bring Achilles out, and local tradition holds that the departure for Troy began from this exact bay, which still carries his name.

The Skyrian pony, often mentioned in the same breath as the island’s beaches, turns out to have an origin that nobody has fully settled. One account I came across describes the breed as descended from horses used by 5th-century BC cavalry; another suggests a relation to Scotland’s Shetland ponies; a further source states they were introduced by the Athenians in the eighth century BC; and a more academic description traces them to an ancient lineage called Hipparion Mediterraneum, extending back to the Paleolithic. Population estimates vary just as widely, from roughly 190 to around 300 individuals depending on the source and the year cited. I would treat any single confident explanation of the breed’s ancestry with some caution, since the specialists themselves do not appear to agree, though the ponies are undisputedly rare, protected, and a genuine point of pride for the island.

Getting There: Twenty-Five to Thirty Minutes From Skyros Town, Through the Island’s Forested Interior

The drive from Skyros Town, also called Chora, covers approximately twenty-five to thirty minutes, heading southwest and passing through the island’s forested interior before reaching the coast. The road is paved for most of the route, with the final stretch down to the bay continuing on a well-maintained dirt track manageable by a standard vehicle. Several independent accounts recommend renting a scooter or motorbike for getting around Skyros generally, citing unreliable bus timetables, though a car works equally well for reaching Agios Fokas specifically.

The drive itself passes through countryside where the Skyrian ponies are sometimes visible grazing in open fields, and the route affords views across the Aegean toward the smaller, uninhabited islands south of Skyros.

The Beach: Sand and Colourful Pebbles, a Sheltered Bay, a Seasonal Taverna

The shore combines cream-coloured sand with small, colourful pebbles, set within a bay sheltered enough from the wind that the water tends to stay calm even when conditions elsewhere on the island are rougher. A seasonal taverna operates through the summer months, offering food and a small number of sunbeds, with most visitors otherwise bringing their own gear or finding shade beneath the tamarisk trees along the back of the beach. A small chapel sits near the shore, in keeping with the pattern of modest seaside chapels found at several beaches across the island.

The bay’s protected position has made it a recurring recommendation for families, and more than one visitor account specifically describes the beach as among the cleanest and quietest on Skyros, with stretches of time where a visitor may be entirely alone on the sand.

Pefkos, Achilio, and the Wider Southwestern Coast

Pefkos, the village just above the bay, offers a church dedicated to Agios Panteleimonas with views across the water, and a walking trail leads north from the area toward Agios Fokas itself for those who prefer to arrive on foot rather than by road. Achilio, the smaller, unorganised beach associated with Achilles’s departure, lies nearby and remains a quieter alternative for visitors seeking calm water without any facilities at all.

Agios Fokas Beach below Pefkos on Skyros’s southwestern coast sits near the bay of Achilio, where legend places Achilles’s departure for Troy after Thetis had hidden him on the island. Sand mixed with colourful pebbles, a sheltered calm bay, a seasonal taverna, and a small chapel near the shore. The Skyrian pony, frequently encountered on the drive there, carries several competing and genuinely unresolved theories about its own origin. Twenty-five to thirty minutes from Skyros Town through the island’s forested interior.

Drive or ride southwest from Chora. Watch for the ponies along the way. Walk the short trail to Achilio if the main bay feels too busy.