Is Samos Safe To Visit? A Review Of Samos And Its Beaches

If you are researching about which Greek Island you want to visit, and are wondering if Samos is a safe place to visit, then let me tell you about my trip to Samos

I went to Samos with my girlfriend a few years ago, and besides being one of the cheapest vacations we ever had, it was also a very great island to visit.

Is Samos Safe to visit? Samos is an island in Greece, and like most European destinations, Samos is a very safe place in general. The Greek isles were lately used by traveling refugees, and if you want to know the current safety-status, you have to contact the government or The Greek National Tourism Organisation.

When we talk about being safe, feeling safe is a big part of the equation, and even though we visited Samos in the middle of Greek national banking problems, we felt like one of the safest places on earth.

Let me tell you how and why I feel like Samos might be one of the safest greek islands to visit.

Why Samos is a Safe Place to Visit

While we visited Samos, Greece was facing some country-wide financial problems, and I am pretty sure that they still are.

At that time, it meant that we weren’t really able to withdraw any cash from vending machines, anytime we needed any.

So we used any chance we could get, to withdraw as much cash as possible, but even then we felt completely safe.

The roads didn’t even feel dangerous, as they do in some countries.

We drove around on an ATV in shorts and felt completely safe.

At night in the town square of Samos City( Vathy city, I don’t know what the right name is) kids would play around.

In Denmark, kids are usually sleeping from 19-20 in the evening to 06-07 in the morning, but in Greece, it was a whole different story.

I remember sitting around near midnight seeing kids playing soccer in the street and mums walking around with strollers.

This was quite a cultural shock to me, but as you may or may not already know, the Greek people are sleeping during the day.

I just remember thinking to myself, if the kids are and the entire workforce are sleeping during the day and playing around at night, then no wonder why the country is near bankruptcy.

I will not hesitate to recommend Samos, as a safe place to visit.

But, the one big thing that might be missing with Samos, if you have any bigger kids, and want to entertain them, there is not really that much to do.

You can go on a boat trip, and play at the beach, that’s about it.

Maybe that, and not being able to withdraw any money, was the reason why Samos was one of our cheapest vacations we have ever had.

A great place to stay on Samos

We stayed in Samos City or Vathy, depending on where you look, this city has terrible beaches and is not as beautiful as other places.

Actually, it was packed with stray cats and old empty buildings as well. After a day or two, we ended up spending the rest of our vacation traveling by bus, to a city with beaches called Pythagoreio.

Pythagoreio is a beautiful little village with docks, beaches, and nice restaurants, we actually considered changing hotels, but it was very difficult because our vacation was a package deal from a travel agency.

If you are going to Samos, then pick Pythagoreio. It is also very close to the airport, but you will not be bothered by any noise.

The Beaches we visited on Samos

Before going to Samos, we did not do enough research about the beaches because we relied on the hotel-pool being fine for us. But the hotel pool was the size of a bathtub, and not very inviting.

I did not remember exactly how, it might have been searching on our smartphone while there, but I actually think we asked about beaches while renting the ATV.

So we set out the visit some of the beaches, and this is only a few of them.

#1 Beaches near Vathy and Samos City (Worst)

The only beach in walking distance from our hotel. Not close to our hotel, actually quite far away.

They weren’t good, in my mind, beaches are made of sand, and not rocks, we only visited this beach once. It was the reason we visited the other beaches.

#2 Pythagoreio City

We went on a bus ride to the city called Pythagoreio, it is the city near the airport. Not only is this city much more inviting and beautiful, but it also had markets and great beaches with restaurants on the beaches.

A completely different experience, than staying in Samos City (Vathy). I would recommend staying in this city, and I would recommend these beaches, we went here several times, once by taxi, but we learned that a bus would go from Samos City to Pythagoreio every hour, and it was a very short ride.

#3 Psili Ammos

At this beach, you are able to see turkey, it is just on the other side on the water. I would almost bet, that a champion long-distance swimmer, would be able to swim the distance.

The beach was really great and really big, but we did not stay here for long, because this place was packed with people.

This might be the most populated spot on the entire island, at least at the time we visited Samos, it was. If you like this kind of spot, then Psili Ammos is the spot for you.

We didn’t like it, but it was only because of the number of people.

#4 Livadaki beach (Best)

Jackpot. One of the best beaches I have visited in my entire life, it was secluded and felt like a secret spot of heaven. But it was still like sitting in one big beach bar with umbrellas all over the beach.

The water was clear and still, and the water-levels was low, by that I mean, that you had to walk far to get water up to the waist.

This beach has everything on my checklist, safe waters, nice sandy beach, a bar to eat and get something to drink and toilet-facilities even.

If we planned to go to Samos, we would plan on going to this beach again. I don’t see this beach on any of the top lists on other bloggers websites, and this might be because it is not very known. (yet)

TIP: It might be tough getting to the beach, as it is located nowhere near any city. Before you travel, make sure you know which buses go there. You can also rent a car or an ATV as we did.

Where is Livadaki Beach Located?

It is important for me to tell you, that it might be confusing to find Livadaki Beach because there is also another place called Livadaki on Samos.

A village or city, that is located more than 35 kilometers away from Livadaki beach, which doesn’t sound like much, but is half of the entire Samos island away and will set you back more than an hour driving to get there.

I’ve located the beach via Google Maps so that you will be able to find it if you ever go visit it. The beach is both child-friendly and feels very secluded.

Livadaki Beach on Google Maps

If you are staying in Pythagoreio city, it might be too far of a drive for you, but as we stayed in Samos City, it was not very far away by ATV.

And when we were there, buses arrived so it would be possible to go, as a family, even if you did not rent a car. If you have rented a car, then I recommend visiting this lovely beach on Samos.

When is the best time to visit Samos?

I did a post earlier about when it is the cheapest month to visit Greece.

In this post, I also describe the weather and the water temperatures, if you go to the post you are able to see a data-table showing the average low and high temperatures in Crete.

This must be somewhat the same for Samos, but I may only serve as a guide for you because Crete is quite a few miles more southern than Samos is.

By what I know from traveling to Samos, and Crete I would recommend going somewhere between late May and late October.

And I would not recommend going in between late July and August, but at least for me, it is just too hot

Samos was the cheapest vacation we ever had

This might not be the case for you, if you are residing in another country, the distance of travel will make a difference in price. We got an offer by subscribing a newsletter from a local travel agency.

And it was before we had kids, the hotel was not accommodating for strollers, and the hotel room would have been too small for us if we were to travel today.

But my conclusion is still the same, Samos is a safe and great place for a family holiday, in my mind at least.

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