The capital of the Greek island of Karpathos is Karpathos Town, but it is also often called Pigadia. You can read all about this place in this blog!

Were is the capital of Karpathos located?

Karpathos’ capital is located on the eastern side of the island. From the airport, it is about 20 minutes away by car. Although the capital is called ‘Karpathos town’ you can’t really call it a city. It is more like a big (chaotic!) village.

The town is the heart of Karpathos. It is the most touristic place on the island. You will find many hotels and restaurants here and various tours are also organised from Karpathos town.

Good to know is that Karpathos town consists of many steep slopes. Karpathos is therefore not really a wheelchair-proof island. The boulevard at the harbour is fairly flat, though. The harbour and the boulevard is a cosy place, especially in the evening. There are several restaurants at the harbour with a nice sea view.

The beach of Karpathos town

Karpathos has lots of beautiful beaches. Apella, for instance, was once voted one of the most beautiful beaches in Europe and Diakoftis also has a real caribbean vibe. Yet the beach in Karpathos town is not a beauty spot.

It is a long sandy beach on the left side of town and we always compare it a bit to a the Dutch beach. Of course, if you really don’t want to leave Pigadia, it’s a great beach for a swim and sunbathe, but for the really nice beaches you shouldn’t stay in Karpathos town.

When the ferry comes…

We find the port of Karpathos incredibly cosy. Especially when the boat arrives from Athens, we really enjoy sitting on a terrace at the harbour. It always becomes one chaotic mess when the boat arrives. Cars drive, people walk off the boat with their trolleys and all the lorries go up and down. All sorts of things happen at such times. Nicely Dutch perhaps to watch people from a terrace, but really recommended! 😉

Our favourite restaurants in Karpathos town

Karpathos’ capital has many nice restaurants. There is a choice for everyone! We do like to share our favourites with you. We don’t visit the city every day, but when we go out for dinner or breakfast outside, these are our favourite places….

En Plo

This is our favourite place for basically everything haha! We love having breakfast here, but you can also go here for cocktails, dinner and football. And Plo has a beautiful location on the harbour, nice staff, good food and a cosy vibe. Greeks come here a lot too!

Mesogios

We also like to eat at Mesogios when we are in Pigadia. The reason we first started eating there years ago was because Minas doesn’t ‘lure’ you in front of his tent. We still sometimes find that a drawback to the touristy town of Karpathos. But here that didn’t happen and we really liked that!

In addition, Mesogios has fresh dishes on the menu daily. He shares this every day around 3 – 4 o’clock via his Facebook Page.

Tours starting in Karpathos town

Several tours start from Karpathos’ capital to explore the island! We briefly explain below!

Hikes and creative workshops

If you love hiking or prefer to do something creative, Art & Walk is the right Address! Renate and Thom have their own business offering various hikes from Pigadia to explore the island. They also run mosaic and painting workshops.

Mountainbiking

Ion Club offers mountain bike tours from the capital. If you prefer windsurfing, the village of Afiartis is the place to be! This is where Ion sits with their windsurfing club. In fact, did you know that Karpathos is one of the world’s best hotspots when it comes to windsurfing?

Boat trips departing from Karpathos town

From Karpathos’ port, you can take several boat trips. Several boats depart daily to places like Kassos and Saria, but you can also go to the beaches Kyra Panagia, Ahata and Apella by boat. Most boat trips start around 10am and you will arrive back at Pigadia harbour around 5pm.

Want to book a boat trip? Go to the port early in the morning and get on one of the boats to ask when there is space (you can usually join the same day). You can also ask an evening in advance – when the boats are back in port – if you can join the next day.

Read here more about the boat trip from Pigadia to Apella and Kyra Panagia.