Day 30: Kos Paradise Beach

Monday 18th July 2022

Breakfast and a Day Out

We still had our hire car until 8 pm, so our plan for the day was to get out of Kos Town and explore a bit of the island. I’ve seen most of it already, but it was my girlfriend’s first time on Kos, so she was keen to see as much of it as possible.

We got up early and went downstairs for breakfast at 8 am. One of the best things about Hotel Sonia is its breakfast: a small, but excellent selection of hot and cold items, fresh tea and coffee, nice juices and a pleasant little veranda to eat at.

First Stop: Paradise Beach

I wasn’t sure where to take my girlfriend, but after some discussion, we decided to head to Paradise Beach on the southeast coast – a well-known sandy beach and a popular location. I figured we could spend a few hours there, get some lunch nearby and then explore other areas on the way back if we wanted to.

The drive to Paradise Beach took about 40 minutes. It was a little busy already, but we found space on the sand to put down our towels – avoiding the expensive sunbeds. We went for a swim and laid out for a while, then decided to rent a pedalo (€20 for 30 minutes), which was good fun but hard work as I had to do most of the pedalling!! There was a fairly strong westerly breeze across the beach, too, meaning we kept getting pushed towards the rocks at the far end and having to work hard to pedal back to open water. Still, we had fun diving off the boat and using the slide.

Lunch and Camel Beach

We decided to head away from Paradise Beach for lunch as no proper tavernas were nearby. We drove a bit further west towards Camel Beach and stopped to eat at a restaurant called Jenny Camel, with nice views across the bay. The food was okay, but nothing special and a little expensive – I had a burger, and my girlfriend tried the pastitsio.

Before returning to the car, we walked towards a hilltop with nice views down to Camel Beach. Disaster struck on the walk back to the car when one of the straps on my leather sandals came away from the base – these were my most comfortable, trusty shoes that have been on every Greek trip with me for probably the last 15 years!! I could still walk in them, but not very comfortably. I was determined to get them fixed rather than throw them away.

Camel Beach

Camel Beach looked quite nice and wasn’t as busy as Paradise, so we drove the car down the hill and parked to spend some time there. Finding a quiet spot was easy, and we enjoyed another few hours of swimming and sunbathing.

Back at the Hotel, Dinner and Drinks

We headed back to the hotel and arrived just before 5 pm. With no more plans for the car, I tried returning it early, but there was nobody at the rental shop to receive it, so I parked up outside the hotel instead. We showered and rested briefly, then prepared for dinner and a few drinks.

We walked around Kos Town and down towards the old town to explore a bit, ending up at Eleftherias Square near the Ancient Agora. Neither of us was that hungry, but we fancied sitting down for a drink, so we got a table at one of the tavernas that lined the square. I ordered a carafe of wine, and my girlfriend had a Fanta Lemon. We then decided to try a cocktail, which turned into two cocktails and made us rather merry!

At this point, we were hungry, but probably due to the alcohol, we decided to stay put and eat where we were instead of finding a nicer taverna somewhere else. I ordered moussaka, and my girlfriend had chicken nuggets and chips (very Greek, I know!) I don’t think the food was that great, but it was hard to tell after our drinks! The bill came to nearly €70, the most I’ve spent on dinner in a long time, but it was a fun evening.