Lourdas Beach

Lourdas is the long, green backed beach you take when the resort strips have worn you down. It stretches for well over a kilometre along the south coast below the village of Lourdata, with the steep, green slopes of Mount Ainos rising straight up behind the sand, a backdrop of olive and cypress that no other major beach on the island can match. It has tavernas and sunbeds, but a fraction of the development of Lassi or Skala, and that quiet is the whole reason to come, you can almost always walk a hundred metres and have a stretch of shore to yourself.

The shore is a mix of grey gold sand and fine shingle, comfortable enough but firm, so water shoes earn their place getting in and out. The water is clear and in settled weather it is calm, deepening steadily rather than dropping away sharply, an easy enough swim for confident swimmers and a relaxed one for everyone when the sea is flat. The greenery behind gives the beach a cooler, softer feel than the bare cliffs elsewhere, and a few of the tavernas tuck right in under the trees.

Now the part that matters most here, because Lourdas is where the wind shows its hand. The beach faces due south and is wide open to that quarter, with nothing to block a southerly. When the wind swings south, even moderately, you can get a genuine shore break rolling onto the sand and shingle, the kind that is fun to jump in but will cloud the water, drag at the shingle and make swimming hard work, and on those days the undertow near the break deserves respect. On a calm day, or a day with the wind off the land from the north, it is a different beach entirely, flat and clear. Reading that southerly is the single most useful thing you can do before driving down.

Facilities are low key and seasonal. There are sunbeds and umbrellas to rent on the central stretch and a handful of tavernas behind the sand for food and drink, but no beach bars thumping into the afternoon and no watersports circus, which is exactly the appeal for the people who choose Lourdas. Shade is the umbrellas plus whatever the trees throw at the back, so bring sun cover, and pack what you need, since the strip of services is short compared with the big resorts.

Who should skip it. If you want buzz, watersports and a row of beach bars, Lourdas will feel too quiet and too plain, and Skala or Makris Gialos will suit you better. But if you want length, space, a green mountain backdrop and the freedom to find your own patch of sand, with the simple honesty of checking the wind before you go, Lourdas is one of the most restful beaches on the south coast.