Things to Do in Kefalos

Long before Kos Town existed, the island's main settlement was here in the south-west. The ancient city of Astypalaia stood on this peninsula, and traces of it remain scattered across the headland.

The area also holds early Christian basilicas with surviving mosaic floors, and the small chapel-topped island of Kastri sitting just offshore in the bay.

Long before the classical city of Kos was founded on the north-east coast, the island's principal settlement was Astypalaia, out on this south-western peninsula. Traces of it are scattered across the headland above Kamari, including the Hellenistic theatre at Palatia and fragments of the ancient walls.

The Christian layer is just as visible. The twin basilicas of Agios Stefanos stand directly on the beach at the edge of the bay, their columns still upright and sections of mosaic floor intact, looking across the water to Kastri island with its small white chapel.

Kastri is the image most people leave Kos with — a rock in a turquoise bay topped by a chapel, reachable by a short swim or a boat from the shore when conditions allow. The Aspri Petra cave, further inland and higher up, takes more effort to reach and rewards it with prehistoric occupation layers rather than views.