Has 30 years of mass tourism turned Kos in to a Greek tragedy?

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of spending a week on the beautiful Greek island of Kos. I had first visited Kos at the age of 11 (we are talking a VERY long time ago) with my parents and sister and as with every family holiday we ever had, we had a superb time. So my sister and I decided it would great to re-visit and see how the place had changed.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised that it hadn’t turned in to an over-commercialised Benidorm-style hellhole over the last 30 years. The Islands capital, Kos Town is still beautiful with its narrow stone alleyways and the fortress that used to guard the harbour area.  Many of the chic boutiques and the usual tourist shops are housed in traditional buildings in and amongst the lanes that lead to the main Eleftherias Square, which is great for sitting with a coffee or an ice cream and watching the world go by, overshadowed by the old mosque, a reminder of the Ottoman occupation of the island in a previous life.

We stayed just outside Kos Town in a small resort area called Psalidi. I have to mention that other than our excellent boat trip to the volcanic island of Nissyros (where my sister, on our first visit when we were kids thought she would help herself to a souvenir of volcanic rock and subsequently burn holes in the pockets of her rather fetching dungarees), my favourite part of the holiday was visiting Nestoras Taverna. This is a traditional Greek taverna, which despite having an extensive menu manages to conjour up superbly fresh food, specialising in the seafood it receives daily. The staff were oozing with Greek hospitality and the tavernas picturesque and peaceful seafront setting made for a wonderfully relaxing meal. It was always busy, both day and night. The tell tale sign of a top quality authentic restaurant was that there were always lots of locals in evidence as well as the odd tourist.

There are small local villages you can visit which have a real flavour of traditional Greece and the island is compact enough to get around and see all the main areas of interest in a week. The island was the birthplace of Hippocrates, the father of medicine so there are historical places of interest along with cultural and touristic offerings. There is a large waterpark, horse riding, jeep safaris and watersports, so plenty to keep you occupied during your holiday.

The resort we had stayed in back in 1983 was Kardamena, which was little more than a fishing village at the time, but which has become a haunt for party people with the likes of 18-30 using the resort, however it was nice to see that despite the considerable development and expansion of the resort it had still managed to maintain some of its original charm (at least in the daylight hours) and we even saw the same family bar that we used to frequent 3 decades ago and it hadn’t changed a bit. The atmosphere was relaxed in the village square and on the harbour front there were still working fishing boats in evidence to supply their daily catch to the local tavernas.

Interestingly if you check out the top 40 attractions in Kos on trip advisor, you will see that other than the waterpark, all the places of interest are are historical, cultural or natural such as nature parks, beaches, historical ruins, folk museums etc. The biggest threat to the islands endearing charm now is all the All Inclusive hotels which are making life difficult for local business owners who are seeing the streets much less crowded as people stay around their hotel complexes and don’t splash their cash to help the local economy.

In summary I think the powers that be in Kos have done a great job in  retaining the islands identity despite the growth of mass tourism, so well done to them and I hope it will stay the same for the next 30 years.