Kos is a beautiful seaside destination. It’s provide a carefree and idyllic village type of life. You can hang out at the various beaches for 1-2 weeks.
For friends who enjoy sea sports from Bali or Phuket, Kos is certainly one of the places for sea activities.
Everything is slow paced. You can have a late breakfast, stroll along the harbour, then go to the beach for a swim and chill with a cocktail till evening before heading back to town.
Alternatively, for friends who like to party, you can book a boat trip for island hopping and swimming. A lot of them provide food on board too.
In this post, I’ll be sharing a 2 day non beach itinerary for Kos which is in the Southeastern part of the Aegean Sea. In fact, it’s so far from Athens that it’s actually nearer to to the edge of Turkey.
Table of Contents
- How did we enter Kos from Istanbul
- Why did we choose this route?
- Ways to enter Kos
- Which part of Kos did we stay
- How did we travel around Kos + was the driving worth it?
- Day 1
- Day 2
- Day 3
How did we enter Kos from Istanbul
Our first stop from Singapore was Istanbul. It was an overnight flight of about 10 hours on Singapore Airlines to reach. Then we took a Turkish airline flight from Istanbul to Bodrum.
As the SQ flight wasn’t too full, we could exit quite fast and reached the immigration rather quickly.
ICYMI, Istanbul change their international airport recently. The current one is better run and more organised. I wasn’t sure about the size comparing to the old one. But I remember the old one was huge with more than 500 gates. I remember we had to run from 1 end of the transit to the other for the gate in a transfer once.
We allocated between 2-3 hours from landing to departure of the the next flight. Therefore, if you want to adopt the same strategy, pls make sure you have enough time. Having 2 kids, we also have to include toilet and water breaks in between since both are no longer in diapers.
Therefore below, I detailed out the things we managed to do.
From disembarking ==> immigration ==> collection of luggage ==> going 1 level up to DEPARTURE counters ==> check in the luggage ==> immigration ==> having a cup of coffee at Starbucks ==> walking to the gate for Bodrum
Upon reaching Bodrum, we took a taxi to the port which is nearer to city centre.
Taxis in Bodrum were pretty expensive. We spent around 40-50€ for a 40min ride.
There is a bus from airport to city centre but the next one was 1.5hr later and we do not want to waste our time waiting for it considering we still had a ferry to catch.
There are no Uber in Bodrum due to taxi mafia around. However there are private drivers hanging around at the carpark right outside of the airport.
This is followed by an 1 hour ferry ride over to Kos.
As crossing from Bodrum over to Kos is crossing from one country to another, immigration checks and stamps are necessary. Therefore pls add in the time to queue for immigration.
By the time we finally reach our destination, it was late in the evening and time for check in and dinner.
Why did we choose this route?
We gotten our SQ tickets to Istanbul last December using miles conversion. At that point in time, we didn’t have a plan on how and where we are going. As we had visited other parts of Turkey and Greece previously, we wanted to try visiting other cities. Kos is not a very popular destination from the singapore perspective, becuz we have Bali and Phuket about 1-2 hours away. Kos, however, is a very popular destination with a lot Europeans.
Ways to enter Kos
Apart from the ferry route, you can take a flight in from Athens and other major cities. As we took the flight from Istanbul, we’ll have to change to Athens before flying again to Kos. There are no direct flights from Istanbul.
If you enjoy hopping Greek islands, check out the Ferry Hopper website here. This is where we purchase our ferry tickets.
Which part of Kos did we stay
Kos has an old town right next to the pier. While small, it’s pretty charming. As it’s an idyllic resort town, it isn’t very crowded. Most of the people are crowded near the jetty or the beach. The old town is relatively quiet.
We chose to stay in the old town due to the distance to the port and other amenities. The apartment which we rented was right in the middle of the town.
If you prefer nearer to the sea, there are rows of sea facing seaside hotel near the jetty.
How did we travel around Kos + was the driving worth it?
Kos Old Town is small. It was easily attained by foot. However due to the size, there was not much to visit. We saw the harbour with many luxury yachts.
(Are there public transport in Kos?)
We spent a total of 3 days in Kos, entering on a Sunday evening and exiting on Wednesday morning to another island.
*Please note that the major religion in Greece is the Orthodox Church. Therefore most places including eateries are closed on Sundays. *
By the time we settled down in the apartment on our first day, it was time for dinner.
Day 1
As it’s our first day, we decided to explore the old town. It is fully walkable. Our first stop was Casa Romana which is an old house. It has since been restored and converted into a museum displaying statues from the ancient civilisation. You can also see the structure of the house as well as the garden.
After lunch, we visited their Kos Municipal Market. While it wasn’t big, you are able to buy quite alot of local produce and Greek specialty food.
Right outside the market, was the archeological museum. The museum was not very big, just 2 storey high. It showcase the archeological findings from the island of Kos.
Then we proceed to grab an ice – cream due to the hot weather. While it’s only the beginning of summer, the sun be rather scorching at the start of June.
Day 2
We started the day renting a car as we wanted to explore the other parts of the island that is outside of the Old Town. As the Old Town was really small, you can finish within 2-3 hours. As for buses, they are very limited. Therefore, driving is probably more economical compared to taxi and more freedom compared to taking a bus.
*Please note that Greece drives on the left. Therefore, if you come from the England or Australia, you will have to take note of it. *
Our first destination for the day is Asklipieio Kos. It’s the ruins for a healing temple and a medical school where Hippocratic once taught. We spent probably 45 min here after an hour of driving.
This was followed by a visit to Kos Olive Oil Factory – Papadimitriou. They have a farm, a shop and a factory. You can taste all the different condiments, paste and marmalade’s at their factory. If you enjoy cooking like us, this place is a must visit. The owner was very willing to answer any questions we have regarding their products.
Kos island produces olives. They have a few family- run olives businesses.
Our third place was Ktima Akrani (Triantafyllopoulos Winery) after a 5-10 min drive. A small and homely winery which we had plan to stay for about 30min. Ended up we were there for about 2 hours.
I enjoyed the laid back vibes and they have a beautiful dog that will walk in and out the place.
You can order a glass to drink, or order their testing set for 6 from the list. I love that they basically leave us alone to give us time to try the wine after we ordered. At the same time they also hang around at the counter in case we have any questions.
The last place on our day 2 was another winery named Hatziemmanouil Vineyards. Compared to the previous one, this is more classy. The environment is more posh.
We were greeted by a swimming pool when we drove into the premise. Then we found out they have apartments for rent too. Imagine greeted by the vineyard every morning and drink and chill to the evening. Fancy that?
Day 3
On this day, we checked out of our accommodations. And took a ferry over to the next destination, Rhodes Island in Greece.
Stay tune for our next post in Rhodes Island. If you want to find out more about our trip to Kos, join us at TikTok or IG where I shared videos on the trip.