Agios Nikolaos beach, Evia
Elinika beach (Saint Nicholas Beach)
Elinika beach is a symbol of Evia. Her trademark. It is located on the east coast of the island, when you take the main road (direction Istiea – Chalkis) about 26 km from the town of Istiea itself.
Elinika (Agios Nikolaos) is the village of the same name, with about 500 inhabitants, which is one of the oldest villages on the island. It is located on a hill, surrounded by a wonderful pine forest. There is a possibility of finding private accommodation in the place itself. The view of the Aegean Sea is magnificent.
Elinika beach is one of the most beautiful and picturesque beaches of Evia. It is a beautiful little bay, surrounded by a pine forest. The beach is sandy, with very shallow water, and is ideal for families with small children. Because of the large shallows, and the calm bay without waves, the sea water is always warm.
Across the street is a small island with a small church of St. Nicholas, which you can swim to.
NOTE: The island seems much closer than it is, swim to it only if you are an experienced swimmer!
Due to its location, on the east coast, the beach is always in the shade in the afternoon. In August, the beach is always crowded, and there is a problem with parking. There are mostly tourists from Serbia on the beach.
Above the beach itself is a cafe, which has an excellent view of the turquoise sea and the small island of St. Nicholas, and the prices are very reasonable. Emphasized that there is no toilet on the beach, you have to climb up to the cafe. The owner of the cafe is a good guy who loves guests from Serbia.
There is a public bus service from Pefki to Elinika several times a day. The price of a return ticket is 3 EUR. It should be kept in mind that from the station itself to the beach it is about a 15-minute walk along a road with no shade. We think that the beach is worth every effort and we highly recommend it, especially to everyone who spends the summer in Pefki.
For all those traveling with their own transport in Evia, we recommend using navigation, as road signs are often not in English, nor are they clearly marked. Tourism is still in the development phase, especially in the northern part of the island.
On this 180-kilometer-long island, slightly smaller than Crete, apart from locals, Serbs are practically the only tourists. Although the Monastery of Saint John the Russian is located on Evia, after Meteora the most important sanctuary in Greece, the Russians have not yet conquered this part of the world, while the French and Slovaks slowly began to explore this new destination.
On the island of Evia, you will certainly feel as if you have flown into a different time zone. In a small number of bakeries, they make that long-forgotten bread with “nine crusts”, hardworking housewives regularly bring meat and potatoes in trays for their family lunch to be baked right there, from a pickup truck, which is slowly circling the city, they inform you about the sale of their products over the loudspeaker, and old Greek women do not miss to sweeten themselves in the evening with lukumades (doughnuts or donuts) topped with honey.
Behind this beach there are two smaller beaches that do not have tourist facilities and are less known and visited, but if you are already there you should definitely see them. They are beautiful, almost untouched.
