A Kos sunset cruise sails the waters around Kos, the third largest of the Dodecanese, as the sun sinks into the Aegean. It is one of the Greek tours on Greece VIP.
This post covers what a Kos sunset cruise includes, where it leaves from and where the sun sets. It also covers the Neratzia castle, lighthouses, the north coast, the strait to Bodrum, sea history and food on board. Sea life, depth, the volcanic past, wind, the best season and common questions come last.
Each section ends with a Kos sunset cruise or a nearby cruise that can be booked online.
What does a Kos sunset cruise include?
A Kos sunset cruise takes four main forms on public listings. Guests pick an adults-only catamaran, a beach barbecue trip, a pirate-themed party boat or a private motorboat. The catamaran, barbecue and private trips all stop for a swim.
The adults-only catamaran serves alcoholic and soft drinks with light snacks aboard. This Kos sunset cruise passes clifftop villages and little white chapels on sun-baked hills.
Its captain lets the wind choose the swim stops instead of a fixed route. The boat anchors in sheltered bays for diving in or relaxing aboard.
The beach barbecue trip serves Greek meze before the swim. Guests jump into the sea from the boat. Beach shoes help on the pebbly, secluded beach.
At sunset, the crew of this Kos sunset cruise teaches the sirtaki dance. Children get orange juice with dinner. The trip does not suit wheelchair users.
The pirate-themed party boat runs two bars and pours a welcome drink. Live DJs play house, dance and summer hits. Guests must be 18 to 70.
Separate from shared boat trips around Kos, private motorboats take seven or eight guests toward Pserimos. The skipper speaks English and Greek. Snorkelling gear comes aboard.
One private version adds wine and seasonal fruit. Another party-style Kos sunset cruise includes no food or drinks, so guests bring money for extras and tips.
- Packing: The catamaran asks guests to bring a towel.
- Two drinks: A hotel-only, adults-only trip includes two drinks.
- Transfers: The pirate-themed boat includes no hotel transfer.
Outside food and drinks stay off the pirate-themed Kos sunset cruise.
Where does a Kos sunset cruise leave from?
A Kos sunset cruise leaves from four main harbours. The pirate-themed party boat sails from Kos town harbour, and private motorboats use Kos Marina. Evening trips also leave Kardamena and Kamari, the coastal settlement holding the port of Kefalos.
Kos Marina lies one nautical mile south-east of the old harbour. Its 265 berths take yachts up to 80 metres, in 3 to 6 metres of water.
A breakwater guards the east side of Kos Marina. A strong meltemi still sends a tide into its south-eastern part. North-east and south-west winds find no shelter.
A lift takes boats up to 100 tonnes, and a hydraulic trailer handles 35 tonnes. Dry storage holds 150 boats. Card-pass gates lock all the piers.
The marina runs 80 berths in Mandraki, the old harbour of Kos town. Boats there lie stern-to on their own anchor in 5 metres of water.
Kardamena gives a Kos sunset cruise boat 2 to 3 metres of depth, cut by underwater concrete blocks. Cruise boats fill the bulk of its berths.
Mastichari harbour suits only shallow boats, with 2.4 metres of water in its pass. Shoals ring the port. Boats must meet the mole at right angles.
At Kamari, a Kos sunset cruise berths in 5 metres of water, or 6 at the mole’s end. Fishing boats crowd the inner basin, selling to local restaurants.
- Old harbour: Its mud bottom holds anchors well.
- Kardamena: Diagonal yellow-and-white stripes mark yacht spaces.
- Kamari: Water is on hand at the mole’s foot.
Boat trips to Nisyros also leave Kamari harbour.
Where does the sun set on a Kos sunset cruise?
A Kos sunset cruise sees the sun set north of due west in summer. In June the sunset point sits at 300 degrees. By December it swings to 240 degrees, and the March and September sunsets face due west.
A Kos sunset cruise in mid-April sees the sun set at 19:44 in Kos town. Sunset comes at 20:02 in mid-August and at 19:20 in mid-September.
On 14 October, a Kos sunset cruise sees sunset at 18:36, with civil twilight until 19:02. In mid-October the sun sets at 260 degrees, south of west.
A Kos sunset cruise meets sunset at 18:53 on 1 October. By 31 October, the clocks have gone back an hour, and sunset falls at 17:14.
In Kos, December’s earliest sunset falls on 6 December, at 16:55 local time. On 21 December, sunset comes at 16:58, and civil twilight ends at 17:27.
On 21 June, Kos gets 14 hours 41 minutes of daylight, and civil twilight lasts until 21:04. On 21 December, daylight lasts 9 hours 38 minutes.
Kalymnos lies north-west of Kos, with its highest peak, Profitis Ilias, at its centre. Pserimos sits 7.3 nautical miles from Kos port, rising to 268 metres.
Astypalaia, farthest west of the Dodecanese islands, lies west of Kos. It sits on the boundary with the Cyclades, and its airport links it with Kos.
- Spring: The April sunset sits at 285 degrees.
- November: The November sunset sits at 245 degrees.
- Pserimos: Its west coast holds the Bay of Pserimos.
In mid-November, sunset over Kos town comes at 17:03.
What does a Kos sunset cruise see of the Neratzia castle?
A Kos sunset cruise sees the Neratzia castle as a double ring of walls begun in 1436. The larger outer ring has four massive corner bastions and gun loops. Knightly coats of arms sit in its upper walls.
Mycenaean settlement traces were found at the castle site, an island in antiquity. A seawater moat isolated it from the town until the early 20th century.
A stone bridge still links the castle to Platanos Square, a stop on tours of Kos island. Palm-lined Phoinikon Street now fills the old moat below.
The four tall corner towers a Kos sunset cruise sees belong to the older, rectangular inner ring. A wide moat splits it from the outer ring.
The two rings join only on the east side, by a sloping road. Grand Master D’Amboise of the Knights Hospitaller continued work on the outer ring.
The main gate carries a Hellenistic frieze of masks and garlands. Granite columns, thought to come from the Limenas early Christian basilica, cross the gate ceilings.
In the 19th century the castle served as Ottoman barracks and the commander’s home. Italians later stripped the Ottoman additions from the walls a Kos sunset cruise passes.
The 2017 earthquake cracked these walls and toppled parts of towers seen on a Kos sunset cruise. Restorers replaced broken stones and fitted helical metal bars.
- Italian Stoa: Italians built it as a sculpture museum.
- Storehouse: The knightly store now holds architectural pieces.
- Listing: The castle became a listed monument in 1948.
German occupiers made the castle a barracks and prison.
Which lighthouses does a Kos sunset cruise pass?
A Kos sunset cruise passes harbour and cape lights mounted on metal frames or small huts. Pserimos and two islets to the north carry their own lights. Two historic towers stand further offshore, on Kandelioussa and Kalolimnos islets.
A Kos sunset cruise passes two Kos town mole lights on white six-sided huts. The west flashes green rapidly; the east flashes red every 3 seconds.
The town marina, further south-east, marks its west mole green and its east mole red. Both lights flash every 4 seconds from 6 m above the sea.
North of the harbour, a Kos sunset cruise passes the Cape Ammoglossa light. Its red flash every 4 seconds, from 7 m, carries 9 nautical miles.
Further east, Cape Louros shows three white or red flashes every 15 seconds. Further south, Cape Ayios Fokas flashes white every 4 seconds from 23 m.
Mastichari’s mole light flashes green every 3 seconds and reaches 6 nautical miles. Limnionas shows green, and a Kamari Bay light flashes red every 2 seconds.
A Kos sunset cruise sees the Akra Rousa light on eastern Pserimos. It flashes twice every 10 seconds, with a white range of 12 nautical miles.
The small islet of Kandelioussa lies about 10 miles south of Cape Krikelos on Kos. Its 1890 tower flashes white every 10 seconds from 55 m.
- Nekrothikes: Off western Pserimos, its light flashes every 5 seconds.
- Safonidi: Its long white flash shines from 64 m.
- Kalolimnos: Its 1864 Ottoman stone tower no longer works.
Kandelioussa’s keepers left around 1970, when the light went automatic.
What does a Kos sunset cruise see along the north coast?
A Kos sunset cruise on the north coast passes beaches from Lambi to Mastichari. One state-listed stretch at Marmari and Tigaki runs 3,700 m. Dunes 1 to 2 m high separate the Alykes salt lake from the shore.
A Kos sunset cruise meets Lambi about 3 km from the Kos town centre. Its thick sand holds gravel and pebbles, and smooth rocks dot the seabed.
The beach holds a Blue Flag, and tamarisk trees shade its free areas. Organised spots offer sunbeds, umbrellas and showers, and beach volleyball courts sit nearby.
A Kos sunset cruise passes the Marmari–Tigaki shore, which faces north-west. Its state profile gives an average width of 55 m and a sandy, rock-studded seabed.
A second stretch faces north-east on the far side of the salt lake. It runs 1,700 m along a natural shore of tamarisk and phrygana scrub.
The lagoon a Kos sunset cruise passes covers 0.93 square km. In 1930 an Italian company running its salt works laid a railway about 150 m long.
Yearly salt output once ranged from 900 to 3,500 tonnes. A weighbridge and an old Ottoman house, once a guard post, still stand.
Birders record spur-winged lapwings, long-legged buzzards and Cretzschmar’s buntings at the lake a Kos sunset cruise skirts. Plain tiger butterflies and dragonflies live at the site.
- Mastichari: Its beach runs 1,200 m and faces north-west.
- Sports: Sailing, surfing and motor sports join swimming there.
- Mole: Small fishing boats moor at the northern end.
The Mastichari beach averages only 5 m in width.
What does a Kos sunset cruise see across the strait?
A Kos sunset cruise faces Bodrum, a Turkish port at the entrance to the Gulf of Gökova. The Knights of St John built its Castle of St Peter from 1402. That gulf is also the Gulf of Cos.
Strabo placed Scandaria, a cape of Kos, forty stadia from the mainland. Opposite it stood Termerium, a cape held by the Myndians of the Bodrum Peninsula.
A Kos sunset cruise sails off an island that lies along the gulf’s entry. The gulf itself runs 100 km between the Bodrum and Datça peninsulas.
Ancient Ceramus on the northern shore gave the gulf its Latin name, Ceramicus Sinus, meaning ceramic gulf. Bodrum is the only large city on its shores.
Across from a Kos sunset cruise, Bodrum stands on ancient Halicarnassus. Its Mausoleum, built for Mausolus, was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Grand Master Philibert de Naillac chose the site opposite Kos, where the Order held a castle. The Order ruled from Rhodes, where sunset cruises on Rhodes now sail.
The castle’s builders used green volcanic stone, plus marble columns and reliefs from the Mausoleum. Its four towers carry the names English, French, German and Italian.
The castle opposite a Kos sunset cruise has held an underwater archaeology museum since 1962. One 14th-century BC wreck there carried 10 tons of Cypriot copper.
- Karaada: Ancient Greeks called this Bodrum harbour islet Arkonnesos.
- Karaada cave: Its sulphur hot spring reaches about 30°C.
- Orak Island: Only boats reach this Gökova entrance island.
Bodrum’s name comes from Petronium, after St Peter’s castle.
What sea history does a Kos sunset cruise recall?
A Kos sunset cruise sails where Macedonian and Ptolemaic fleets clashed in antiquity. In 1943, British and German forces fought for Kos by sea and air. Wrecks off nearby islets and ancient Koan shipsheds also mark this coast.
That clash, the Battle of Cos, fell around 261 BC or as late as 255 BC. The victor, Antigonus II Gonatas, dedicated his flagship to Apollo.
Scholars propose Cos as one of three battles behind the Nike of Samothrace statue. The others are Amorgos in 322 BC and Salamis in 306 BC.
A Kos sunset cruise leaving Kos town passes the visible ruins of its ancient harbour. An inscription from 196–195 BC mentions Koan shipsheds fitted with closures.
The harbour where a Kos sunset cruise boards gave Holy Land pilgrims safe haven under the Knights. Their fleet let Bodrum castle keep thinner sea walls.
In 1943 Churchill wanted the Dodecanese islands to pressure neutral Turkey. Major David Sutherland sailed to Kos from Kastellorizo with an SBS detachment of 55 men.
Six fighters of 7 Squadron, South African Air Force, flew from Cyprus to Kos. Luftwaffe butterfly bombs later knocked the Antimachia airfield out for a time.
The German convoy held seven transports, seven landing craft and three destroyers, plus caiques and small craft. Operation Polar Bear, the German landing, began at 04:30.
- Platy: Two German munitions ships from 1944 lie there.
- Pserimos: A ship wrecked on its eastern rocks in 1997.
- Wreck view: One Kos sunset cruise listing shows a shipwreck underwater.
Leros fell to German forces a month after Kos.
What food and drink does a Kos sunset cruise serve?
A Kos sunset cruise listing from the old harbour serves Greek meze and a splash of ouzo. Kefalos departures add beach barbecues. Ashore, Kos Town harbour taverns grill whole sea bream and red mullet, and kitchens make handmade pasta.
A Kos sunset cruise from Kefalos Bay serves its barbecue at the water’s edge on a rocky beach. Children are served orange juice with their meal.
Another Kos sunset cruise from Kefalos serves Greek meatballs as meze. Sausages are grilled to order, and the best dancer wins a bottle of Kos wine.
Mastichari and Kefalos on Kos are known for fish taverns. Those facing the small port of Mastichari grill barracuda, sardines or gopa, and list fishermen’s specials.
Kos cooks turn leftover octopus tentacles into aromatic fritters called chtapodokeftedes. They appear on daily specials boards, and tomatoes stuffed with octopus are another local plate.
Kos pitaridia are handmade pasta cooked in broth. Pasa makarouna layers hand-rolled pasta sheets with dry mizithra cheese, then soaks them in meat or milk broth.
Kos vineyards grow Kydonitsa and Athiri, plus Grenache Rouge and Chardonnay. Foreign travellers of the 18th and 19th centuries praised the island’s rich vineyards and wine.
A Kos amphora with long two-rod handles was the prototype for Roman Dressel 2–4 wine jars. Potters in Italy, Catalonia, southern France and Britain made them.
- Vegetarians: One Kos sunset cruise serves them vegetable souvlaki sticks.
- Sarsoumades: These fried Kos sweets are flavoured with honey.
- Lambi: Its old tomato factory ruins were razed in 2019.
A closed fishing zone between Kalymnos and Kos dates from 2006.
What sea life does a Kos sunset cruise meet?
A Kos sunset cruise crosses water used by bottlenose and common dolphins, loggerhead turtles and rare monk seals. Shearwaters, gulls and falcons breed on islets off Kalymnos. Shallow reefs have shifted since 1981, while Posidonia meadows changed little.
Bottlenose dolphins are logged north and south of Kos, so a Kos sunset cruise crosses their range. Common dolphins are recorded off the island’s south coast.
Kos’s main Natura 2000 site lists the loggerhead turtle as a permanent resident. Its species list also names the green turtle, a second sea turtle species.
A loggerhead tracked from Rethymno, Crete, swam into Kos sunset cruise waters in 2011. Its satellite tag sent 87 locations from there between July and December.
In October 2004, a male monk seal pup, two weeks old, was found stranded on Kefalos beach. A seal rescue team collected the 20-kilo pup, later named Hippocrates.
Islets off Kalymnos form an EU bird site where 30 to 42 Audouin’s gulls breed. Mediterranean shags live there all year, at 25 to 35 pairs.
Divers surveyed reefs on the Kos sunset cruise coast in 1981 and again in 2013. Sea surface temperature rose 1 to 2°C between the two surveys.
Only 51 of 120 conspicuous species appeared in both surveys. Sponges and bare rock replaced algal forests, a loss the study blames on alien rabbitfish grazing.
- Posidonia: Beds cover nearly 5% of the Natura site.
- Eleonora’s falcons: 40 to 80 breed on those islets.
- Newcomers: White grouper and yellowmouth barracuda reached Kos reefs.
Protected reefs and sandbanks also line the Kos sunset cruise coast.
How deep is the sea around a Kos sunset cruise?
A Kos sunset cruise sails over a shallow shelf to the north and deep water to the south. Northern channels stay under 65 m deep. Southern basins drop past 600 m within roughly 10 km of the shore.
North of Kos, the floor under Kos sunset cruise waters is sandy mud. In the strait facing Bodrum, the floor is mud to muddy sand.
Between Tigaki and Pserimos, a Kos sunset cruise floats on about 30 m of water. The channel from Mastichari to Kalymnos bottoms out near 63 m.
From Kos town to Bodrum, EMODnet shows no depth beyond 60 m. The Delos channel, seen on sunset cruises from Mykonos, has a similar maximum depth.
Off Kardamena, EMODnet gives 86 m 1.4 km south of the village. The depth reaches 242 m at 2.6 km and 444 m at 3.7 km.
The West Kos Basin, under Kos sunset cruise waters, sinks to about 680 m. Seismic profiles show its buried tuff layers offset, a shift linked to faults.
A 2021 seabed study finds canyons cutting the southern margin of Kos, unlike the Tilos margin. It also flags unstable underwater slopes as a tsunami hazard.
East of Kos, the Gulf of Gökova sinks to about 470 m. This sunken rift runs about 120 km long and 5 to 30 km wide.
- Kardamena: Depth hits 550 m 7.5 km offshore.
- Kefalos Bay: An infilled crater lies near 180 m.
- Floor: EMODnet maps the southern basin as mud.
Southern water runs ten times deeper than northern channels.
What volcanic past does a Kos sunset cruise reveal?
A Kos sunset cruise crosses a volcanic zone shaped by the Kos Plateau Tuff, a giant eruption. That blast, 161,000 years ago, threw out over 60 cubic kilometres of magma. The Kos–Nisyros–Yali field has erupted for 3 million years.
Flow directions place the vents off southwest Kos, beneath Kos sunset cruise waters. The eruption left a collapsed caldera at least 6 by 11 km across.
Deposits from the eruption reached Tilos, Kalymnos and Pachia, plus Turkey’s Bodrum and Datça peninsulas. The best-preserved layers lie on Kos itself, forming its central plateau.
On Kos, the Dikaios and Sympetro mountains blocked all but the strongest flows. At the climax, flows broke through a 375 m high pass between them.
A computer model puts the eruption’s climax at a day or less. It sends northward flows over land more than water, as sea level was lower.
Ocean drilling found a 200 m thick ash bed from the eruption, more than 120 km west. That bed holds over 73 cubic kilometres of ash.
On the southern Kefalos peninsula, hot fluids turned Pliocene rhyolite into kaolin clay. The extremely rare mineral zunyite there points to seawater in the hot fluids.
Nisyros, south of Kos sunset cruise waters, did not exist during that eruption. Later eruptions built it, plus the Yali pumice cone and the Strongyli cone.
- Tsunami: The 2017 quake’s waves ran up to 1.9 m.
- Aftershocks: 390 tremors above magnitude 3 came within a year.
- Uplift: Central Kos rose 0.7 to 1.0 m per millennium.
That quake ruptured a normal fault inside the Aegean plate.
How do wind and sea shape a Kos sunset cruise?
A Kos sunset cruise sails in a wind that blows mainly from the north-north-west. At Kos airport, July hourly means peak near 14 knots around 17:00. By 21:00, they ease to about 10 knots. Gusts average 25 knots.
Long-term wind records at Kos airport give a mean speed of 10 knots. July posts the top monthly mean, at nearly 12 knots.
November is the calmest month on that record, with a mean speed of 8.8 knots. February brings the strongest gusts, averaging 28 knots from the north.
In July, 14,618 of 28,626 airport readings reached Beaufort 4 to 6. Only 424 sat at Beaufort 0 to 1, the near-calm end of the scale.
August averages drop from about 13 knots at 17:00 to about 9 by 21:00. July winds above 10 knots blow nearly always from north or north-west.
Sailing notes list Kos among islands where strong meltemi gusts fall down the lee side. They place 70 percent of meltemi events between June and September.
A ten-year wave model of Greek seas maps the summer wave peaks of the south-east Aegean. They lie well south of Kos, in the Crete–Kasos and Karpathos–Rhodes straits.
For a Kos sunset cruise in April, NOAA satellite readings put the sea at 17.3°C. The same series gives November 20.3°C, December 18.5°C and January 17.8°C.
- Waves: 30-knot winds can raise seas over three metres.
- Dodecanese–Cyclades: Meltemi runs unbroken over 100 nautical miles.
- August gusts: They average 24 knots.
Kasos–Karpathos waves run mainly from west-north-west.
When is the best season for a Kos sunset cruise?
A Kos sunset cruise suits early June to late September. A climate model rates that span best for warm-weather outings. Kos airport peaks in August, with 631,624 passengers in HCAA’s latest year. February is quietest, at 17,828 passengers.
Hot weather for a Kos sunset cruise runs from 12 June to 16 September in the same model. Cool weather spans 29 November to 29 March.
Its general tourism score favours late April to late June for a Kos sunset cruise with sightseeing. A second window spans early September to late October.
Station readings in Kos put average July lows at 23.5°C. October lows average 19.6°C, and November lows drop to 15.6°C. Across the year, lows average 16.5°C.
Daytime highs at that station reach 17.4°C in December and just 15.5°C in February. March climbs to 17.6°C, and the yearly mean high there is 22.9°C.
July follows with 596,252 passengers, and September logs 515,923. Traffic then falls from 367,444 in October to 39,378 in November. The full year totals 3,173,942 passengers.
In the same August, Santorini airport, gateway to sunset tours on Santorini, logged 465,351 passengers. Kos drew about a third more.
Kos port figures from Eurostat leave out cruise passengers. In the latest full year, July to September peaked near 286,000. January to March drew 77,000.
- April–June: Kos port handled about 174,000 passengers.
- October–December: The count eased to about 128,000.
- Routes: All counted traffic links Greek ports.
June airport traffic reaches 503,508 passengers.
What do travelers ask about a Kos sunset cruise?
A Kos sunset cruise raises questions on buses, taxis, the port authority and the hospital. Taxis and city buses start from the Kos town seafront, where the port authority also sits. The hospital runs a blood bank and a dialysis unit.
Which intercity buses reach Kos town for a Kos sunset cruise?
Intercity buses run eight lines out of Kos town. They reach Tigaki, Marmari and Mastichari on the north coast and the hill village of Zia. Others serve Pyli and Antimachia inland, plus Kardamena and Kefalos in the south. The central stop sits at 7 Kleopatras Street, in the heart of town. Timetables split weekday, Saturday and Sunday runs.
Which city buses link nearby resorts to a Kos sunset cruise?
The municipal city bus network reaches Psalidi, Agios Fokas, Lambi, Alikarnassos and Platani. Line 1 runs from Akteon to Agios Fokas, and Line 5 from Akteon to Therma. Line 2 starts at Iroon Polytechniou Square and ends at Nea Alikarnassos.
Where do taxis wait near a Kos sunset cruise departure?
Kos town taxis start from Akti Kountouriotou. The city bus service gives its address as number 27 on that street. Taxis take phone bookings through two local services.
Where is the port authority for a Kos sunset cruise?
The Kos Port Authority stands at 25 Akti Kountouriotou, postcode 85300. It reports to the Coast Guard’s 8th Regional Command. Coast Guard patrol boats berth at the Kos marina. Kardamena village has its own port station.
Where is the hospital for a Kos sunset cruise guest?
The General Hospital and Health Centre of Kos stands at 34 Ippokratous Street, postcode 85300. The Italian administration chose the site in 1926 for its central place in town. It covers about 4,000 square metres and has an emergency department.