Imagine being just 30 minutes away from the center of Athens, yet feeling as if you’ve traveled to another world. A place where the waves crash against the rocks with the stoicism of a philosopher, and the sandy beach pampers you like a grandmother offering you warm fried bread. Welcome to Saronikos. Or, in other words, the place where Attica dresses in its finest, just to enchant you.

A land the same yet different

No, you don’t necessarily need to go to famous and cosmopolitan places to experience genuine pleasure. The great and true riviera – the authentic one, the Saronic, the continuation of the Athenian – stretches along the southern edge of Attica, where Lagonisi, Saronida, Anavyssos, and Palaia Fokaia daily embrace the salt, the sun, and your most beautiful small and big escapes. Nor do you need to go to the Iberian Peninsula to enjoy authentic Mediterranean hinterland. You have Kalyvia and Kouvaras, medieval olive groves and ancient forests. Your breaths.

The 23 kilometers of coastline, like delicate lacework. Bend and cove. Rock and beach. Thyme and salt. Everything fits here: dives into turquoise waters, sunsets of the “shall we get married here?” kind, hiking trails that finally fill your lungs with oxygen, and seaside strolls for salty romances that caress your soul.

A taste of time and salt

If you come from the inland route, the path of the ancient pilgrims of Sounio and the scattered Kouros statues of the Archaic period, a stop in Anavyssos is a must. Singing Marinella songs in the car with a crimson shirt, and before you even reach the beach, a small stop at the Salt Pans where old stories still reign. Here, once upon a time, people worked from sunrise to sunset, gathering the sea’s white gold – salt. With shovels, with sweat, with wagons, with hardships and with passion. And the refugees who came after the Asia Minor Catastrophe breathed new life into the salt – and into the area. They made it their home.

If you continue toward the sea, don’t be surprised if you suddenly encounter a “tombolo.” No, it’s not a board game. It’s that fantastic natural phenomenon where an island longs to join the mainland, creating a strip of sand to walk across. The famous Saint Nicholas of Anavyssos. And the wetland formed around it becomes a living painting of beauty on its own.

Memories that carve roots in time

A little further, in Palaia Fokaia, history steps out of the books and strikes up a conversation. Where the Asia Minor refugees built their first huts, erected churches, secured harbors, and… wrote literature. Elias Venezis’ famous novel “Galini” (Calmness) was born here in this new homeland. His pen became a bridge between uprooting and the new roots that spread again.

Between Kouros statues and Basilicas

Those who think Saronikos is only sea have never stepped on its land. In the well-known Kalyvia Thorikou, where the Kouros of Aristodikos was unearthed by chance when a plow carved his form forever, leaving his immortal gaze and lifelike hands. And no, it’s not a metaphor. He was truly buried in the fields of Phinikia and surfaced by accident during plowing. He escaped the Germans by luck and now awaits you at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens to tell you his whole story. Along with his companions from the neighborhood, the Kouros statues of Anavyssos and Valomantra. Two more Kouros companions currently “live” abroad, at the Glyptothek in Munich and at the Metropolitan Museum of New York. Perhaps one day they will all return, once and for all, to their Saronic homeland.

And if the Kouros stories belong to the past, the art of Byzantine basilicas has stood for centuries amidst the Mesogeia landscape, surprising visitors. Saint Peter and Paul, Panagia Mesosporitissa, Taxiarches, Saint George “speak” silently, adorning the magical scenery with blessings, icons, and symbolism. And if you happen to walk the neighborhood someday and hear the bells of the Taxiarches fade in the air, it will be because they are celebrating, still hosting the old custom called “Korbani” – the offering of livestock in memory of the dead, transformed into a festive stew, accompanied by wishes, love, and plastic containers so you can take some home to share.

And under the water? Another world!

For the more adventurous, Saronikos is not only about the view from above, or sprawling on the sand or a sunbed. It is also about diving into its depths. With clear waters, rich marine life, many diving spots, and organized schools, the area is ideal for every type of diving experience and every level. In your dives, you may encounter shipwrecks sunk in Attica’s history, pass reefs that host thousands of small and large fish – and don’t be surprised if a playful seal or a sea turtle glances at you. This is their home too.

Over time you’ll understand that the magic of this place doesn’t end at the shore. But with so much beauty also comes responsibility. Respect for the marine environment. Whatever you do, wherever you dive, remember you are a visitor in a delicate microcosm that needs care, love, and… gentle fin strokes and cautious throttle movements on your boats.

Why go? For everything!

Because it’s close, yet feels far. Because you can go windsurfing and then enjoy your juicy steak at Kalyvia. Because you can get lost in the forest and find serenity in Attica’s most magical sunset. Because you still pass traditional neighborhoods and feel the urge to snap a selfie with a freshly caught red porgy.

Pleasure is always a very personal matter. Escape too.

And ultimately, Saronikos is a place that holds the wisdom of the old and the energy of the new. A land that, the more you walk, the more it reveals and surprises you. It is not just another destination. It is an experience. With the taste of the sea, the sound of the wind, the scents of flavors, the images of summer cinemas, and the bath of the sun that sometimes blinds your gaze and sometimes sets imperially behind the silhouette of the horizon. It is a short journey with a long echo. Enjoy it.

Photo Credits :Apostolos Hatzidimou /Christos Ginis /Claire Moustafelou /Saronicos Municipality