An Astypalaia boat trip sails from the butterfly-shaped island at the western edge of the Dodecanese to the islets of Koutsomiti and Kounoupa and the red rocks of its coast. The trip is one of the Greece Tours on Greece Ville.
This post covers the formats on sale, the island, Chora and its castle, the history of Astypalaia, the islets reached by boat and the questions that come up before booking.
What is an Astypalaia boat trip from the butterfly-shaped island?
An Astypalaia boat trip is a sea outing from the butterfly-shaped island at the western edge of the Dodecanese to the uninhabited islets of Koutsomiti and Kounoupa, two of the small rocks that ring the main island and share its municipality.
Astypalaia belongs to the Dodecanese, a chain of fifteen major islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Scholars also treat it as an extension of the Cyclades, since its culture and ecology lean that way.
The island and its offshore islets form the Municipality of Astypalaia, part of the Kalymnos regional unit. The municipality covers 114.077 square kilometres, and only the main island has residents.
Every Astypalaia boat trip to the islets heads for empty ground. Koutsomyti and Kounoupoi, spelled Koutsomiti and Kounoupa in tour titles, sit on the island’s list of small uninhabited islets.
The name has a mythic root. Astypalaia was believed to take its name from Astypalaea, a figure of Greek myth, while Italian speakers called the island Stampalia and Ottoman Turkish rendered it Istanbulya.
- Group size: The Dodecanese counts 15 major islands and 93 smaller islets in the southeastern Aegean.
- Twelve islands: The name Dodecanese means The Twelve Islands, and Astypalaia ranked among the 12 privileged islands of Ottoman times.
- Italian landing: In April 1912 Astypalaia became the first island of the Dodecanese occupied by Italy.
- Residents: The 2021 census counted 1,376 people living on the island.
An Astypalaia boat trip therefore starts from a lightly populated island and heads for rocks with no residents at all, inside one municipality.
Which Astypalaia boat trip formats are on sale?
An Astypalaia boat trip on sale today comes in two formats: a shared group boat tour to Red Rock, Koutsomiti and Kounoupa that includes a meal, and a self-drive boat rental that requires no boating licence from the renter.
The group format names three stops. Red Rock leads the list, followed by the islets of Koutsomiti and Kounoupa, and a shared meal forms part of the outing for everyone on board.
This Astypalaia boat trip suits travellers who want the islets without handling a boat. A crew takes the helm, and passengers share the deck with other members of the group.
A rental Astypalaia boat trip hands over control. The listing states that no licence is needed, so a visitor without boating papers can take the wheel and set the order of stops.
Both formats work the same waters. The coasts of Astypalaia are rocky with small pebble beaches, and the islets offshore have no residents, so the stops are shores and bare islets rather than villages.
- Group tour: A shared boat visits Red Rock, Koutsomiti and Kounoupa, with a meal on the programme.
- Boat rental: A self-drive boat goes out with no licence required of the person at the helm.
- Route control: The group tour keeps to its named stops, while the rental leaves the route to the renter.
- Meal: Food belongs to the group format only, as the rental title lists no meal.
The tour cards and availability boxes on this page list live dates for each format, and a Kos boat trip covers another major island of the same group.
What does the island look like from an Astypalaia boat trip?
An Astypalaia boat trip leaves an island of two broad sections joined at Steno by a strip of land roughly 126 metres wide, with the hilltop town of Chora and its castle above the old harbour and a newer port at Agios Andreas.
The island runs 18 kilometres in length and 13 kilometres across at its widest point. Its land area reaches 97 square kilometres, before the offshore islets are counted.
The butterfly label comes from the outline. At Steno a narrow band of land almost cuts the island in two, leaving two broad wings on either side of a slim waist of ground.
Chora, also called Astypalaia, is the capital and was once the main harbour. It held 1,084 people in 2021 and covers a hill crowned by the castle of the Venetian Querini family.
The castle hill carries older layers too. It was the religious and political centre of the classical city-state, and worked stones from ancient monuments now sit in the castle and older houses.
A new harbour at Agios Andreas, in the middle of the island, now handles connections west to the Athenian port of Piraeus and east to the other islands of the Dodecanese.
- Livadia: The village of Livadia counted 159 residents in 2021.
- Analipsi: Also known as Maltezana, Analipsi counted 111 residents in 2021.
- Vathy: The smallest listed village, Vathy, had 17 residents in 2021.
- Airport: Flights to and from Athens use the airport close to Maltezana.
On an Astypalaia boat trip, the castle hill of Chora and the slim waist at Steno serve as the two main reference points of the butterfly outline.
What history lies behind an Astypalaia boat trip?
An Astypalaia boat trip crosses waters with a long record, from a city-state colonised by Megara or Epidaurus and tied to Rome by treaty, through Byzantine rule, to the Venetian Querini family who bought the island and built its castle.
The oldest story behind an Astypalaia boat trip comes from myth. In Greek myth, Astypalaia was a woman carried off by Poseidon in the form of a winged, fish-tailed leopard.
Settlers came from Megara, or possibly Epidaurus, and inscriptions record the governing system and buildings of their city. A treaty with Rome from 105 BC survives in stone and treats both sides as equals.
In the Middle Ages the island belonged to the Byzantine Empire. Latin rule after the Fourth Crusade in the early 13th century is presumed, yet no document confirms it.
The Latins knew the island as Stampalia. Giovanni Querini, a Venetian nobleman, bought it, named himself its lord and built a castle and palace, shortly before Umur of Aydin raided it in 1334.
- Roman status: Pliny the Elder records that Rome granted the island the status of a free state.
- Family roots: The Querini were an old Venetian patrician family whose traceable history goes back to the 11th century.
- New surname: The family held the island until 1522 and added its name to theirs, becoming Querini Stampalia.
- Coat of arms: A marble Querini coat of arms from the Venetian castle is on show in the island museum.
Ottoman forces took the island in 1522 and ended Querini rule, though the castle still crowns Chora. The Nisyros volcano tour covers another island of the same group.
Which islets and shores does an Astypalaia boat trip reach?
An Astypalaia boat trip moves among a scatter of uninhabited islets, Koutsomyti and Kounoupoi among them, along a rocky coast of small pebble beaches, past harbours at Chora and Analipsi and ancient remains that lie close to the shore.
The islet list for Astypalaia runs to fifteen names besides the main island. Beyond the two tour stops, it includes Agia Kyriaki, Avgo, Glyno, Zaforas, Mesonisi, Plakida, Pontikousa, Stefania, Fokionisia, Khondro and Khondronisi.
Syrna and Ofidoussa are the largest islets in the group, and none of the fifteen has residents. An Astypalaia boat trip toward any of them therefore lands on ground without a village.
Near the small port of Analipsi, also called Maltezana, ancient remains sit close to the water. A late Roman bath at Tallaras lies just east of the harbour, its Helios and Zodiac mosaic now reburied.
About 700 metres north of the same port, the chapel of Agia Varvara stands over the mosaic floor of an early Christian basilica. Its single-piece columns came from an older Hellenistic or Roman building nearby.
- Western tip: Mount Patelos, at the far western end, carries the remains of a fortification older than the Venetian era.
- Basilica floors: Mosaic fragments remain at the ruined basilicas of Karekli, at Schoinountas, and Agios Vasilios, south of Livadi.
- Kylindra: On the west flank of the castle hill, at least 2700 newborns and small children were buried in ceramic pots.
- Sea battle: In September 1943 Greek and British destroyers sank a German convoy near Astypalaia.
An Astypalaia boat trip along this coast pairs bare islets with shoreline sites, from a Roman bath at Analipsi to the castle hill above Pera Gialos.
What do travellers ask about an Astypalaia boat trip?
An Astypalaia boat trip raises four common questions: whether a group tour is on sale, whether a boat can be rented without a licence, why the island counts as butterfly-shaped and who built the castle that crowns Chora.
Is a group Astypalaia boat trip on sale?
Yes. A group Astypalaia boat trip is on sale, and its title names Red Rock, Koutsomiti and Kounoupa as the stops. A meal is part of the format, and passengers share the boat with other members of the group rather than steering it themselves.
Can an Astypalaia boat trip be made in a rented boat without a licence?
Yes. A boat rental without a licence is on sale on Astypalaia, so a visitor with no boating papers can steer the boat without a crew. This Astypalaia boat trip format leaves the order of stops, including the islets, to the renter.
Why is the island of an Astypalaia boat trip called butterfly-shaped?
The outline explains the label. At Steno a band of land roughly 126 metres wide almost separates the island into two sections, so two broad halves spread out on either side of a narrow waist, much like a pair of wings joined at the body.
Who built the castle seen on an Astypalaia boat trip?
Giovanni Querini, a Venetian nobleman, built the castle together with a palace after he bought the island and declared himself its lord. His family held Astypalaia until 1522 and took the name Querini Stampalia from it. The hill it crowns had served as the centre of the classical city-state.