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Week-long sailing trip through the Cyclades from Lavrion to Naxos, via Makronisos, Kythnos, Serifos, Sifnos and Antiparos. The trip's greatest highlight: a freshly caught tuna, caught on the way to Kythnos and eaten the same day in Loutra, prepared raw and Mediterranean-style.

Sailing area: Mediterranean, Aegean
Country: Greece
Departure: Lavrion Marine
Destination: Naxos
Route: Lavrion → Makronisos → Kythnos (Loutra) → Serifos → Sifnos → Antiparos → Naxos
Nautical miles: 180
Travel dates: 16.05.2026 – 23.05.2026
Sailing yacht: Monohull, Bavaria Cruiser, 45 feet
Charter company: Dream Yacht Charter
Organiser: Skipper-Alliance

Departure from Lavrion Marina Lavrion lies just 45 minutes from Athens Airport, making it an uncomplicated starting point for sailing holidays in the Cyclades. For the first evening, there was no long passage ahead, just a short hop to the uninhabited island of Makronisos.

First evening off Makronisos On the northeast side of Makronisos, the anchor went down for the first time. The crew had only known each other for a few hours, and cooking together that evening – chopping vegetables, setting the table, a glass of wine to hand – created the first real connection. A quiet start that also added an extra day on the water, instead of spending the first night in harbour.

Kythnos: The day the tuna struck The next day, the course was set for Kythnos, past Kea, with a decent north-northwesterly. The trolling line had been trailing since departure, more out of habit than any real expectation. After roughly two and a half hours came the sound: the line went taut with a jolt – a tuna had taken the bait.

Playing the fish, hauling it in, killing it with as little suffering as possible, and finally filleting it right on the quay in Loutra – the whole process had half the crew transfixed. The fish was prepared in two ways that same evening: once as sashimi, once in classic Mediterranean style with olive oil, lemon and toasted bread. The full story, including how to process a tuna properly, is in our blog article on the subject.

Onwards via Serifos and Sifnos After Kythnos, the route led on to Serifos, with its main town Chora perched above the bay, and then to Sifnos, where quiet, rarely visited anchorages can still be found away from the main spots. Two days, two completely different landscapes.

Antiparos before the final destination The last stop before Naxos was Antiparos, the small, quieter sister island of Paros, far less busy than its neighbour. A good final anchorage before returning to busier waters.

Arrival in Naxos After just under a week and around 180 nautical miles, the sailing trip ended in Naxos, the largest of the Cyclades, with good facilities for the last night aboard and the transition back ashore.

Conclusion A sailing trip in the Cyclades can be planned: route, harbours, anchorages. What cannot be planned is a tuna that happens to strike on precisely that day. It is exactly this mix of the plannable and the unexpected that makes every passage through this sailing area different.