Aegina Beaches Greece - visit the Agia Marina
More on Aegina - Accommodation - Car Hire - Day Trips - Night Life - Introduction
Aegina may not boast the finest beaches in Greece but there's enough going on down at the waterfront to keep most visitors happy. Whether you want a banana ride, barbecued octopus in a waterfront taverna or a boat trip to a Robinson Crusoe island you'll find it all here.
The most frantic beachfront activity takes places on the east coast at the island's major package holiday resort of Agia Marina. Here you can jet ski, water ski, go fishing in one of the local "caiques" or just lie back and enjoy your takeaway fish and chips on the crowded beach. Every imaginable sports and leisure facility is laid on here for the seasonal influx of (mainly British) tour groups.
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Many of the hotels organise their own beach-based activities (beach barbecues, firework parties, boat trips etc) and some have in-house health spas with saunas, jacuzzis, steam rooms and an array of wrinkle-reducing therapies. At the luxurious Argo Hotel spa you can pay through the nose to be smothered in mud and health-giving Dead Sea minerals, take a Turkish bath or treat your muscles to an underwater massage.
The Aegina Scuba Diving Club, on Agia Marina's main street, caters for complete beginners and experienced divers with a range of courses and accompanied dives. There are daily limited-depth beginners' dives during high season and if you're a qualified diver you can just rent the equipment or fill your air tanks and do your own thing. The club also offers excursions to explore the local underwater caves, walls and reefs.
You won't find the same wealth of watersports and leisure activities elsewhere around the island but there are other sand and pebble beaches dotted around the coastline where you can spend a day sun soaking and swimming away from the package holiday hordes.
Marathonas, five kilometres south of Aegina Town, is the biggest beach on the west coast offering a few tavernas and rooms to rent in a much more peaceful environment than that of Agia Marina. The island's prettiest beach is nine kilometres further south down the west coast at Perdika where a sprinkling of excellent fish tavernas line the attractive pedestrianised waterfront esplanade. This is a lovely place to enjoy a leisurely meal, watching the sun go down over the Peloponnese and the tiny uninhabited island of Moni.
You can visit Moni via a 10-minute caique ride from Perdika. There are some good hiking trails and a small sandy beach with wonderfully clear water for swimming. There's a small snack bar but you'll be better off taking your own picnic if you plan to stay a while. Make an arrangement with the boatman to pick you up (and don't pay him till he does!). Much of the islet is fenced off to protect the wild birds and Kri-Kri (wild, curly-horned Cretan goats) that live here.
You can also take a boat ride over to the larger island of Angistri (15 minutes by catamaran from Aegina Town) where you'll find better, less crowded beaches than on Aegina.
The kids will no doubt prefer to spend the day at the water park at Faros, south east down the coast from Aegina Town, where there's a huge pool, water slides and enough entertainment to keep the whole family happy for hours.
Greek Guide
North Eastern Aegean Greek Islands 
