Is Patmos Worth Visiting?

Patmos holds a distinction few places on earth can claim: this is where Saint John wrote the Book of Revelation, and the Greek Parliament formally declared it the Holy Island in 1983 in recognition of that history.

Patmos sits in the northern Dodecanese, and its best known site, the Cave of the Apocalypse, lies halfway between the port of Skala and the hilltop town of Chora. Tradition holds that Saint John, exiled here by the Roman Emperor Domitian around 95 AD, received his visions inside this cave, and three fissures in the rock, said to represent the Holy Trinity, mark the spot where the divine voice reportedly spoke to him. The cave now sits within a monastic complex and has held UNESCO World Heritage status since 1999.

Above it, the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian was founded in 1088 by the monk Christodoulos, who received the entire island as an imperial grant from the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. Built like a fortress with walls 15 meters high, it houses one of the more significant monastic libraries in the world, and monks still live and hold daily services there today. Chora below stays car-free and whitewashed, its alleys lined with mansions built by merchant and ship captain families, and it ranks among the best preserved medieval settlements in the Aegean.

Psili Ammos, on the island's south side, pairs golden sand with clear water and a wilder feel, reachable by a thirty minute walk from Diakofti or by boat, while Lambi's multicolored volcanic pebbles draw snorkelers to the north coast. Patmos has no airport, so most travelers arrive either by overnight ferry from Piraeus or by flying to nearby Kos or Leros and connecting by ferry.

Patmos suits pilgrims and history lovers as much as beach travelers, and the combination of the two is worth at least three to five days to take in properly.