Welcome to the beautiful Kalymnos Island

"God used a sieve to create Kos and Kalymnos island.
Looking towards East, he used the good and rich sieved earth, to create KOS island. 
He threw to his backside, the rocks and the bit of earth remained in the sieve to create KALYMNOS island."

This myth accurately describes the morphology of Kalymnos island. A lot of rocky mountains with a bit of cultivated earth. This is the reason that Kalymnians work a lot with the sea and became great rock builders, sailors and worldwide famous divers.  

Your holidays on Kalymnos Island Greece

Kalymnos island is an Unspoiled Picturesque Greek island. A great destination both for families and for outdoor activities.

A perfect destination for Incentive trips and romantic marriages.

It is not a mass tourism - all inclusive destination.  Just think that hotel ELIES  is the biggest hotel on the island!

Build in its own architectural style in a high contrast landscape and with friendly-hospitable people, Kalymnos Island produces extremely high emotions. Visitors love or hate it from the first moment of their arrival.

Some reasons to visit Kalymnos

• A perfect destination for Incentive trips, romantic Marriages and small Conferences.

• Small beautiful beaches with crystal clear water, easy accessible by feet or by taxi boats, crowded or isolated even in August!

• Rich sea beds perfect for snorkeling, free diving and Scuba Diving.

• Worldwide recognized destination for Rock Climbing.

• Explored and unexplored Caves with stalactites and stalagmites.

• Paths to the top of mountains, to isolated monasteries,  and between villages for trekking.

• Rare orchids, wild plants and birds.

• Hundreds of churches and monasteries.

• Castles and Archaeological sites.

• Folklore and Archeological museums.

• Fiestas and events all year round.

• Daily excursions to interesting sites of the surrounding islands like the Cave of Apocalypse in Patmos island, the Asclepieion and the Plane tree of Hippocrates in Kos island,  the volcano craters in Nisyros island, the Palace of the Grand Master in the city of Rhodes,  or the Castle in Bodrum Turkey.

• Rich in variety and rare taste local kitchen in restaurants, fish-taverns and ouzo-taverns.

• Taste and buy the award winning thyme honey of Kalymnos.

• Best value for money for eating and drinking without compromises in quality!
  The average cost for a meal is 10-15 Euro per person for usual food, 20-25 Euro per person for eating fresh fish and lobster.
  The average cost for a coffee or a beer is 1.80 Euro while the average cost for spirits and long drinks is 4 Euro!

• Have your marriage and please your guests in a romantic spot (church or landscape) without spending a fortune !

• Have your dental treatment by high qualified dentists at unbelievably low prices! For sure you will save the money you spent for your trip!

• Have a beauty refresh by high quality qualified dermatologists using high end equipment at unbeatable prices!  

Travel to Kalymnos

Kalymnos island is located to the South Aegean Sea and belongs to the complex of islands known as the Dodecanese islands (12 islands), in which the islands Rhodes, Kos, Karpathos, Kassos, Kastelorizo, Tilos, Chalki, Simi, Nisyros, Astypalea, Leros, Patmos, Lipsi, Arki, Agathonisi, Marathi also belong.
These islands along with hundreds of smaller islands and islets comprise the Prefecture of Dodecanese. There is daily connection with most of Dodecanese islands along with Samos island, Piraeus and the Cyclades islands.  Check our Transportation map for visual information !

Kalymnos island with it's inhabited islands Telendos and Pserimos , is the capital of Kalymnos Courthouse in which the islands  of Astypalea, Leros, Patmos, Lipsi, Arki, Marathi and Agathonisi also belong. You can come to Kalymnos by airplane, hydrofoils, fast Catamaran, ferry boats, Seaplanes and chartered air taxis.

Weather, flight, ferry timetables and other information you need for your trip to Kalymnos are collected on our Travel information folder:
4All ferries to Kalymnos 4Coming to Kalymnos island Greece 4Currency Converter 4default 4Ferry timetable from Pireaus to the Greek islands 4Flights to Kos Kalymnos Standard and Charter flights 4Kalymnos Weather 4Mastichari Kos to Kalymnos island Ferry timetable 4Transportation Map 4Unit Converters  

Diving Kalymnos - The Sponge Divers island

Kalymnos island is famous as The Sponge Diver's Island. Sponge fishery, processing and trading were the main professions on Kalymnos island for hundreds of years now. Kalymnos is actually the last Greek island with active sponge divers. !

Diving and folklore Museums expose our diving heritage and culture while various events during summertime like the Diving Festival and the Skandalopetra freediving Games give you the chance to meet and dive with the traditional sponge diving methods.

The rocky full of caves sea bed, along with our diving background, make Kalymnos island one of the best diving destination in Greece. The Diving Map of Kalymnos that we keep and update on Google Maps, presents a collection of freediving, scuba diving and snorkeling spots.
See also:  Diving Heritage  Freediving  Scuba Diving  Snorkeling  Spearfishing  

Why Kalymnos Island is a top Diving Destination in Greece

Kalymnos island is famous as "The Sponge Diver's Island". Sponge fishery, processing and trading were the main professions on Kalymnos island for hundreds of years now. Sponge Diving is Kalymnos Island Diving Heritage!

For Kalymnians, diving is not an extreme sport. It is part of their life and their culture! !

• Start a discussion with anyone and you will come up with amazing stories and expert advise!
• Try the food for divers in the restaurants and taverns drinking ouzo, retsina and wine while listening to diver's music and dancing diver's dances!
• See paintings, sculpture, art work and films about diving!
• Visit the Diving and Folklore Museums
• Participate in Diving Events like the Diving Festival and the Skandalopetra freediving Games that give you the chance to meet and dive with the traditional sponge diving methods.

Add to this environment and background:

• A clear - high visibility - current free - warm sea
• An excellent rocky sea bed full of caverns, reefs, walls and wrecks
• A rich ecosystem
• High standard diving services with individual care from KALYMNOS Diving Center

and you get one of the best diving destination in Greece which you can enjoy scuba diving, freediving or snorkeling !

Live your Diving Holidays like a Diver on a Divers' Island

Climbing Kalymnos - The Aegean Climbing Paradise

Good news! These full of stalactites caves rocky mountains that were considered to be the back luck for Kalymnos island residents, turned to be a hidden treasure for rock climbing.

Climbers discovered Kalymnos island around 1996 and very quickly rated it as one of the best destinations worldwide for rock climbing. Kalymnos island is named as the Aegean Climbing Paradise.

The 91 mapped sectors until October 2000 with the 1552 routes that we present here, have been doubled already.4 Afternoon 4 Arche 4 Austrians 4 BabyHouse 4 Cave 4 Galatiani 4 Gerakios 4 GrandeGrotta 4 GreyZone 4 Helvetia 4 JurassicPark 4 Kalydna 4 Kasteli 4 Kreissaal 4 Monastery 4 Muses 4 NorthCape 4 Noufaro 4 OceanDream 4 Odyssey 4 Palace 4 Panorama 4 Poets 4 SaintConstantine 4 School 4 TheSeasideKitchen 4 Videos

Browse Kalymnos-island-Greece website click here for instructions

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Everything you want for your next Kalymnos Island getaway is at Hotel ELIES

KALYMNOS DIVING FESTIVAL and SKANDALOPETRA GAMES
July 18-24 2011

See our diving schedule and discounted prices here

Photo Contests of Hotel ELIES and KALYMNOS Diving Center

Winner of our photo contest: Climbing Kalymnos 2011 - Αναρρίχηση στην Κάλυμνο 2011

Wins: 2 week accommodation (double room with breakfast) and 4 intro dives