For Skiathos businesses · Free · Nothing to buy on this page
The year you actually work, with the real numbers next to it.
The four figures that decide the year
Climate figures as published on the best time to visit, where the sources and confidence levels are set out
The whole page in five bullets
Twenty seconds. The month-by-month cards are further down.
Four stretches, and they behave completely differently. The easiest mistake is a good job done in the wrong one.
Out of season. Around 5,000 people live here through the winter, so the town keeps going and the coast does not. The only stretch where you will get anything finished.
The island wakes up. The bus season opens on 1 May, every 30 minutes, and tightens through the month. Small crowds, so a mistake costs almost nothing.
Full. Buses every 15 minutes from late June to early September, roughly 07:00 to midnight. You are running the business, not changing it.
Closing down. The bus drops back to every 30 minutes from 3 October and most resort businesses close in the first half of the month.
The two things the weather figures do not tell you. The sea is on the chart above, and all five averages are on every month card below.
| Month | Visitors | Prices |
|---|---|---|
| January | Empty | Cheapest tier |
| February | Empty | Cheapest accommodation of the year |
| March | Empty | Cheapest tier |
| April | Very quiet, island waking up | Low, strong value |
| May | Quiet to moderate | Moderate, good value |
| June | Moderate to busy | Rising, still below peak |
| July | Busy | High |
| August | Busiest of the year | Peak of peak |
| September | Busy early, quieter late | High early, falling late |
| October | Quiet, closing down | Low, strong value |
| November | Empty | Cheapest tier |
| December | Empty | Cheapest flights, early December |
The numbers, what the island is doing, and the two or three things worth doing that month. Day is the average high, night the average low, sea the surface temperature, rain is days with rain rather than millimetres, and sun is hours of sunshine a day.
Every card shows the same five averages, and nothing here costs money
Resort infrastructure is shut. Town supermarkets, kafenia and a handful of tavernas serve the roughly 5,000 people who live here through the winter. The cheapest flights and rooms of the year.
The coldest sea of the year and the cheapest rooms of the year. Shops open for a few hours in the late afternoon. Carnival season builds toward Clean Monday.
Still out of season, but the island starts moving. Wildflowers, green hillsides and good walking temperatures. 25 March is a national holiday and the feast of the Evangelistria monastery.
Hotels start reopening through the month, partially. Greek Easter, whenever it falls, is the practical trigger for the season. Rainfall drops sharply from March. 23 April is the feast of Saint George, with horse races.
The bus season opens on 1 May, every 30 minutes, and tightens through the month. Most hotels and tavernas are open by mid-month. Ten hours of sun a day and the pine forest at its greenest. The sea at 18°C is swimmable, not warm.
Everything open, nothing yet rammed. Charter routes at full stretch and the bus down to every 15 minutes by late June. Prices climb through the month and the meltemi season begins.
The driest month of the year, 19mm across four days. Every taverna and beach bar open, buses every 15 minutes from about 07:00 to midnight, and the Bourtzi summer programme running. The bus is standing room from about 5pm.
The warmest sea of the year and the worst crowds. Every venue on the island is open, at maximum. The fortnight before 15 August is the single busiest and priciest stretch of the Skiathos year, because Dekapentavgoustos puts mass Greek demand on top of charter demand. Ferries and rooms sell out months ahead.
The sea is still 24°C after a summer of heating, which is warmer than June. Crowds drop sharply after the first week and prices fall with them. Only three rainy days. Everything stays open, thinning from late in the month. 7 September is the Katsonia commemoration.
A month of two halves. The sea is still 21°C, warmer than May, and it is among the cheapest package months. But rainfall doubles from September, the bus drops to every 30 minutes from 3 October, most resort businesses close in the first half, and charter flights end during the month.
Out of season, domestic flights only, ten rainy days. 21 November is Panagia Eikonistria, the patron saint, and the biggest genuinely local festival of the year. The sea is still 18°C, the same as May.
The wettest month of the year, 97mm across ten days, and four hours of daylight sun. Almost everything coastal is shut. Tavernas open in the evening and the old harbour stays alive. The cheapest flights of the year fall in early December.
Rainfall and sunshine are monthly averages, so a wet week in July is not a broken figure. The two months carrying a low confidence flag on this site are January's overnight low, sea and rain days, and August's daytime high. Everything else is as published on the best time to visit.
One is the month everybody talks about. The other is the one that pays, and it is the one most businesses here under-sell.
The busiest and hottest stretch of the year. The sea at 26°C, only 3 rain days, every venue open at once. The fortnight before 15 August puts mass Greek demand on top of charter demand.
Nothing new survives that. A new menu, supplier, till or member of staff all fail in the one week you cannot afford a failure. Do the new thing in May.
Look at the pattern in the warnings we publish. Slow to bring the bill. Chaotic when full. Long queues at peak lunch. Nobody complains about your service in May.
A review is written days or weeks after the meal. Quality that slips in the third week of August lands on your page in September, and it is still there next April.
September's sea is 24°C. June's is 22°C. Warmer to swim in than June, with a smaller crowd, and the same 3 rain days as August.
Visitors assume the water cools when the schools go back. It does not. The sea is still giving back the heat of July and August.
The rest of the business half of this guide. All free, all written for an owner rather than an analyst.
The research, the season calendar, the free five, and how to get listed or corrected. Nothing to buy.
GuideSix jobs, in order, that fit in one winter afternoon. So people and assistants can find you and describe you correctly.
Guide1,195 questions and 262 published warnings, handed back to the people who serve them.
GuideWhat it actually is, what it is good at, and five jobs it can do for you this week for nothing.
GuideSoftware that takes the action, not just the words. The three jobs to hand one first, and what must stay human.
If you run a hotel, a taverna, a boat, a car hire or a shop on Skiathos, send a message and ask. What to fix this month. Whether an idea is worth the effort. Which weeks are worth pushing. It is a free consultation, there is no charge and there is no sales pitch.
A message is the whole mechanism. There is no form, no account and no sign-up anywhere on this site. Answers are in English, and they may take a day or two in August.