Panormitis Monastery

Panormitis Monastery tickets: which one to buy

Entry to the monastery is free; two small museums inside, one of folk objects and one of ecclesiastical treasure, charge a token sum. The monastery sits in a deep bay at the southern end of Symi, twenty kilometres from the main town by a winding mountain road, and most visitors arrive by sea: the day boats from Rhodes call here before or after Symi town, and the stop is included in the excursion price.

Those trips cost a moderate amount and give you about an hour ashore. Buses from Symi town run rarely; taxis and hire cars are the alternative. Simple rooms in the monastery's guest wing can be booked by telephone for a small charge, which is how Greek pilgrims usually come. The guest wing takes pilgrims and walkers, and the small charge includes a simple breakfast at a long table in the refectory.

Visiting Panormitis Monastery: what to see

Panormitis is dedicated to the Archangel Michael, patron of sailors throughout the Dodecanese, and Greek seafarers have prayed here for centuries before voyages. The monastery is first recorded in the fifteenth century and the present buildings are largely eighteenth, a white and ochre complex wrapped around a courtyard paved in black and white pebble mosaic, with a baroque bell tower added in 1911.

Inside the church stands a silver-clad icon of the archangel, nearly life size, surrounded by hundreds of votive offerings: model ships in silver and gold, bottles with messages that were thrown into the sea and are said to have found their way here on their own, and photographs of sailors. A museum room displays them. The bay outside is enclosed and still, with a taverna and a small beach. A monument by the gate remembers the abbot and two monks executed by German occupiers in 1944 for operating a radio for the Allies.

Panormitis Monastery opening hours and the best time to go

Open daily during daylight, with the museums keeping shorter hours and often closing in the early afternoon. The feast of the Archangel on 8 November brings pilgrims from across Greece, and the monastery is also busy around Easter. Day boats from Rhodes arrive in the middle of the day between April and October, and the courtyard is briefly full; before and after that it is very quiet. Winter is almost deserted and some facilities close.

Dress code is enforced, with shoulders and knees covered and wraps lent at the gate. Photography inside the church is forbidden. Allow an hour. Symi town, with its neoclassical houses stacked around the harbour, is the other half of any visit to the island. The bay is sheltered and the water is clear, and most day visitors swim while waiting for the boat back. The mountain road from Symi town is narrow with steep drops, and drivers unused to it should take the boat instead.