Greece › Kos Best Hotels & Towns
Updated: September 2, 2026 • By Santorini Dave
The fantastic Astir Odysseus Resort & Spa is one of my favorite family resorts in Kos.
The Best Areas to Stay in Kos
Kos Town is the best base for most first-time visitors. It’s lively, walkable, and packed with restaurants, shops, ancient ruins, and Italian-era architecture. The harbor is the island’s main ferry hub, and Kos Town is the easiest place to stay without a car. It’s also the center of the island’s excellent cycling network. Best for: first-time visitors, sightseeing, restaurants, nightlife, and car-free stays.
Kos Town.
Kardamena is the liveliest beach resort outside Kos Town, with a long waterfront, lots of restaurants and bars, and several large resorts nearby. The center attracts a younger nightlife crowd, while the bigger resorts outside town are better for families and all-inclusive stays. Best for: nightlife, resorts, and package holidays.
Tigaki is one of the best areas for families, with a long sandy beach and shallow water, about 11 km west of Kos Town. The resort itself is flat and easygoing, with plenty of hotels, tavernas, and shops. It’s convenient for the beach while still being close enough to Kos Town for dinner or sightseeing. Best for: families and relaxed beach holidays.
Mastichari is a small port village on the northwest coast with a broad sandy beach, good tavernas, and a quieter atmosphere than Tigaki or Kardamena. It can be windy, making it popular for windsurfing, and ferries leave from here for Kalymnos. Best for: couples and families looking for a quieter beach base.
Kefalos & Kamari are at the southwest end of Kos, about 40 km from Kos Town. This is the best part of the island for visitors who put beaches ahead of restaurants and nightlife, with Agios Stefanos, Paradise, and several small coves nearby. Kefalos village sits uphill, while most hotels and tavernas are around Kamari Bay below. A rental car is useful here. Best for: beaches, quiet stays, and exploring by car.
Zia is a small mountain village on the slopes of Mount Dikeos with some of the island’s best sunset views. I like it for an afternoon visit and sunset dinner, but I would not choose it as a base for most trips. It’s well inland and requires a drive whenever you want to reach the beach or Kos Town. Come for dinner at Oromedon, then stay closer to the coast.
The 9 Best Hotels in Kos
1. Kos Aktis Art Hotel – Kos Town
Excellent waterfront boutique hotel in central Kos Town, with every room facing the sea and the Turkish coast beyond. Rooms and suites have balconies or terraces, and the new Sea Front Collection rooms add outdoor Jacuzzis and direct sea access. The location is excellent, just a short walk from the harbor, restaurants, and main sights. There is no pool at the hotel, but guests can use the pool at sister property Kos Divine Hotel & Suites, about 400 meters away.
2. Albergo Gelsomino – Kos Town
Small luxury hotel in a beautifully restored 1928 Italian-era building on the Kos Town waterfront. There are just eight rooms and suites, with high ceilings, large windows, and a stylish mix of historic and modern design. The hotel has an excellent restaurant and its own section of sandy beach directly in front. One of the best choices for couples who want to stay in town.
3. Astir Odysseus Resort & Spa – Tigaki
Excellent family-friendly beachfront resort about 6 km from Kos Town. Rooms, suites, and maisonettes are spread around large pools and gardens, with options that include swim-up access and private pools. Lots to do for kids, good facilities, and a convenient location for combining resort time with trips into Kos Town. One of my favorite family resorts on the island.
4. Aqua Blu Boutique Hotel & Spa – Lambi Beach
Excellent 5-star adults-only hotel across from Lambi Beach, about 3 km from the center of Kos Town. All 53 accommodations are suites, with contemporary design, large windows, and balconies or terraces. Some suites have private pools. There’s a large outdoor pool, spa, and excellent restaurant. A great choice for couples who want a quiet luxury hotel within an easy bike or taxi ride of town.
5. Diamond Deluxe Hotel – Lambi Beach
Stylish 5-star adults-only resort on the beach near Lambi, a short drive from Kos Town. Rooms and suites are arranged around a large lagoon-style pool, with several categories offering direct pool access or private pools. There’s also a spa and good on-site dining. Best for couples who want a full resort rather than a small town hotel.
6. Michelangelo Resort & Spa – Agios Fokas
Large beachfront resort in Agios Fokas, about 9 km from Kos Town. The standout feature is the huge infinity pool overlooking the Aegean. Rooms and suites have balconies or terraces, many with sea views, and the resort has several restaurants and bars, a spa, and multiple meal-plan options including all-inclusive. A good choice if the pool and sea views matter more than being within walking distance of town.
7. Grecotel LUXME Kos – Psalidi
Completely revamped for 2026, this large beachfront all-inclusive resort is about 4 km from Kos Town. It now has six pools, a lazy river, several restaurants, extensive gardens, a pebble beach, kids club, and a wide choice of redesigned rooms, family suites, bungalows, and villas. Some accommodations have shared or private pools. One of the best choices in Kos for families wanting a high-end all-inclusive resort.
8. Atlantica Belvedere Resort – Kardamena
Large adults-only beachfront resort about 4 km outside Kardamena. Rooms, suites, and villas are spread across hillside grounds overlooking the sea, with several categories offering shared or private pools. There’s a private beach, large main pool, spa, and multiple restaurants and bars. Best for couples who want a quiet resort stay and don’t need to be within walking distance of Kardamena.
9. Neptune Luxury Resort – Mastichari
Huge beachfront resort about 5 km from Mastichari and 18 km from Kos Town. The 569 rooms, suites, and apartments are spread through extensive gardens, with several pools, two beaches, sports facilities, a spa, kids facilities, and multiple restaurants. Family rooms and apartments make it especially good for longer stays with children, while some upgraded rooms and suites add private pools. One of the island’s best full-service family resorts.
Santorini Dave was started in 2011 when I posted a short guide to visiting Santorini with kids. Now, my site publishes regularly updated guides to 
I’m planning a one-week holiday to Kos and having a hard time getting my head around the layout of the island. Can you help me understand the main towns? And what are the best beaches? Are the beaches located near the main towns (i.e. beach towns) or are the beaches on their own? Where do ferries arrive and depart from? Thanks!
Kos is not a difficult island to navigate and once you are on the ground, its geography is easy to comprehend. Have a look at a map while you read this. Almost all inter-island ferries arrive at the main harbour of Kos Town on the far eastern side of Kos. The only exceptions to this is the ‘local’ scheduled inter-island car and passenger ferry that runs from Mastichari in the middle of the northern coast to Kalymnos and the summer excursion boats that run to neighbouring Nisyros (for the volcano) from Kardamena and Kefalos on the south coast.
There are only two sizeable towns as such: Kos Town and Kardamena. Kos is the capital while Kardamena is a sizeable tourist town with a year-round population (unlike other seaside resorts scattered around the coastline). Major inland villages include the mountain villages of Pyli, Zia and Asfendiou, the central village of Andimachia (next to the airport) and Kefalos in the far south. Along the main East-West highway you will pass through the busy agricultural settlement of Zipari. That’s about it as far as Kos’ towns and villages go.
The summer-mainly settlements of Tingaki and Marmari on the north coast, while ‘permanent’, really only come to life between April and October when they are prime tourist destinations. Same story with the beach annexe to Kefalos called Kamari.
Beaches are scattered throughout the island and ‘best’ depends on how you rate a good beach. As a rule of thumb the best sandy beaches are spread out along the soft underbelly of Kos along the south coast running in a gentle curve and names individually with evocative titles such as Paradise Beach, Magic Beach, Sunny Beach and Exotic Beach. The catch is there is little or no accommodation on these beaches so you have to travel to them from where you are staying. Buses pass by very frequently to and from Kefalos and Kos.
Other beaches around Kos can be hit and miss and are generally inferior to the above beaches. The north coast beaches around Tingaki and Marmari are on the whole a bit exposed and scraggly. Some resort hotels have better beach scenes and they are accessible to the public also. East of Kos Town as far as the headland is a very busy beach scene due in the main to the preponderance of large hotel resorts. These beaches are really only pitched at the hotel scene.
Around the headland running to Agios Fokas you will find some pleasant pebbly and less frequented beachfronts – but not much in the way of cafés or restaurants. Lastly at the far end of the road network turning back westwards you will find one of Kos’ paradoxically more popular beach scenes – the Thermal Springs beach known as Therma. The beach is pebbly and you have to walk a fair way down to get to it, but you can sit in thermal rock pools if the sea water is a bit too chilly for your liking. There a basic cafeteria and loungers to hire.
Beaches on the mid-south coast around Kardamena are probably better than their north coast equivalent as they are protected from prevailing summer winds, but can also be hit and miss. Two nice spots are the Akti Beach Club area, about 4km north-east of Kardamena and the area around the Lakitira resort 4 km south of Kardamena. Lovers of solitary beaches might try the remote beach scene of Agios Theologos where there is a very good beach tavern
Finally, Kos is a popular bicycle island because it is relatively flat all around the coastline. Hire shops abound. The most popular cycling route is along the north coast from Kos Town to Mastichari.