Nossa Beach Bar – Anavyssos, Greece

Last weekend, we decided to try a new beach not too far from Nea Ionia. Normally, we head to towards Loutza Beach at Artemida (Attica) for various reasons but the traffic there can be insane and finding a parking spot can take forever. So instead of Loutza, we aimed for a place called Anavyssos, down near the south coast of mainland Greece in the Attica region.

The drive was a little bit further, but taking the Attica Road (a toll road) meant the drive seemed far more comfortable than our usual drive to Loutza – and the best of all, when we arrived, there was plenty of parking! The final road we took practically ended at Nossa Beach Bar – and there were loads of parking spots available. We were able to find one immediately, right across the street from the beach bar.

When we went last week, we arrived a bit late (departed late) at 4pm, and there were also a lot of sunbeds available. We found the scenic view to be much nicer than Loutza, as was the sea in general.

So a week later, we decided to give it another try and arrived earlier, at about 1pm. While quite busy, there were spaces available, and we got comfortable, claimed a set of the ubiquitous blue nylon fabric reclining sunbeds, and then went for a swim in the sea. The water seemed notably warmer than last week – and while there was a breeze creating a bit of wavy chop on top, hanging out in the sea was wonderful. It was a great afternoon with the sun shining brightly and no clouds to be seen in the sky.

Nossa Beach Bar Costs

Normally, staff from a beach bar or “kafe” make their rounds to occupied sunbeds and there is usually either a minimum food and drink cost per set of 2 sunbeds, or a sunbed rental fee plus refreshments and food if you want it. My understanding is that Nossa generally charges 10 Euros per set of two as a “rental” fee and then you can order refreshments including alcoholic beverages on top of that.

However, none of the staff visited our sunbed, and some might think of this as poor service if they were waiting to order something. However, the kafe or bar is not any long distance away by any means, and it’s an easy 30 to 60 second walk from any part of the beach where the Beach Bar has it’s sunbeds out.

We waited until about 5 pm and ended up going into the beach bar, ordering what they called a “homemade lemonade” – 4 Euros each, along with 2 bottles of water at 50 cents a piece. In my opinion, while the lemonade was refreshing, it was quite dear at 4 Euros a piece for something that was mostly ice. Next time, I’d probably squeeze my own.

Atmosphere at Nossa Beach Bar

Like most of the beaches I’ve been to in Greece, it’s a mixed crowd of families, younger people out for a nice day, some middle aged folks, some elderly, and some couples that just want to hang out on their own, get some sunrays, while going for a dip in the sea every so often.

The beach itself is quite long – we didn’t feel any need to check out any of the other “sections” or areas where other beach bars or cafes were located, and there are some crowds in the various sections. Nossa Beach Bar, while there quite a few people, didn’t really seem crowded – I’ve seen worse – and getting from our sunbed into the sea was no big deal.

There is music constantly playing which might annoy some; especially the style of music being mostly an electro genre – but the speakers were far enough away that it didn’t bother me much.

The beach itself is mostly sand which I like. The bottoms of my feet are ultra-sensitive and even small gravel at beaches can really bother them – I’ve tried many times over the years to find ways to “toughen” up my feet – but nothing has ever worked. So it’s either sand beaches or water footwear for me. Although there were some stones mixed in with the sand, it was not an issue, and walking barefoot was fine.

At around 4pm, something interesting occurs at almost all the Greek beaches I’ve been to: People start disappearing. Although the sun is still shining bright, and not even close to setting, the beaches start to empty. I’m told that this is because people want to leave and go eat somewhere else – perhaps at home, or at a nearby taverna. This was the case once again, at the beach at Anavyssos, and while I wouldn’t say we had the beach and the sea to ourselves, there were certainly plenty of sunbeds available for anyone just arriving.

And from my opinion, 4pm is just a good time as any to get some rays, and enjoy the warm sea! Or the scenery.

Next time, I’ll try to get there earlier and take photos of the opposite direction – it’s absolutely beautiful, the difficult to take while facing the sun in the sky.

Final Thoughts On Anavyssos Area

I can’t wait to go again, actually. While we did drive through Anavyssos on our our return to Nea Ionia, and headed over towards Cape Sounion before going north, I can’t say too much about the town itself. Perhaps on another visit, leaving much earlier in the day, I’ll do a bit of exploring in the area.

For us, getting to the beach was a bit longer than going to Loutza, but the drive was relaxing and it was awesome not to have to fight traffic and panic over a parking spot.

The scenery is really nice, and the sea is great – it doesn’t get deep right away, but with a few steps out into the sea, I can be thigh deep instead of just ankle deep like other places. Swimming and relaxing in the sea is not crowded at all, even with the number of people that were there. The town of Anavyssos and the beach is located on a bay of the Saronic Gulf coast.

Maybe I’ll take a little trip down there again this week with my camera, and do a bit more exploring.

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