Hotels near Adamas Town and the Milos Mining Museum

Adamas (also written Adamantas) is where almost every visitor arrives, either off the ferry from Piraeus or on the shuttle from Milos Island National Airport. It stretches around a natural bay that doubles as one of the largest safe harbours in the Mediterranean, and its waterfront is lined with tavernas, gelaterias, dive shops and boat-tour kiosks. Away from the promenade, the small streets behind the port hold Byzantine churches, a bakery selling koulouri warm from the oven, and the excellent Milos Mining Museum. Milos has been mined for obsidian since Neolithic times and for bentonite, perlite and sulphur into the modern era. The museum, run by the Milos Mining Museum foundation, walks visitors through 11,000 years of extraction with tools, films and a room dedicated to the island's geological formation.

Pro Tip: Have lunch at O! Hamos! taverna at the north end of the bay, then walk the 10 minutes back along the water to the mining museum. It is the only cultural site in Adamas with reliable air-conditioning on August afternoons.