Staying at Xinara House – Practical Information
AIRPORTS The nearest international airports are Mykonos and Athens. Mykonos is a busy quick airport (Apr-Oct), 20-minute by taxi, or bus to Mykonos New Port, then a 30-minute ferry to Tinos. Also helicopters flyhoper.com Athens Airport is a 25-minute taxi ride or 35-minute by bus to Rafina Port, then 2-4 hrs by ferry to Tinos. Rafina has good fish tavernas. Syros, 30 minute by ferry, has connecting flights to Athens. Note, ferries and planes can be late in summer. Before booking flights check connecting ferry times on openseas.gr
ATHENS A lively interesting city, good for a stopover. Normally reached via Rafina port (or maybe fly to or from Mykonos or Syros). It's hot in summer, though easy to get around – taxis, are everywhere and cheap. There's also a Metro, which goes to the airport.
BABIES + BABYSITTING We have cots and high chairs. For babysitters and child help please ask.
BEACHES There are a huge variety, from lonely coves to lively beaches with bars, music and loungers. Our nearest, a few minutes by car, Kolymbithra has a bit of everything - a long stretch with a beach bar, then just sand (they do some surfing here too), plus two smaller beach the first with a taverna. Over on the other side of the island is a kilometre of sand at Ay. Fokas (20 minutes); halfway along is excellent Marathia restaurant. If it's windy, check the direction - generally the leeward beaches are on the SW side. We've different towels for beaches + the pool. Please avoid bringing beach sand into the house as it damages the floors, etc.
BEDROOMS + BATHROOMS Bed linen + bathroom towels are changed every few days. If you need anything please ask the housekeeper.
BEFORE YOU ARRIVE Xinara manager, Jenny Prinea will SMS or WhatsApp about your arrival and meeting up, and can help with local information, reservations, etc
BOATS You can charter a boat to go round Tinos, to distant beaches, or the Roman archeological ruins on DELOS island which usually includes Rrinia island for a quiet swim with snacks and refreshments. The price depends on how many people. Best for a group. Depends on good sailing condition. Ask us to arrange during your stay
BREAKFAST The housekeeper comes to provide breakfast from 9am each day. For anything special, please ask the manager when you arrive.
CATS We've lots of cats in Xinara Village. They're loved and all regularly fed, though residents don't let them indoors. Cats present a serious housekeeping problem – so please do as the locals do.
CHEF Ask if you'd like a meal prepared for your group. Best reserved 7 - 10 days in advance – we can help with this before you arrive.
CLEANING The Housekeeper will do some maintenance cleaning and tidying while visiting to make breakfast. If you would like her to do more, such as washing clothes, etc. please arrange this with the manager (€30 an hour paid by card before departure).
CAR RENTAL We mostly use helpful, professional Vidalis Car Rental.
CLIMBING EXOMVOURGO If you fancy bouldering/ training on our mountain, look on www.exomvourgo.com. Walk up to the base from tracks at each end of the village. Manthos, Antonis and Roza organize climbing excursions on Exomvourgo just above us – for teens and older. Call +30 6947440962
CLOTHES WASHING Use the washing machines, or the manager can organise laundry. The washing machine can do a one-hour wash + dry for small loads. There will be washing liquid nearby, and a steam iron plus ironing board.
COFFEE MACHINE Press any button to start. Check there's water in the tank at the back. Use cold tap-water. Lift the hinged front at the top and put in a coffee capsule, and press to start when the light stops flashing (it takes a couple of minutes to warm up). Lifting the top automatically ejects the previous capsule, but every so often you'll need to pull out the front and discard used ones. You can also use it for dispensing hot water for tea etc.
COOKING SERVICE If you would like a meal prepared please discuss this with the manager who may be able to arrange a local cook.
COOLING Leave the remote on 'auto' and set the temperature you want. Only works with the windows closed. The system uses a highly-efficient heat exchanger that uses little power but can take a while to achieve the desired temperature.
ELECTRICAL 240v. Occasionally there are fluctuations and short outages. In which case there are rechargable table lamps
EMERGENCY In the event of fire use the fire blankets in the kitchen or any of the fire extinguishers. and call Jenny Prinea +30 697 7514326 straightaway.
Fire Brigade +30 22830 23129
Tinos Police Station +30 22830 22100
Coast Guard +30 22830 22348
Tinos Health Centre + Hospital +30 22833 60000
Road Assistance +30 22830 22222
ENTERTAINMENT There are several printed and online guides (Tinos Today) for summer activities, shows, music etc. Most of the 50-odd villages put on an evening party each summer with drink, food, traditional music and dancing for locals. Visitors are welcome. These 'panigyri' are announced on village boards, telegraph poles or word of mouth.
ENVIRONMENT Xinara House is powered with green electricity with a heat exchanger for electricity, cooling and heating. Rainwater is collected from the roofs and filtered to supplement our own and the village's mountain springs - this is used for the pool, bathrooms and kitchens, and to irrigate the grounds. The gardens are organic. Our hens provide most of the eggs.
FERRY TICKETS - AGENT + ONLINE BOOKING For ferry times use openseas.gr or ferriesingreece.com. It's best in high summer/ bank holidays if travelling with a car to buy tickets in advance. Also for the small fast summer ferries. Otherwise get them near the port. There are many agencies - we use Tinos's helpful Malliaris Travel on the front in the centre of town +30 2283 024241 who will know about changes or cancellations.
FIREPLACE You are welcome to light a winter wood fire in the living room. Keep the glass fire doors closed to avoid smoke and damage the floor or rug. Ask the housekeeper.
FOOD + FOOD SHOPPING There's salt, pepper, sugar, coffee, tea, and various non-perishable ingredients in stock. Large Sklavenitis supermarket is 10 minutes, on the way into town (generally 8am – 8pm), but beware, supermarkets and most shops close Sundays and holidays. However a few small shops do open in town on Sunday in the broad road that runs up to the shrine church, Panagia Evangelistria. There's a good bakers' and excellent dairy shop for example. The vegetable market near the bus station + ferry port has locally-grown produce (8am till 3pm + Sundays in summer). There's a fish shop going down into town opposite a garden shop. You can sometimes buy fish off the boats in the old harbour between 9 -10 am.
THE GARDENS Enjoy everywhere in the Xinara House gardens and help yourself to whatever fruit and vegetables are ready. Do not take cushions form the house outside. In the event of rain please put exterior cushions under cover.
GAS Only the hobs (+ BBQ grill) are gas. It runs from cylinders. Call housekeeping if it is losing power - it can be simply switched to another bottle.
HEATING Leave the remote on auto and set the temperature you want. Only works with the windows closed. The system uses a highly-efficient heat exchanger that uses little power but can take a while to achieve the desired temperature.
HOUSEKEEPING +30 697 7514326 Jenny Prinea The price of the stay includes accommodation, full normal cleaning before and after your stay, breakfast ingredients, etc. When we arrange catering, excursions and other activities the cost of these will be clearly explained beforehand, and must be paid for by the time you depart. We reserve the right to use pre-arrange credit on your payment card for these services. Additional domestic help - cleaning, babysitting, helping with meals (excluding breakfast), shopping, etc is charged at €25 per hour.
ISLANDS Frequent ferries go to nearby Syros - the administrative capital of the local islands with squares, a huge Town Hall, old villas and pleasant restaurants, and Mykonos, hugely busy in summer with cruise ships, hundreds of shops + big clubs) for a night/ all-night out. A ferry service from Mykonos old port goes across to tiny Delos(see above; BOATS). Further off are large rural Naxos and Paros islands, or, on the way to the mainland Andros (there's no quick boats across the narrow sound between Tinos and Andros). There are two Athens ports. Use Rafina for Athens Airport. Bigger Piraeus is nearer Athens centre but takes longer. It has dozens of destinations.
KEYS + SECURITY Keep the front door key with you, and lock all the other doors from the inside. The safe is downstairs above the washing machine. If you lose your key call housekeeping. There's very little crime on Tinos, but of course, you never know.
A MASSAGE By a qualified masseuse at Xinara House; Ask us to arrange
MEDICAL/ FIRST AID The first-aid kit is in the kitchen toilet. Pharmacies in the town are helpful and sell numerous normally-prescription drugs. They will suggest a doctor if you need one. There's also the 24-hour Heath Centre at the east end of town.
MUSIC, ETC In the Sala (main room) or kitchen just call out 'Hey Siri' or 'Siri' then what you wish to hear, example 'Siri, play Amy Winehouse'. You can also ask it to turn the volume up and down etc, ask the weather, set an alarm, and so on. You can also cast stuff from an Apple phone to it. There's no screen or keyboard. In the Blacksmiths is a BOSE smart speaker that you can Bluetooth pair with your phone.
OUTDOOR BBQ GRILL Umnder the tree outside the kitchen is a traditional oven incorporating a good-sized gas grill which can be used for a couple of big fishes, meat.and vegetables.
PESTS Mosquitos are occasionally around (note; the larger ones do not bite). Out walking in summer you may come across smallish vipers with a criss-cross pattern down their back - avoid them! Other snakes are safe. If you're bitten go straight to the Health Centre in the town, though there is a snake venom extractor syringe in the first-aid box which will help.
RESTAURANTS xinarahouse.com/restaurants is our reatuarant guide. We have a Xinara village restuarant. Tavernas can often do takeaways. Between mid-July to the end of August you'll need to book for most places. Some village tavernas are closed from 15 September.
SHOPPING Sklavenitis supermarket is on the left going down into Tinos Town (Chora, ‘hora’) then a fish shop 175m further into town. In the centre, Karybu 'koncept' store has good beachwear and summer clothes, is excellent Katsika clothes shop, and opposite is French-owned Trela with antiques, homeware, accessories and some clothing. These aren't far from the pedestrian street leading up to the church lined with curious old-fashioned religious and gift shops with candles, votives, linen, etc. In the opposite dirction from Xinara is Volax village in an area with huge spherical boulders littering the landscape. It has local-made baskets and herb stalls. Pyrgos, towards the other end of Tinos, has an antique shop amongst boutiques offering marble ware, soap, scents, honey, etc.
PRIVATE SWIMMING POOL The 1.4m-deep water is UV and (mildly) chlorine treated spring-water, though please shower beforehand. And use the house beach towels and the coloured-plastic pool glasses. Please do not allow under-12s to use it unsupervised, and do not walk round the rocky outer wall. There's a small fridge and USB connection for your phone. Sometimes, in the event of especially low rainfall, the pool may be closed.
TAXIS Are reasonable and mostly based in the main town 'Chora': +30 2283022470, or +30 693 8870222
TOILETS Toilet paper may be flushed down toilets, but not other paper products such as nappies, tampons, etc.
TV/ CINEMA SCREEN There is Netflix, etc. Use the larger projector remote just to turn it on. Then use the small Apple silver remote. When you have finished just walk away – it will turn off. You can also cast from your phone.
NOTE: Use the ON button, but leave the other settings untouched. Do not move the projector or make any adjustments to it apart from focusing occasionally (it's really fiddly to reset).
WALKING There's 150 km of old marble tracks on Tinos. If you simply walk down the village a short way there's a track up past a church and round the right-hand side of the mountain to the opposite side you come to a monastery. A track continues up to the top of Exomvourgo, past the ancient ruined Kastro, to where you see a dozen surrounding islands and look down to our village. Xinara House gardens are alongside the old stone donkey track that leads down to town one way (1¼ hrs) and across to the beautiful quiet beach at Livada the other way (1¾ hrs). It also connects with several other ancient routes. Or walk from the village road down through the valley to Komi for a drink or food. For more information on walking in Tinos: www.tinostrails.gr/
WATER No need to buy bottled water; the water at Xinara is clean filtered spring water from the mountain. The house fridge has chilled extra-filtered water and an ice machine in the freezer drawer.
WIFI + PRINTING XinaraHouse Wifi (password: xinarahouse) works inside and out, nearly everywhere. If you want to print a boarding pass, etc, click HP Printer in your device print-dialogue (it should work anywhere so long as you are wifi connected.
WINE, BEER + RAKI There's been a renaissance of Tinos wines, some organic and raw, with newly established vineyards using ancient varieties with modern techniques. We can arrange vineyard tours with nearby Messarea, Volacus (who supply us) and T-ionos. Conversely the farmers' market has low-priced local wine in plastic bottles, including some excellent rose (check if it is sweet or dry). Nissos Beer is an award-winning brewery on the island producing organic beers. Aromatic raki is produced everywhere (the village of Falatados's production is locally famous - they hold a festival around 8 September) and is delicious served over ice. Meanwhile we provide Tinos's highly-rated Volacus rose (or white). It can also be purchased: €24 per 75cl bottle. using ancient varieties with modern techniques. We can arrange vineyard tours. The produce market also has low-priced local wine in plastic bottles, including some excellent rose (check if it is sweet or dry). Nissos Beer is an award-winning brewery on the island producing organic beers. Aromatic raki is produced everywhere (the village of Falatados's production is locally famous - they hold a festival around 8 September) and is delicious served over ice. We provide Tinos's highly-rated Volacus rose. It can also be purchased: €24 per 75cl bottle.
YOGA + PILATES We have mats. Please ask if you'd like to book a class.
XH August 2025
