What to see on Delos in the three hours the boat gives you
Between the 10:00 boat docking and the 13:30 one sailing you have about three hours. Delos is big and there is no shade, so it pays to have a route in mind. This is the one the guided visits follow, in order.
The Terrace of the Lions and the Temple of Apollo
The marble lions guarding the sacred lake are the image of Delos: there were more, and those in the open air are copies (the originals are in the museum, closed today). Next to them, the sanctuary of Apollo, the island’s reason for being, where according to myth the god was born. It is the flat part and the first thing you see from the jetty.
The theatre quarter and the mosaic houses
Climbing towards the mountain is the residential quarter of the Hellenistic city, with the houses of Dionysus, Cleopatra and the Dolphins and their floor mosaics, and the ancient theatre cut into the hillside. It is where you best understand that Delos was a city, not just a sanctuary. This is where the guided visit adds most.
Mount Kynthos
The hill that dominates the island, with the Temple of Isis on its slope and, at the top, the view of the whole site, Rhenia and Mykonos. You climb ancient steps; in heat and without shade, allow a long half hour up and down. With the three-hour boat it is the first thing to sacrifice; with the afternoon boat, it is where to be at sunset.
The three-hour route
From the jetty to the sanctuary of Apollo and the lions (flat, half an hour), then the theatre quarter and the houses (an hour), and with what is left, Mount Kynthos or back past the sacred lake. Water and a cap from the boat onwards. And watch the clock: the return boat does not wait and the next one is the one on your ticket, not another.