Paros in September

September is the month the wind lets go. That is one reason so many people who have been to Paros in high summer come back in September instead: the meltemi, which blows hard down the Cyclades through July and August and decides whether a boat sails or a beach is usable, softens through the month and is largely spent by the end of it. The sea is still carrying the heat August put into it, with its annual peak just behind. Days are long enough. Nothing has closed yet.

What the month actually does, week by week

The change is gradual rather than sudden, and it runs in one direction, so the fortnight you choose matters.

Ferries want checking rather than assuming. Paros sits on the main Cycladic routes and holds its high-season timetable through the first part of September, but sailings begin to thin in the back half of the month — fast craft first, the conventional boats after — well ahead of the deeper reduction that arrives with the end of the season. Island-hopping and day trips still work throughout. Confirm them against the timetable that is actually running rather than against August's.

What this makes possible

Boat days, mainly. August in the Cyclades regularly means a cancelled sailing or a lumpy, spray-soaked one; by mid-September a full day on the water is a reasonable thing to plan rather than a gamble on the forecast. The north coast and the small islands opposite become properly accessible, and the coves that are unpleasant in a northerly are simply calm.

On land, the practical gain is being able to walk in the middle of the day. The marble path between the inland villages, the quarry country and the long inland ridges are all better propositions once the heat has come off its August ceiling. Windsurfers and kitesurfers, it should be said, want the opposite of all this and time their visits earlier for exactly that reason.

What to watch for

Two things. Evenings turn earlier and cooler than the days suggest, so an outdoor dinner in the last week of the month wants a layer that August never asks for. And the wind, when it does return, still returns properly — an easing meltemi is not an absent one, and a September crossing can still be cancelled. Build a flexible day into a boat-heavy week.

Prices follow the crowd rather than the weather. The first week is still charged as high summer; the last is not. Anyone weighing warm water against price is really choosing between those two ends of the same month, and the middle is where most people land.

Who the month suits

Couples, first of all — the island is agreeable when the harbours are busy but not full, and the terraces at Naousa and Parikia get their evenings back. Anyone whose trip depends on the water. And anyone who wants to see the villages inland, which in August are a heat endurance test and in September are simply a good walk.

Families tied to school terms are the exception, and June generally suits them here — the seasons have their own page, as do the questions of where to base yourself and what a week costs.