Katharos beach is typical of
Santorini with dark pebbles, rocks and imposing cliffs at the rear. It's located on the west coast but up in the north of Thira, close to
Oia. It's around 16km from the islands capital
Fira and that would take around half an hour in the car.
The main section is around 250m long but the beach itself continues on for a lot longer than that. It's a quiet and unorganised beach with no tavernas, sun beds, umbrellas and certainly no water sports.
Although there's no taverna on the beach there is one on the path that leads to the beach and it's only around 50m away. Parking is available close to the taverna with about a dozen spaces and that's normally more than enough.
Getting to Katharos beach is pretty straight forward, just head for
Ammoudi and you should see the little sign post pointing the way just before you get to Ammoudi. Once parked, walking down to the beach can be a little tricky as the path is quite steep and unpaved so take it slowly and carefully.
Another thing to be aware of is that Katharos beach is sometimes used by nudists, they usually try to stay away from the main section so as not to bother anyone but if that offends you or you have young children then this may not be the beach for you.