The population is between 300 and 350 during the winter but increases dramatically in the summer months. During July and August the number of tourist visitors reach over 3,000 per day. Many people visit the island for its light coloured, sandy beaches. Among the most well known of its beaches are Sarakiniko, Fragos and Panagias Nissia, all filled with blue-green waters.
Elafonisos is by far the largest inhabited island in the Peloponnese archipelago, and the only one that is a separate municipality. There are also some archaeological discoveries to explore on the island and in the surrounding waters. The main church of the community is Agios Spyridon, which is built on a tiny separate piece of land which is connected by a bridge over shallow waters to the rest of the island. The community's land area also includes 3 km2 of the mainland consisting mainly of the famous Punta Beach.
On the nearby mainland, approximately 6.5 km east is Neapoli of the municipality of Vatika. About 8.5 km south is Cape Frangos on the island of Kythira.
In antiquity, Elafonisos did not constitute an island but a peninsula with the name "Onou Gnathos" (Greek: Όνου Γνάθος) (Donkey's Jawbone) according to Pausanias. Just off the coast of Elafonissos lies the archeological site of Pavlopetri, a sunken city dating back to the early 3rd millennium BC and thought to have been claimed by the sea around 1000 BC.
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