This year set new records for Greek tourism. Mykonos, Santorini, Corfu and other hotspots were packed to overflowing. All great for the beleaguered Greek economy — but what if you’re longing for an island that’s not a cruise-ship port of call or barnacled with international chains, hotels and all-inclusive resorts? What if you need simple pleasures and no hordes, just space to recharge your batteries and rekindle your joie de vivre?
A few — Agathonisi, Kastos, Agios Efstratios — score 20 on a scale of 1 to 10; little islands with basic rooms to rent and a couple of tavernas. The catch? They’ll take you two or three days to reach from the UK. But there are islands a day’s travel away that give them a run for their money, with quiet beaches and ancient pathways that are a delight to explore in spring and autumn, when it’s too cool to swim (or not, if you’re a fan of cold-water dips). Hotels and tavernas are nearly all family ventures, many now in their third generation. Life is slow and friendly, and at night you barely need to move to see the skies blazing with stars.
Being too small or mountainous for an international airport helps decisively in shielding an island from overdevelopment or the fly-and-flop crowds. A little extra effort is required, journey-wise — a ferry, hydrofoil or high-speed catamaran — but that’s a cinch if you book a package that handles the transfers.
The caveat: quirks in the weather or boat schedules may result in needing to spend a night near to (or at) the airport. Next summer, though, Hellenic Seaplanes — based in Alimos, 40 minutes from Athens airport — is scheduled to begin service and, with no runway required, getting to the likes of Patmos within hours from the UK will be easier than ever. In the meantime, here are ten islands refreshingly untouched by tourism, all within a day’s journey from the UK, for a soul-satisfying dose of Greece.
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1. Symi, Dodecanese
Best for foodies
Some islands are unspoilt because there isn’t any space to spoil. Such is Symi, an hour and a quarter’s voyage from Rhodes. The pint-sized island is an extraordinary vision as you enter the harbour, with houses painted salmon, lemon, oxblood, ochre and indigo seemingly touching the sky.
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The ascent of Kali Strata — 375 “Good Steps”, as the Greeks euphemistically call the stone staircase — links the port of Gialos with Chorio, the upper town. The houses were built largely in the 19th century by Symi’s well-travelled sponge merchants, inspired by the neoclassical architecture they saw elsewhere in Europe — look out for ornamental pediments and black-and-white pebble mosaic courtyards, often depicting nautical scenes. Another 200 or so steps up is the ruined castle of the Knights of St John.
Some of the houses are now boutique hotels; others belong to expats who fell in love with the island and keep its excellent restaurants and bars thriving. Symi is one of the hottest Greek islands — from early spring to late October, rare are the days when you can’t sit outside. There are a couple of beaches, Nos and Nimborio, within walking distance of Gialos; Pedi, a small resort, can be reached by bus in ten minutes.
It’s not all a social whirl on Symi — inland lies a dense cedar forest and little monasteries crowning the rocky hills. The most important of these is on the south coast, half an hour by car from the port — the 18th-century Sacred Monastery of St Michael in Panormitis is dedicated to the patron of Greek seamen, whose silver-plated icon here shows the sword-wielding archangel in a suit of armour.
When day-trippers from Rhodes arrive and throng the main town, escape for a few hours on an island cruise aboard the Poseidon (daily, £43; symiexcursions.com). There are leisurely stops at uninhabited islets and beaches, including Agios Georgios Dysalona, where the water is so clear that boats cast shadows on the seabed. Lunch is included, and when sailing back into Gialos you get another view of one of the most beautiful towns in Greece.
Details The recently renovated neoclassical Nireus Hotel enjoys pole position at the entrance to Symi harbour, with a bathing platform from which you can jump into the sea. One week’s B&B from £843pp, including flights to Rhodes (sunvil.co.uk)
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2. Agistri, Saronic Islands
Best for walking and cycling
If your holiday wish list includes easy-access sandy beaches, reasonable prices, good tavernas and friendly old-fashioned Greek charm, Agistri is your island. An hour from Piraeus by ferry, or ten minutes by hydrofoil, it’s the smallest inhabited island in the Saronic Gulf, forever overshadowed by nearby big names Aegina, Poros and Hydra.
Agistri fits a lot into a small package. Hotels (small, family-run, typically Greek) cluster along the north shore; some at the capital, Megalochori (or Mylos), with its sand-pebble beach; others along the sands of Skala, a mile or so away. If it’s too busy, walk to cliff-backed Skliri and white-pebbled Chalkiada (which in 1983 became Greece’s first nudist beach). Relaxed tavernas, ouzeries and bars line the waterfront, and although a small island, it’s not without nightlife — especially on weekends, when Athenians pop over, seeking the simple pleasures of sun, sea, sand and staying up late under the stars.
The island is hilly, covered with pines and crisscrossed by shady trails, its coasts laced with coves; Logothetis (agistri.com.gr) rents out e-bikes and scooters in Megalochori — your incentive to investigate Limenaria, the only village in the south. Walk from here to Mariza, a rocky cove coloured emerald-sapphire by pines and sea, where there are steps to help you in and out of the water. Kayaking is fun with Go Kayak, and tours factor in stops to snorkel (half-day tours £52pp; gokayakgreece.com).
Otherwise, decision-making amounts to which beach and which taverna. Board the little bus from Megalochori or Skala that drops passengers within easy walking distance of Agistri’s quieter western shores — notably silver-pebbled Dragonera, which has a canteen and sunbeds, and Aponisos, next to an excellent riding stable for a canter through the pines (£26pp per hour; agistri.com.gr). Near the riding school is a pocket-sized port, beach and seafood taverna — spend a day on one of the sunbeds, to which charming staff bring cocktails; access to its Caribbean-blue sea will set you back £4.
Details The bright white-and-turquoise Oasis Scala Beach Hotel, right on the sandy beach in Skala, has a rooftop spa and excellent restaurant. Seven nights’ B&B from £840pp, including flights and transfers (sunvil.co.uk)
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3. Folegandros, Cyclades
Best for perfect sunsets
It may be one of the smallest Greek islands with a permanent population, but Folegandros packs a wallop in the scenery department, rivalling even Santorini, with dizzying views that constantly make you suck in your breath. However, it may no longer have that best-kept secret 1970s feel that it had a couple of decades ago; a few smart hotels and restaurants and cocktail bars have sprung up on the fringes.
The main town, perched on a precipice, is blindingly white against the fierce blue of the sky and sea far below. Its landmark Church of the Virgin Mary stands isolated in a town above on the sloping ridge, linked with a zigzagging lane that resembles coconut frosting on a slice of chocolate cake; people traipse up and head for the nearby rocks to watch the sun set. At night when the church is illuminated, it floats surreally overhead — an unforgettable sight when a full moon shines just above.
The fortified Kastro quarter of the main town was built in the 1200s, when pirates roamed the Aegean in search of people to sell in the slave markets. Houses here teeter on the cliff edge, with flagstoned lanes so narrow in places that you can simultaneously touch the walls on each side. Purple bougainvillaea and hibiscus adorn the town’s necklace of four squares, filled with restaurants and bars; children play hide and seek, far from any traffic. In summer there will probably be a few glitterati who popped over on their yachts.
There are other hotels and restaurants in the port of Karavostasi; it has a nearby beach, and boats to take you to others, including isolated Katergo, one of the island’s most beautiful. Another popular one is wind-sheltered Agkali, with a clutch of bars and restaurants; if it’s too busy a 25-minute walk (or boat) will take you to the quieter Agios Nikolaos beach, which has two restaurants.
In Folegandros’s other village — sprawling, rural Ano Meria — you can find old Greece, with its traditional cafés and tavernas, donkeys and a fascinating museum in a centuries-old farmstead, evoking life on a small Cycladic island 200 years ago. Within dry stone walls, the surrounding fields and terraces are remarkably green in the spring, when the walking is exhilarating — especially the path linking Ano Meria, Livadaki, Agkali and the main town.
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Details The Anemomilos Boutique Hotel in Kastro has vertiginous views, a lovely pool and an excellent restaurant. Seven nights’ B&B from £1,549pp, including flights, transfers and ferries (islandsofgreece.co.uk)
4. Kalymnos, Dodecanese
Best for rock climbers
On nearby Kos, people used to tell island-hoppers: “Don’t bother going to Kalymnos . . . it’s just a pile of rocks!” But until the 1990s no one knew that these rocks — vertical hard-limestone cliffs with tremendous overhangs — offered some of the world’s best rock climbing, which now lures some 10,000 novices and professionals each year.
And rock climbers are hardly the types to spoil an island. Most hotels and tavernas are small, family-run and rim the west-coast beaches of Panormos, Mirties and Masouri, tucked under the cliffs. The last two have mesmerising views of the island of Telendos, a mountain in the sea that broke off from Kalymnos in the 6th century after a series of earthquakes, with yet more rocks to climb and a few places to sleep for total serenity. Other quiet haunts may be found by the little ports of Skalia and Emporios, on Kalymnos’s northern peninsula.
A wide amphitheatre of barren hills embraces Pothia, the surprisingly large capital that is a mix of neoclassical and Mussolini-era art deco from the Italian occupation. Much of it was built with the profits of sponge-diving, before synthetics and a deadly sponge virus brought that to an end in the mid-1980s. Still, mansions built by sponge merchants dot the Agia Triada quarter of Pothia, along with the Archaeological Museum, where the star is the 4th-century BC bronze “Lady of Kalymnos”, found in a local’s fishing net (kalymnos-guide.gr).
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Shops selling (imported) sponges line the town’s waterfront, along with a little nautical museum, a fascinating collection of sponge-diving gear and photos that give you a sense of how dangerous the work was — fear isn’t a word in the Kalymnian vocabulary, though; rather than set off fireworks for Greek Easter, the locals hurl dynamite.
In the valley behind Pothia are two castles to explore — the impressive ruins of the 15th-century Chrysocheria Castle, built by the Knights of St John, and the 11th-century Castle of Chora, filled with ruins and nine barrel-vaulted Byzantine churches.
Northeast of Pothia, Vathis is another surprise: a fjord and valley filled with gardens and citrus groves. From here, explore in a sea kayak or motorboat; hire one of the latter to visit the gorgeous sandy beaches on the nearby, sparsely populated islands of Plati and Pserimos (waternative.co).
Details The Kantouni Beach Boutique Hotel in Panormos is sleek and has a large infinity pool. Seven nights’ B&B from £1,029pp, including flights and transfers (jet2holidays.com)
5. Serifos, Cyclades
Best for splendid isolation
Its sister islands, Milos and Sifnos, have become fashionista favourites, yet Serifos rarely gets a mention, even though it’s little more than two hours from Piraeus, Athens’s harbour, by fast ferry. Those in the know want to keep it laid-back and poseur-free — there’s a smattering of Athenian-owned holiday homes and a pair of boutique hotels, but so far, so good.
Much of Serifos is barren; in myth it was literally petrified when the hero Perseus returned to the island after his famous quest, pulling the head of the snake-haired Medusa from his bag and turning everything to stone. Stripped by the wind of all humidity, the crisp, arid Aegean light emphasises every outline and shadow. High above the port, the island’s main town spills down a dark rocky hill — glaringly bright, and a candidate for the best whitewashed village in Greece (though the drive up to it can be a little hairy). It has a trio of photogenic windmills, a rocktop chapel (for Serifos’s best sunsets) and a square, Pano Piatsa, like an open-air parlour where everyone meets. Most of the few hotels are down by the little port resort of Livadi, with its jolly 1980s vibe.
Sightseeing? Head west to the White Tower, the stump of a 4th-century-BC watchtower, near a mysterious ancient building called the Couch of the Cyclops. (Serifos is one of a dozen islands that claim the one-eyed man-muncher as theirs.) Further west is Megalo Livadi, where you can ponder the rusting relics of the island’s copper and iron mining industry; important in ancient and Venetian times, it became obsolete in 1960.
Livadi has sunbeds, but if you prefer to be alone with the flisvos — as Greeks call the murmur of the sea — and don’t mind walking, Serifos has wonderful wild beaches and clear sea. Try golden Kalo Ampeli, a 15-minute hike from the road (wear sturdy shoes and bring a parasol), or Agios Sostis, with its chapel and tamarisk tree. Malliadiko is lovely and sheltered. Need creature comforts? There’s easy-to-reach Psili Ammos, with its taverna; tamarisk-fringed Koutalas; Livadaki, which is shallow, shady and great for families; or golden Vagia, where you’ll find a snack bar and good cocktails at a bar attached to the Coco-Mat Eco Residences, a series of stylish converted miners’ cottages with cool blue and white interiors, which is also a lovely place to stay (B&B doubles from £306, coco-matserifos.com).
Details A short walk from Livadi, the beachfront, family-run Maistrali Hotel radiates retro charm and has a delightful owner. Seven nights’ B&B from £1,099pp, including flights and transfers (islandsofgreece.co.uk)
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6. Ithaca, Ionian Islands
Best for history buffs and families
Transparent shallows lap the shores of hauntingly beautiful Ithaca, a steep, wooded island for daydreamers. Quiet pebble beaches encourage long lazy days spent swimming and devouring The Odyssey; clues suggest that this little island of oak forests, cypresses and olive groves was the seat of Odysseus’s kingdom. Homer’s Troy, Mycenae and Pylos have been located, but Ithaca teases, elusive.
The capital, Vathy, is a neoclassical charmer, overlooking a long natural harbour — spot the islet of Lazaretto’s white chapel. Most of the island’s hotels and restaurants are here; there are more in yachty little Kioni and by the port of Frikes. A few music bars in Vathy and Kioni stay open late; otherwise nightlife means admiring the moonlight on the sea.
Beaches are spread evenly along Ithaca’s wildly notched coast. Near Vathy, Filiatro has shallow waters ideal for children; also try Sarakiniko bay, and Skinos — best accesed by boat as parking is difficult. Striking alternatives include Gidaki, with its white cliffs — also best visited by water taxi. With Ithaca’s sheltered sea, kayaking to a cove all on your own is recommended. Try Sea Kayaking Ithaca (day trips from £44pp; seakayakingithaca.com) or Odyssey (day trips from £44pp; outdoorithaca.com), which also has motorboat hire and jeep safaris.
E-bikes (for hire in Vathy and Kioni) are your keys to the steep interior and its stupendous views. Aim for Perachori, just south of Vathy; the village covers a wine-growing plateau with a path up to Palaiochora, Ithaca’s ruined medieval capital. Or visit the Acropolis of Alalkomenes (free entry), with its huge Cyclopean walls built with boulders, near the narrowest part of this hourglass island (just 678 yards across). Some believe that this was Odysseus’s palace; others say it stood by the site known as the School of Homer, north of Stavros.
Schedule in Katharon Monastery, on Mount Niritos (free entry); also the villages of Anogi, where the Araklis monolith rises among the vineyards; and Exogi, which means “out of the earth”, with its strange spiralling pyramid, built in 1933 by an eccentric millionaire. Our top tip? The white-knuckle road up to Panagia Eleousa for truly mythic views over the Ionian Sea.
Details Sea views are standard in all rooms and suites at Perantzada 1811 Art Hotel, in a lovingly restored neoclassical townhouse in Vathy, with a heated pool. Seven nights’ B&B from £1,268pp, including flights (ionianislandholidays.com)
7. Tinos, Cyclades
Best for surfers
People on Tinos claim that their miracle-working icon of the Virgin Mary helped to save the island from overtourism. They may well be right. The big arcaded church in which it is located dominates Tinos town, as do stands selling modern icons, beads and candles the size of tree trunks. The sight of pilgrims shuffling on their knees from the port to the church is not uncommon — and many a backpacker has taken one look before catching the next boat to Mykonos. The select few who stayed holed up at hotels on nearby beaches.
Which is why Tinos remained fairly unknown, despite its stunning, intricately terraced landscapes dotted with whitewashed villages, chapels and hundreds of ornate dovecotes. Boreas, the god of the north wind, famously huffs and puffs here, leaving the air crystal clear. But if it’s gusty on one side, the beaches are calm on the other — the north-coast Kolimvithra, with its boho beach bar, is for surfers; Apigania, at the end of a ten-minute walk along a path in the south, is wild and magical, like many others here.
The island’s thyme-scented paths are among its many joys — snaking over the land; set between dry stone walls — and Tinos Trails has maps of them (tinostrails.gr). Some of the most rewarding link the villages around the landmark spur of Exomvourgo, where you’ll find the ruins of a Venetian castle, impregnable until 1715, when its commander and his officers surrendered to a massive Ottoman army and were later executed for treason.
Also visit Smardakito and Tarampados for their dovecotes, and Volax for its moonscape of round granite boulders; in nearby Falatados you can tour the vineyards of T-Oinos, planted among the rocks (from £52, with tastings; toinos.com). Or head northwest to the lovely marble village of Pyrgos, with its sculpture school and museum.
It’s not surprising that such a unique island has become hip in an under-the-radar way. Art galleries and villas are springing up in the villages, but perhaps most surprising (especially if you come in summer, when the hills resemble corrugated toast) is that local farmers, cheesemakers, winemakers and craft brewers have worked together to make Tinos a foodie destination. Marinos Souranis opened Marathia in 2002 by the beach at Agios Fokas (marathiatinos.gr); other gourmet hotspots (including Thama in the main town; thamarestaurant.com) are dotted across the island — just ask the locals.
Details The friendly, family-run Porto Raphael — on Agios Ioannis Porto Beach, three miles east of the island’s main town — looks across the sea to Mykonos. Seven nights’ B&B from £644pp, including flights and transfers (olympicholidays.com)
8. Syros, Cyclades
Best for culture vultures
As the administrative capital of the Cyclades, Syros does not empty out after the summer like so many Greek islands. With a lively student population and a profusion of art and music festivals year-round, its capital, Hermoupolis, has a surprisingly urban vibe. The marble-paved streets and squares owe their grandeur to the shipping and textile industries founded by enterprising refugees from Asia Minor. The shipyard still does a roaring trade and gives this neoclassical city-on-sea an industrial edge. In the Vaporia neighbourhood, majestic mansions are lined up from the waterfront; diving off the jetties below them is like swimming into a period film.
Ano Syra, the hilltop settlement founded by Venetian crusaders in the Middle Ages, has a more distinctly Cycladic feel, with its tapering whitewashed alleys and old-time meze joints, where bouzouki players pay homage to the patriarch of rembetika music, Markos Vamvakaris. There’s even a small museum (syrosisland.gr/en/markos-vamvakaris-museum) dedicated to this local legend. Music plays a big part in local culture: the domed, frescoed Apollon theatre (apollontheater.gr/en) is modelled on Italy’s opera houses and there are frequent jam sessions in the backstreet bars and bistros. Since restaurants cater mostly to Greeks, there’s excellent food too. Off-season tavernas are plentiful and affordable, and delis brim with rose-scented loukoumi (Turkish delight), briny caper leaves, and nutty, crumbly San Michali cheese.
Outside Hermoupolis, the island is raw, romantic and underdeveloped. The beaches aren’t the best in Greece (Delfini being a notable exception), but who cares when the sea is warm enough for swimming well into November? On a rare cloudy day, there are abandoned country clubs, gilded churches and quirky industrial, ecclesiastical and archaeological museums to explore. Mountainous Apano Meria (apanomeria.org), the northern half of this 32 sq mile island, is a giant nature reserve crisscrossed by walking trails. (Follow the path from Kampos to Grammata, a remote beach sheltered from the north winds.) All this, only a two-and-a-half-hour ferry ride or a 35-minute flight from Athens.
Details Built in the 1830s the Apollonion Palace is located at the water’s edge in the smartest part of Hermoupolis, the Vaporia district. You can swim right below this charming, family-run hotel. Seven nights room-only from £876 (sunvil.co.uk). Fly to Athens then catch a flight or take the ferry to Syros
9. Paxos, Ionian Islands
Best for yachties
Quietly seductive and intensely green, Paxos has a fiercely loyal fanbase who prefer to keep this Ionian hideaway to themselves. There is the Agnelli family (the Fiat-founding dynasty) lurking in the silvery olive groves, and discreet British aristos too. Long before these second-homers paid handsomely for a piece of the smallest Ionian island, it was fought over by the Venetians, the French and the British for centuries. The Venetians made the most lasting impression — influencing the melodious local dialect, Italianate dishes such as bourdeto (fiery fish stew), and landmarks like the castle of St Nicholas, supposedly built to Leonardo da Vinci’s designs. On its own little island, the castle guards the fjord-like entrance to Gaios, the gaily painted harbour, a perfect backdrop for seaside strolls and suppers.
Sheltered from the winds, Gaios is the centre of the island’s thriving yacht scene. You don’t need a skipper’s licence to rent a motorboat and putter along the coast to find your own private beach. There are boats for rent in Loggos and Lakka, the other two fishing villages too. Everyone has their favourite village; ours is Loggos, where evenings start at one of three adjacent bars lapped by the waves and end with sensational seafood at Vassilis (vassilisrestaurant.com).
Long and narrow, Paxos is an island of opposing halves. The eastern shores, facing mainland Greece, are scalloped with the palest blue coves such as Monodendri, Marmari and Kipiadi. The western coastline is a wall of plunging cliffs punctured by caves and coves, superb for snorkelling and scuba diving (waterplanet.gr has experienced diving instructors). In between are about 300,000 olive trees, roughly 120 for every resident; they start to harvest their fruit as the tourist season dwindles in November. This autumn, look out for artwork in the fields and villages, and along the shoreline — it’s part of the Paxos Biennale (paxosbiennale.com), running until the end of October.
Details The Stone House, above the small coastal road between Gaios and Mongonissi, has wonderful views from its terrace and infinity pool across the sea to Corfu. Seven nights’ self-catering in October costs from £817pp based on six sharing, including flights, transfers and car hire (simpsontravel.com)
10. Hydra, Saronic Islands
Best for car-free quiet life
The muse of writers and poets, artists and ne’er-do-wells, Hydra is hardly a secret. But come September, the day-tripping crowds have dispersed and a cosmopolitan set of residents and regulars holds court in the quayside cafés and tucked-away tavernas. From the American painter Brice Marden to the German photographer Juergen Teller, Hydra’s artistic community is alive and well, bolstered by cultural happenings that extend until the end of October. The headline act this year is Jeff Koons’s installation in the old Slaughterhouse (deste.gr; free). Visitors are greeted by a 9m wind spinner with the face of the sun god Apollo purring above the derelict abattoir. Inside, there are animatronic sculptures, kithara music and wafts of burning sage.
Car-free and protected by strict preservation orders, this unspoilt, go-slow island hasn’t changed all that much since the Fifties, as evidenced by Robert McCabe’s charming photographs from that era, on show in the Lazaros Koundouriotis Historical Mansion (until Oct 31, £2; nhmuseum.gr), one of many magnificent ship captains’ mansions ascending from the horseshoe harbour.
“Autumn is a great time to visit because you can do beautiful long walks without dying of dehydration,” says Josh Hickey, of the Hydra Book Club (@hydrabookclub on Instagram). One of the most spectacular hikes is to the monastery of Profitis Ilias, on the island’s highest peak. Seaside trails also lead to empty pebble coves, perfect for a picnic; hop on a water taxi back to the port.
Another thing that keeps Hydra alive is its proximity to Athens. “You don’t have to take a flight or a five-hour ferry ride, you can be here in a couple of hours,” says Hickey. That means there’s always someone interesting to talk to at the next portside table. “Hydra is a social island. After the madness of August, a cool crowd of Athenians shows up every weekend. There’s still a buzz, and each year the season is getting longer.”
Details Keresbino, a 250-year-old guesthouse whose three suites share a large garden, brims with historic charm. Seven nights’ room-only from £878pp including flights to Athens from Gatwick (escapetogreece.com). Return ferries from £60pp
Additional reporting by Rachel Howard
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