Greek Islands

GREEK ISLANDS

The Best of Ancient Greece 

• Acropolis (Athens): No matter how many photographs you’ve seen, nothing can prepare you for watching the light change the marble of the buildings, still standing after thousands of years, from honey to rose to deep red to stark white. If the crowds get you down, think about how crowded the Acropolis was during religious festivals in antiquity.

 

• Palace of Knossos (Crete): A seemingly unending maze of rooms and levels, stairways and corridors, in addition to frescoed walls—this is the Minoan Palace of Knossos. It can be packed at peak hours, but it still exerts its power if you enter in the spirit of the labyrinth. King Minos ruled over the richest and most powerful of Minoan cities and, according to legend, his daughter Ariadne helped Theseus kill the Minotaur in the labyrinth and escape.

• Akrotiri (Cyclades): Santorini  is undoubtedly one of the most spectacular islands in the world. The site of Akrotiri offers a unique glimpse into the life of a Minoan city, frozen in time by a volcanic eruption some 3,600 years ago. The site has been completely or partially closed to the public since 2004, but finds from the site can be seen at the Museum of Prehistoric Thera.

• Delos (Cyclades): This tiny isle, just 3.2km (2 miles) offshore of Mykonos, was considered by the ancient Greeks to be both the geographical and spiritual center of the Cyclades; many considered this the holiest sanctuary in all of Greece. The extensive remains here testify to the island’s former splendor. From Mount Kinthos (really just a hill, but the island’s highest point), you can see many of the Cyclades most days; on a very clear day, you can see the entire archipelago. The 3 hours allotted by excursion boats from Mykonos or Tinos are hardly sufficient to explore this vast archaeological treasure.

 

The Best Beaches
 

• Plaka (Naxos, Cyclades): Naxos has the longest stretches of sea and sand in the Cyclades, and 4.8km (3-mile) Plaka is the most beautiful and pristine beach on the island. If you need abundant amenities and a more active social scene, you can always head north to Ayia Anna or Ayios Prokopios.

• Paradise (Mykonos, Cyclades):

Paradise is the quintessential party beach,
known for wild revelry that continues through the night. An extensive complex built on the beach includes a bar,   taverna, changing rooms, and souvenir shops. This is a place to see and be seen,  a place to show off muscles laboriously acquired during the long winter months.

• Lalaria Beach (Skiathos, Sporades):
This gleaming, white-pebble beach boasts vivid aquamarine water andwhite limestone cliffs with natural arches cut into them by the elements.
Lalaria is neither nearly as popular nor as accessible as Skiathos’s famous Koukounaries, which is one of the reasons it’s still gorgeous and pristine.

 

• Myrtos (Kefalonia, Ionian Islands):

Although remote enough to require you come with your own wheels, this isolated sand-pebble beach has long charmed countless visitors. It does lack shade and it offers limited refreshments perhaps bring a picnic but the setting makes up for these deficiencies.

• Vroulidia (Hios, Northeastern Aegean): White sand, a cliff-rimmed cove, and a remote location at the southern tip of the island of Hios combine to make this one of the most exquisite small beaches in the northeastern Aegean. The rocky coast conceals many cove beaches similar to this one, and they rarely become crowded.  

The Best Scenic Villages & Towns

 • Chania (Crete): Radiating from its

handsome harbor and backdropped

by the White Mountains, Chania has managed to hold on to much of its Venetian Renaissance and later Turkish heritage. Wander the old town’s

narrow lanes, filled with a heady mix of colorful local culture, and enjoy its charming hotels, excellent restaurants, interesting shops, and swinging nightspots.

• Hora (Folegandros, Cyclades): In this

town huddled at the edge of a cliff, one square spills into the next, its green and blue paving slates outlined in brilliant white. On a steep hill overlooking the town is the ornate church of Kimisis Theotokou, often illuminated at night. The church’s icon of the Virgin is paraded through the streets of Hora with great ceremony and revelry every Easter Sunday. Mercifully free of vehicular traffic, Hora is one of the most beautiful and least spoiled villages in the Cyclades.

 • Yialos (Simi, Dodecanese): The

entirety of Yialos, the main port of the tiny, rugged island of Simi, has been declared a protected architectural treasure, and for good reason. This pristine port with its extraordinary
array of neoclassical mansions is a large part of why Simi is known as “the jewel of the Dodecanese.”

• Ermoupolis (Siros, Cyclades): In the

19th century, this was the busiest port in the Cyclades. Today, it is still a hub for island travel and retains an astonishing number of handsome
neoclassical governmental buildings, ship sheds and factories, elegant townhouses—and an opera house modeled on Milan’s La Scala. Walk uphill
from the harbor to Ano Siros (upper Siros) and you’ll find an old kastro (fortress) and a miniature whitewashed
 

• Skopelos Town (Skopelos, Sporades):
The amazingly well-preserved Skopelos, a traditional whitewashed island port town, is adorned everywhere with pots of flowering plants. It offers some fairly sophisticated
diversions, several excellent restaurants, a couple good hotels, and lots of shopping.

• Corfu Town (Corfu, Ionian Islands):

With its Esplanade framed by a 19thcentury
palace and the arcaded Liston, its old town a Venice-like warren of structures practically untouched for several centuries, its massive Venetian fortresses, and all this enclosing a lively
population and constant visitors, here is urban Greece at its most appealing.

 

• Piryi & Mesta (Hios, Northeastern Aegean): These two small towns, in the pastoral southern hills of Hios, are marvelous creations of the medieval imagination. Connected by their physical proximity and a shared history, each is quirkily unique and a delight to explore. In Piryi, every available surface is covered with elaborate geometric black-and-white decorations known as Ksisti, a technique that reaches extraordinary levels of virtuosity in the town square. Mesta has preserved its medieval urban fabric and conceals two fine churches within its maze of narrow streets.