Coves & lagoons
Islands for clear water and hidden coves
Every island in the guide where the sea is the reason to go: lagoons, coves you reach on foot, and rooms you can swim from.
26 islands
“Water so clear it looks lit from below”
Turquoise lagoons, wild pebble coves at the end of a dirt road, and a hot spring that runs into the sea.
Κρήτη
Crete
Myth, mountains and the Libyan Sea
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Cyclades · Νάξος
Naxos
Ariadne's island, with marble villages and long sandy beaches
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Cyclades · Σαντορίνη
Santorini
A ring of cliffs around a drowned volcano, with white villages on the rim
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Cyclades · Μύκονος
Mykonos
The party island of Greece: Little Venice at sunset, beach clubs till dawn, and sacred Delos next door
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Cyclades · Πάρος
Paros
The marble island, with a fishing harbour that glows at dusk
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Cyclades · Ίος
Ios
The party island of the Cyclades, with a hill town of bars, a long sandy bay below it and, at the northern tip, the tomb of Homer
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Cyclades · Σίφνος
Sifnos
The island where Saturday night smells of wood smoke and chickpeas, and a ferry stops for a rock
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Cyclades · Μήλος
Milos
The volcanic island of coloured rocks, sea caves and painted boathouses
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Cyclades · Φολέγανδρος
Folegandros
'Iron Folegandros': a village on the lip of a 200 m cliff, a medieval Kastro still lived in, and farmsteads walled against the wind
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Saronic · Αίγινα
Aegina
Two Archaic temples, a ghost town of chapels and the first capital of modern Greece, forty minutes from Piraeus
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Saronic · Ύδρα
Hydra
The best island for art and bohemians: no cars, captains' mansions and an artists' colony that drew Leonard Cohen
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Saronic · Πόρος
Poros
A town on a volcanic rock, a strait you can almost swim across, and pine woods full of coves
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Sporades · Σκόπελος
Skopelos
The green island of the Sporades: pine forest to the sea, a town of slate roofs and the Mamma Mia! chapel
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Dodecanese · Κως
Kos
Island of Hippocrates, hot springs and long sandy beaches
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Dodecanese · Ρόδος
Rhodes
Island of the Knights, Lindos and two seas
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Dodecanese · Σύμη
Symi
A harbour of painted mansions, sponge divers' stories and coves you reach by boat
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Dodecanese · Πάτμος
Patmos
The island of the Apocalypse, quiet and white
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Dodecanese · Κάσος
Kasos
The heroic island at the end of the Dodecanese: a harbour lit from under the water, all-night feasts and the memory of 1824
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North Aegean · Ικαρία
Ikaria
The island where people forget to die
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North Aegean · Σάμος
Samos
Island of Hera, Pythagoras and Muscat wine
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North Aegean · Χίος
Chios
The mastic island, of medieval villages and citrus mansions
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North Aegean · Σαμοθράκη
Samothraki
The wild mountain island of waterfalls, plane forests and the Great Gods
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North Aegean · Άγιος Ευστράτιος
Agios Efstratios
Ai Stratis, the island of exile: one village, wild volcanic beaches and a museum of democracy at the end of the Aegean
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Ionian · Κέρκυρα
Corfu
The green Ionian island of Venetian lanes, olive groves and turquoise bays
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Ionian · Παξοί
Paxos
The island of peace and quiet: no airport, olive groves to the sea and the turquoise bays of Antipaxos
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Ionian · Ζάκυνθος
Zakynthos
The party strip of Laganas, a turtle sanctuary next door and the cliffs of the Shipwreck
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Where to stay
Rooms made for this feeling
Our favourite stays on these islands, each one picked for the moment you'll have there.
Chania old town · Crete
Breakfast in a 17th-century Venetian courtyard
Casa Delfino · Boutique hotel · €€€
Armenistis · Ikaria
Step out of your room and onto Livadi beach
Erofili Beach Hotel · Beach hotel · €€
Kokkari · Samos
Wake above Kokkari with the whole north coast at your feet
Arion Hotel · 4-star hotel · €€€
Kos Town · Kos
Wake to the sea, a stroll from the Knights' castle
Kos Aktis Art Hotel · Design hotel · €€€
Rhodes Old Town · Rhodes
Sleep behind a red door in a knight's house from 1340
Kókkini Porta Rossa · Adults-only boutique hotel · €€€
Gialos · Symi
Open the shutters of an 1895 mansion onto the harbour
Hotel Aliki · Neoclassical boutique hotel · €€€
Or maybe
Longing for something else?
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