Aegina

Aegina is the Saronic island that most rewards a short crossing. High-speed boats reach it from Piraeus in about forty minutes, and conventional ferries in a little over an hour, making it a genuine day trip or an unhurried weekend. The harbour town curves around a busy waterfront lined with neoclassical facades, horse-drawn carriages and fishing caiques that double as floating greengrocers. For a brief spell after 1827 this was the capital of the newly independent Greek state, and the town still carries a certain civic dignity.

The island's great set piece is the Temple of Aphaia, one of the best-preserved Doric temples anywhere in Greece, standing on a pine-clad hill in the east with views across to the Parthenon and the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion. The three sanctuaries form a rough sacred triangle, and Aphaia's completeness, with many columns still supporting their entablature, makes it more legible than most classical ruins.

Aegina is also synonymous with pistachios. The island's volcanic soil produces a prized, intensely flavoured nut protected by designation of origin, sold everywhere from harbour stalls and celebrated each autumn at a dedicated festival. Beyond the temple and the town, the island offers the pretty inland ruin of Paleochora, a Byzantine hill settlement scattered with tiny chapels, and low-key beaches at Agia Marina and Marathonas.

What sets Aegina apart is that it functions as a real island rather than a tourist stage set. Families live here year-round, the market sells the day's catch and the season's fruit, and the pace stays domestic even in summer. The compact size means the temple, the town and a swim can all fit into a single unhurried day, yet there is enough to justify lingering longer. Come for the temple and the pistachios, and stay for the sense of an ordinary Greek island close enough to reach on a whim yet substantial enough to hold your attention.