Antipaxos

Antipaxos, or Antipaxi, is the smallest inhabited island of the Ionian group, a scrap of vine-covered land lying just south of Paxos. Only a handful of people live here year-round, and there are no roads to speak of, no hotels and no town, yet in summer it draws a steady stream of day-trippers for one simple reason: its water is among the clearest and most vividly coloured anywhere in Greece.

The island's fame rests on two small beaches on its north-east coast. Vrika is a crescent of white sand shelving gently into pale turquoise shallows, safe for children and served by a couple of seasonal tavernas. A short walk or boat-ride away, Voutoumi is larger and more dramatic, a bank of white pebbles below green slopes with water that shades from mint to deep blue, and a taverna on the hillside above with a fine view over the bay. Both fill with anchored yachts and excursion boats through the middle of the day and empty again by late afternoon.

Getting there is part of the appeal. Small sea-taxis and caiques run the fifteen-minute crossing from Gaios on Paxos through the summer, and larger cruise boats call as part of day trips from Paxos and Corfu. There is no accommodation, so Antipaxos is very much a place to visit for the day rather than to stay.

Beyond the two beaches, the island is given over to vineyards that have produced a robust local wine for centuries, and to quiet rocky coves best reached by your own boat. There is little to do here beyond swim, eat and doze in the shade, and that scarcity of distractions is exactly what regulars come back for. The absence of a village or a road means the only sounds are the sea, the cicadas and the occasional rattle of an anchor chain.

Come armed with water, sunscreen and cash, arrive early or linger into the late afternoon to enjoy the beaches at their calmest, and treat Antipaxos as the perfect swimming excursion from its larger neighbour rather than a destination in its own right.