Gavdos

Gavdos lies in the open Libyan Sea some 45 kilometres south of Crete, a small triangular island of low hills, pine and juniper forest and empty beaches that marks the southernmost point of Europe. With a permanent population of only around fifty or so, rising to several thousand campers and free spirits in high summer, it is one of the remotest inhabited places in Greece, and its appeal lies precisely in that isolation. There is little development, patchy power and water, and a network of rough tracks in place of proper roads.

Most visitors arrive at the small port of Karave on the east coast, on the ferries that cross from Chora Sfakion and Palaiochora in south-west Crete, sailings that run only in the warmer months and are often disrupted by wind. From the port, a handful of tracks lead to the island's scattered hamlets and its famous beaches. Sarakiniko, in the north, is the largest and most developed, a long sweep of pale sand and turquoise water with a cluster of tavernas, while nearby Agios Ioannis is prized for its dunes and cedar trees, and Korfos and Potamos offer quieter swimming.

The island's signature sight is Tripiti, a headland of natural rock arches at the very south of the island, above which stands a giant wooden chair, an unofficial monument marking the southernmost point of the continent. Gavdos also carries an ancient identity: in legend it is Ogygia, the island of the nymph Calypso who detained Odysseus, and in the Acts of the Apostles it appears as Cauda, where Saint Paul's storm-tossed ship found shelter on its way to Rome.

Gavdos is not a place for comfort or convenience. Many visitors camp wild among the cedars, cook simply and unplug entirely, and even those staying in rooms should expect a raw, elemental holiday of swimming, walking and doing very little. Bring cash, supplies and patience with the ferry timetable, and reward yourself with some of the emptiest beaches and clearest night skies in Europe. The season is short, effectively June to September, when the crossings are most reliable and the island most alive.