Ios

Ios sits in the heart of the Cyclades between Naxos and Santorini, and for decades has carried a reputation as the party island of the Aegean — a magnet for young travellers drawn by its bars and beaches. That reputation is well earned, but it tells only half the story: Ios also has one of the prettiest hilltop towns in the Cyclades and some genuinely beautiful, uncrowded coast.

The island's Chora is a classic Cycladic maze of white houses, blue-domed churches and windmills spilling down a hillside above the port. By day it is quiet and photogenic; by night the lanes come alive with one of the densest concentrations of bars and clubs in Greece, and the crowd spills from square to square until dawn. A short climb above town, the windmills and the church of Panagia Gremiotissa look out over one of the finest sunsets in the islands.

Below Chora stretches Mylopotas, a long, gently shelving beach of golden sand backed by beach bars and watersports — the heart of the island's summer scene. Beyond it, quieter bays such as Manganari in the south and Agia Theodoti in the east reward those with transport, and the whole coast is fringed with clear, swimmable water.

Ios claims a more ancient distinction too: it is traditionally held to be the burial place of Homer, and a modest tomb attributed to the poet sits at the island's northern tip near Plakotos, and archaeological digs have uncovered a substantial ancient settlement nearby. Above the port, the small Skarkos hill preserves one of the best-conserved Bronze Age towns in the Aegean.

Ios has no airport; ferries from Piraeus take around four to seven hours, and fast boats link it easily with Santorini, Naxos and Mykonos. July and August are hot, young and loud; June and September keep the beaches and the light while dialling the party down. Two or three days suits most.