Karpathos

Karpathos is the second largest of the Dodecanese, a long spine of mountains adrift in the open sea between Rhodes and Crete. Its distance from everywhere has been its making: this is one of the least developed large islands in the Aegean, a place of soaring cliffs, wind-scoured coves and a fierce sense of its own identity. Travellers who make the effort to reach it find a landscape that feels a generation removed from the busier islands to the east.

The island's heart is Olympos, a village of stone houses stacked along a high ridge in the far north. Cut off by poor roads for most of its history, Olympos kept traditions that faded elsewhere: older women still wear embroidered dress and leather boots on feast days, the local dialect preserves ancient forms, and communal ovens and hand looms remain in daily use. Reaching it is part of the experience, whether by the winding mountain road or by boat from the little port of Diafani below.

The main town and port, Pigadia, sits in a wide bay on the south-east coast, a workaday harbour with tavernas along the water and the island's few hotels nearby. From here the coast opens into some of the finest beaches in the Dodecanese. Apella and Kyra Panagia are sheltered horseshoes of clear water backed by pine and rock, while the long west coast around Lefkos catches the wind and draws windsurfers and kitesurfers to its shallow bays.

Inland, cypress and pine cover the slopes and old villages such as Aperi, Othos and Menetes cling to the hillsides, each with its own church and square. The interior rewards a hire car and an unhurried day of driving, with long views down to the sea at every turn.

Karpathos has its own airport with flights from Athens and Rhodes, which is by far the easiest way in; ferries run from Piraeus and Rhodes but the crossings are long. Three to four days lets you pair the beaches with a proper visit to Olympos and a taste of the mountainous interior.