Kasos

Kasos is the southernmost island of the Dodecanese, a small, rocky place lying just south-west of Karpathos on the sea route between Crete and Rhodes. With a permanent population of only around a thousand and almost no organised tourism, it remains one of the least-visited islands in the Aegean, which is precisely its appeal. There are no resorts and few hotels; instead there are quiet villages, dry hills, and a strong sense of a community shaped by the sea.

The island's settlements cluster in the north. The capital and main port is Fry (pronounced 'free'), a compact harbour town built around the tiny fishing cove of Bouka. Nearby lie the old capital of Agia Marina, with its neoclassical houses and churches, and the smaller villages of Arvanitochori, Panagia and Poli, the last set beneath the ruins of the island's medieval fortress. Distances are short and the whole populated area can be explored in a day.

Kasos carries a heavy and proud history. Its 19th-century fleet made it wealthy, and its captains later helped dig the Suez Canal, but the island was devastated in an 1824 massacre during the Greek War of Independence, an event still solemnly commemorated each June. That combination of prosperity and tragedy gives the villages their dignified, slightly faded grandeur.

Swimming is at rugged, uncommercial beaches. Emborios and Ammoua are near the port, while the island's finest spot lies offshore on the uninhabited islet of Armathia, reached by small boat and fringed with soft white sand. Inland, walkers can follow old paths to the monastery of Agios Georgios Chadion and the cave of Ellinokamara. Kasos has a small airport with domestic flights, though most travellers arrive by ferry from Karpathos, the crossing taking about an hour.

Visit Kasos for solitude, for honest village tavernas, and for a slice of authentic island life that mass tourism has passed by. It suits independent travellers happy without nightlife or big beaches. Summer is the reliable season; the boat to Armathia is the highlight of any stay.