Kythira

Kythira hangs off the southern tip of the Peloponnese, where the Ionian, Aegean and Cretan seas meet. Administratively it belongs with the Ionian Islands and their Venetian heritage, yet geographically it sits far from its siblings, alone in open water between the mainland and Crete. That isolation has kept it uncommercial and quietly beautiful, an island of some sixty villages scattered across a high, rocky plateau, many of their houses standing empty as a result of a long history of emigration, especially to Australia.

Getting there takes a little effort, which is part of the charm. The main port is Diakofti on the east coast, served by ferries from Neapoli in the southern Peloponnese, a crossing of a little over an hour, as well as longer routes from Piraeus, Gythio and Kissamos on Crete. There is also a small airport, Kithira Island National (KIT), with flights from Athens. The capital, Chora, is one of the loveliest in Greece, a cluster of white and pale-stone houses climbing to a Venetian kastro high above the sea.

The island rewards slow wandering. The medieval ghost town of Paleochora, hidden in a gorge and sacked by the corsair Barbarossa in 1537, clings above a river valley; the Kato Chora fortress at Mylopotamos guards a village with a waterfall, the Fonissa, tumbling into a pool nearby. Beaches range from the red sands of Kaladi and Melidoni to the harbour cove at Avlemonas, and the deep blue of the surrounding sea is unfailingly clear.

Kythira suits independent travellers after space, walking and unspun village life rather than resorts and nightlife. Distances are longer than the map suggests and a car is essential. Come between late spring and early autumn, give yourself several days, and treat the island's remoteness not as an obstacle but as the reason to go.