Leros

Leros is a deeply indented, green island in the northern Dodecanese, its coastline folded into a series of wide, sheltered bays that once made it a prized naval base. It sees far fewer visitors than its neighbours, and that quiet is much of its appeal: this is an island of working harbours, family tavernas and a slow, genuinely local rhythm rather than resorts.

The island's most surprising feature is its architecture. During the Italian occupation of the Dodecanese, Leros became a major naval station, and in the 1930s the Italians laid out the town of Lakki as a model settlement in sweeping Rationalist and Art Deco style. Its broad avenues, curved facades and grand public buildings are among the best preserved examples of the period anywhere, and give the port a distinctive, slightly cinematic air quite unlike a typical Greek town.

The island's older heart lies further north. Platanos, the capital, climbs a saddle between two bays beneath a Byzantine and Venetian castle, the Kastro of Pandeli, whose ramparts give sweeping views across the island. Below it, the fishing villages of Pandeli and Agia Marina curl around their harbours, their waterfronts lined with tavernas where the day's catch comes straight off the boats. Vromolithos and the long bay of Alinda offer the easiest swimming, with tamarisk-shaded sand and shallow, child-friendly water.

Leros wears its 20th-century history openly. It served as a place of exile and, later, of psychiatric institutions, and a war museum in a wartime tunnel recalls the fierce Battle of Leros in 1943. These layers give the island a thoughtful depth beneath its easygoing surface.

Getting there is straightforward: Leros has a small airport with flights from Athens, and it is a regular stop on the ferry routes linking Kos, Kalymnos and Patmos, with fast boats making short work of the hops between them. Two to three days is enough to enjoy the bays, the castle and the singular streets of Lakki, and to use the island as a calm base for exploring its busier neighbours.