Pelion

The Pelion peninsula curls out from Volos into the Aegean, a green ridge of mountain that separates the calm Pagasetic Gulf on one side from the open sea on the other. In myth it was the home of the Centaurs, among them wise Chiron who tutored Achilles and Jason, and something of that old enchantment lingers in its dense forests of beech, chestnut and oak, unusually verdant for Greece and fed by mountain springs.

Pelion is a place of villages rather than a single town. Makrinitsa, clinging to the slope above Volos, is the most famous, its square known as the balcony of Pelion for its sweeping view over the gulf. Portaria, Milies, Vizitsa and Zagora each have their own character, built from grey stone and slate with mansions, plane-shaded squares and old fountains. On the wilder eastern side, Tsagarada shelters a plane tree said to be a thousand years old, one of the oldest in Europe.

Below the villages lie some of the finest beaches in central Greece. Mylopotamos, Fakistra and Agios Ioannis on the Aegean coast are known for clear, deep-blue water, while the gulf side offers gentler, sheltered swimming. Between them run the old paths, the marked Centaur's Path network linking the villages through the woods, with walks ranging from easy hour-long strolls to long mountain treks.

Getting around Pelion means driving, ideally, along winding roads that climb and descend between ridge and shore. The natural base is Volos, from which a full loop of the peninsula makes a rewarding day, though staying in one of the villages lets you feel the mountain at its quietest. In summer a restored section of the historic narrow-gauge railway still trundles up to Milies.

Cool in summer when the plains bake, snowy enough for a small ski centre in winter, and green all year, Pelion is one of the most distinctive corners of the Greek mainland, a landscape where you can walk in shade in the morning and swim in the afternoon.