Southern Evia

Southern Evia is the island's dramatic final act, a narrowing tail of bare, wind-scoured mountains that runs down towards the meeting of the Aegean and the Petalioi Gulf. It is drier and more elemental than the green north, a landscape of granite, gorges and open sea that feels surprisingly remote given how close it lies to Athens.

The region's hub is Karystos, a handsome nineteenth-century town spread along a broad bay beneath Mount Ochi, at around 1,398 metres one of Evia's highest and wildest summits. Its ferry gateway is Marmari, a relaxed port and resort on a crescent bay reached directly from Rafina near Athens. Between and beyond them lie a string of beaches, from long golden sands to quiet pebble coves, many of them exposed to the steady winds that make this coast a haven for windsurfers.

What sets the south apart is its blend of nature and mystery. Mount Ochi is a protected Natura area threaded with hiking trails, the Dimosari gorge and cool chestnut forest, and near its summit stand the enigmatic drakospita, or dragon houses, huge prehistoric structures of stone slabs whose purpose is still argued over. The slopes were also the source of prized cipollino marble, quarried here in Roman times and left in half-finished columns that still lie among the rocks. Medieval towers and the Venetian Castello Rosso add further layers to the story.

Inland villages such as Styra and Nea Styra, with their own dragon houses and beaches, complete a region that rewards exploration by car and on foot. Access is refreshingly direct: the short Rafina ferry means southern Evia can be reached from the capital in a matter of hours, yet it remains largely free of mass tourism.

Go for the combination that defines the south: big empty beaches and reliable wind at sea level, and a raw, secretive mountain rising straight behind them.