Tilos

Tilos is a quiet volcanic island in the Dodecanese, lying between Rhodes and Kos in the south-eastern Aegean. It covers only about 63 square kilometres and is home to fewer than 800 permanent residents, yet its scale belies its reputation: the entire island is a protected area, part of the EU Natura 2000 network and recognised as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International. Hunting has been banned here since the early 1990s, and the result is a landscape where Eleonora's falcons, Bonelli's eagles and countless migratory species share hillsides thick with wildflowers in spring.

Most visitors arrive at the port village of Livadia, a gentle curve of tavernas, small hotels and pebble beach that serves as the island's practical base. Inland and to the north sits the capital, Megalo Chorio, a whitewashed village climbing towards a Venetian-era castle with wide views over the plain below. The two settlements are linked by a single quiet road, and much of the island beyond them is given over to footpaths, terraced valleys and empty coves.

Tilos also holds a genuine prehistoric curiosity. In the Harkadio Cave, between Livadia and Megalo Chorio, palaeontologists uncovered thousands of bones belonging to dwarf elephants that survived here until only a few thousand years ago, long after the species had died out elsewhere. The finds are displayed in a small dedicated museum in Megalo Chorio, and they give the island an outsized place in the story of Mediterranean natural history.

What draws people to Tilos is the walking. A network of marked trails links monasteries, abandoned villages such as Mikro Chorio, and remote beaches like Eristos and Plaka that are reached on foot or by a rattling local bus. The monastery of Agios Panteleimonas, tucked into the western cliffs, is the island's most atmospheric building and the focus of a lively summer festival.

Go to Tilos for slow days, birdsong and empty paths rather than nightlife or crowds. Spring is glorious for flowers and migration; early autumn brings warm swimming and quiet. It is an island best given a few unhurried days.