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Fold 1Cyclades
island life
With atmospheric archaeological sites,
postcard-worthy beaches, beautiful hiking
trails and a blossoming food scene, these
are the Greek islands of your dreams.
Culture
Outdoors Food & drink
NAXOS
Naxos’s main city, Hora, is a web
of steep cobbled alleys, but the
island also draws in outdoor
enthusiasts, with kiteboarding
off its sandy southern beaches
and traditional footpaths
between villages, churches and
other sights. Walking guides and
maps are available from local
bookshops; Naxos Bikes is an
excellent cycling outfit
(naxosbikes.com; hire per day
£8.50, tours from £30).PAROS
Paros’s stylish capital (Parikia),
fashionable resort towns and
sweet rural villages are all the
more charming for their (relative)
lack of crowds. The west coast,
around Pounta, is a water-sports
hub, with perfect conditions for
all skill levels of kiteboarder or
windsurfer. There’s also a dive
school offering dives to places of
archaeological and ecological
interest, as well as snorkelling trips
(aegeandiving.gr; shore dive from
£50). Paros has easy connections
to most other islands.ANDROS
The second-largest island in the
Cyclades is a delight for walkers.
Its wild mountains are cleaved
by fecund valleys with bubbling
streams and ancient stone mills.
Springs tend to be a feature of
each village and waterfalls
cascade down hillsides most of
the year. It’s worth renting a car
to get out to the footpaths, many
of them stepped and cobbled,
which will lead you among
wildflowers and archaeological
remains. Ferries run here from
Rafina, Tinos and Mykonos.SANTORINI
When excavations began at
Akrotiri in 1967, what they
uncovered was phenomenal: an
ancient Minoan city buried deep
beneath volcanic ash from the
catastrophic Thera Eruption of
1613 BC. Wooden walkways allow
you to pass through various parts
of the ruined city (00 30 22860
81366; 8am–8pm Apr–Oct,
8am–3pm Nov–Mar; £10.50,
guided tour £8.50).AMORGOS
Dramatic Amorgos is a delight for
history buffs. The remains of the
ancient city of Minoa, as well as
a Mycenaean cemetery, lie above
the port of Katapola, and the old
capital of Hora is capped by a
13th-century Venetian castle. But
the island’s crowning glory is the
11th-century Moni Hozoviotissis
monastery, seemingly embedded
into the cliff-face high above the
sea on Amorgos’s east coast
(8am–1pm & 5pm–7pm).MYKONOS
For a completely different
perspective on Cyclades life, visit
glamorous Mykonos, with its
party-hard reputation and
St-Tropez-meets-Ibiza style. Each
major beach has at least one bar
that gets going during the day.
Hora’s Little Venice quarter puts
the Aegean at your feet and is tops
for rosy sunsets and colourful bars
and clubs. Top international DJs
can be found on Paradise Beach at
Cavo Paradiso (cavoparadiso.gr).M-EATING
Attentive service, soft lighting
and relaxed luxury are the
hallmarks of this creative
restaurant specialising in fresh
Greek products, hidden away in
Hora (Mykonos Town). Sample
anything from tuna carpaccio to
rib-eye veal in Drambuie; it’s all
prepared with flair. Don’t miss the
Mykonian honey pie (m-eating.gr;
Kalogera 10; 7pm–1am Apr–Oct;
mains from £15).THALASSAKI
This seafront taverna is set among
plunging hills south of Pyrgos,
on the sleepy island of Tinos.
Flanking pebbled Ormos Isternia
beach, it crafts local cheese,
tomatoes, wild artichokes and
the like into works of art, and
prepares deliciously creative
seafood like octopus baked in
grape molasses. It’s best to book
ahead in high season (00 30
22830 31366; noon–midnight
Easter–Oct; mains from £7).An elegant windmill-side café in
Parikia, on less-touristed ParosA boat on the beach in Hora
shows a more relaxed MykonosThe final touches to an inventive
cocktail at Mykonos’s M-EatingFold 2MINI GUIDE
SANTORINI WINES
Santorini has a crop of lauded local
vineyards combining tastings
(usually for a charge), scenery and,
sometimes, food. If you’d rather
not drive, Santorini Wine
Adventure is a recommended tour
company (winetoursantorini.com;
half-day tour £80). But first, visit
SantoWines, near the port: the
island’s cooperative of grape-
growers offers tours, tastings,
a shop and more (santowines.gr;
9am–9pm; tours from £12.50).The perfect Cyclades
village: clifftop Oia, on
Santorini’s northern tip