Sunset strolls by the sea, snorkelling and picnics on the beach: it’s hard to beat an island holiday. Europe is dotted with picture-perfect isles that lie waiting to be explored. From a tiny island nestled within a Tuscan archipelago, to a quiet Greek haven at the southern tip of the Peloponnese, these are our favourites.
One of Tuscany’s most tranquil islands
The Tuscan island of Giglio hit the news in 2012 when a cruise ship, the Costa Concordia, ran aground here and capsized, with the loss of 32 lives. Today, it is hard to imagine that such a tragedy should have struck this beautiful, “laid-back” place, says Elizabeth Heath in Travel + Leisure. An hour by ferry from Porto Santo Stefano, on the Monte Argentario peninsula, the island has a “completely away-from-it-all feel”. The main town, Giglio Porto, is “colourful” and charming, and there are some good, if occasionally steep, hiking trails (Giglio is five miles long), with views to the larger island of Elba, 30 miles to the north. Hire a boat to reach hidden coves – perfect spots to “swim, snorkel or picnic” – and be sure to look up the island’s summer theatre season and its festivals of opera, film and wine. The stylish La Guardia hotel has rooms from £280 a night.
A beloved, less-visited Greek island
I grew up in Greece and have visited many of its islands – but “none has captured my heart quite like Kythira”, says Alexis Conran in The Times. Sitting alone, off the southeastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula, it is quite big, and offers plenty to see and do; but with no international airport nearby, it never feels too busy. On a recent trip, I stayed in a “beautiful” villa run by Kythera Houses, near the central village of Potamos, which has a great farmers’ market on Sundays. There’s an attractive beach, Kaladi, not far away, but my favourite of the island’s beaches is Limnionas. The drive to it, passing the massive caves of the Agia Sofia, is “dramatic”, but the beach sits in a protected cove, and has lovely “clear”, calm waters. Eat if you can at Platanos, a “lovely” traditional taverna in the nearby village of Mylopotamos.
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An arty stay in the heart of Sardinia
In the Costa Smeralda, Sardinia has one of the Med’s most glamorous tourist destinations, but the island’s interior is a world apart from its glitz, says Emma J. Page in House & Garden – “deeply agricultural” and steeped in tradition. Set next to the “rugged” Supramonte mountains, Su Gologone makes a great base. This family-run hotel has a huge collection of folk art, and offers a diverse range of art classes and outdoor activities. Ancient choral songs are sometimes performed during the communal feasts served in its terraced gardens, and there are wonderful artisans’ studios to visit in nearby villages. Also unmissable are the street murals in Orgosolo. Dating back to the 1970s, they address social and political themes, and lend this former bandit town an “edgy air”.
The Blytonesque charm of St Martin’s
Of the five inhabited Scilly Isles, none is more enchanting than St Martin’s, says Paul Miles in The Telegraph. Situated in the north of the archipelago, it is a “Famous Five” sort of place that has barely changed since the 1950s. Home to just 140 people, it lacks the “upmarket” shops and holiday lets of Tresco (more popular with “well-heeled” tourists). But it has seductive beaches of “almost-white” sand, lovely walking paths, and with the island’s mild climate, it “feels like a garden”, peppered with exotic species such as “tall” echiums and blue-and-white agapanthus. It’s worth hiring a kayak to visit the uninhabited islands nearby, and dropping in at the community observatory, with its two telescopes: on clear nights, the skies here are “tar-black” and full of stars.
A lonely cottage on a Cornish island
Fifteen minutes by boat from Cornwall’s southeast coast, Looe Island is a great place to connect with “the wilder world”, says Carol Donaldson in The Guardian. Managed by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust, the 22-acre island welcomes day-trippers, but also has two places to stay – a bell tent sleeping two, and a “cosy” one-bedroom cottage that was home, long ago, to a “pipe-smoking, fist-fighting” smuggler called Black Joan and her brother, Finn. There’s also a tiny museum and a house where the island’s wardens live. I rented the cottage for three nights, and spent my time reading and wandering the island’s woods and meadows. I also swam in a “little-visited” cove, and watched local seals frolic on the rocky shore.
