Greece
Matala
Cliff caves once Roman tombs, then a hippie commune — Joni Mitchell slept in these rocks.
The sandstone cliff rises from the southern edge of a crescent beach, its face pocked with dark cave mouths that have sheltered the dead, the countercultural, and the curious for two thousand years. The sea below is clear enough to see the bottom from the cliff path, and the village behind the beach still has the loose, unhurried feel of a place that never quite moved on from the 1970s.
The cliff caves at Matala were carved as Roman burial chambers from the 1st to 3rd centuries AD — rectangular niches cut into the soft sandstone are still visible inside each cave. In the 1960s and 1970s a community of hippies occupied the caves; both Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan are reported to have stayed here, and Mitchell's song 'Carey' references the village directly. The caves are now a fenced archaeological site, but the beach below remains open and the village atmosphere retains a countercultural streak. Ten kilometres north, the ruins at Kommos include Minoan ship sheds dating to around 1600 BC — among the earliest known purpose-built harbour structures in the Mediterranean. Diving and snorkelling operators use the predictable afternoon wind pattern to schedule morning sessions when the bay is flat.
Solo
A backpacker landmark with cave history, cheap beachside tavernas, and a community of travellers who stay longer than planned.
Friends
Beach days, cliff-cave exploring, diving trips, and evening tavernas where the vibe recalls Matala's commune years.
- The burial niches are still cut sharp into the cave walls — Rome's dead were the first residents.
- Joni Mitchell's 'Carey' came out of these caves — the hippie chapter is sung history.
- Kommos, up the coast, keeps Minoan ship sheds from 1600 BC — the Mediterranean's earliest known harbour works.
- The bay faces dead west, and at sunset the cave mouths glow like sockets of amber.
Fresh fish and raki at the beachfront tavernas where old hippies and backpackers still swap stories.
Cretan dakos loaded with tomato, capers, and soft cheese, eaten with sandy feet.
Isla San Lucas
Costa Rica
A prison island that held inmates for 118 years, now reclaimed by jungle and howler monkeys.
Jeffreys Bay
South Africa
A long right-hand wave peels past rocks while dolphins clear the next line outside.
Kapingamarangi Atoll
Micronesia
A Polynesian island lost inside Micronesia, its language closer to Samoan than to its neighbours'.
Pelion
Greece
The centaurs' mythic homeland — chestnut forests and stone villages sliding from peak to shore.
Mount Athos
Greece
Twenty monasteries line a forested peninsula governed by a thousand-year monastic tradition.
Ioannina
Greece
Ali Pasha's lake fortress — silversmith workshops and Ottoman mosques on an island reached by boat.
Prespa Lakes
Greece
Byzantine hermitages painted on cave walls above a lake shared by three countries.