Greece
Milos
Lunar white cliffs drop into turquoise coves carved by volcanic fury over millennia.
The white volcanic rock at Sarakiniko has been sculpted by wind and sea into smooth dunes and overhangs that look like nothing on Earth — bathers lie on bleached stone above water shifting from pale green to deep blue. Below Klima, painted boathouse doors line the waterline.
Milos has dozens of beaches shaped by a varied volcanic coast, so a full visit is a sequence of very different shorelines rather than one signature stop. The Venus de Milo was found on the island in 1820 and is now displayed at the Louvre; the island museum tells the local archaeological story. At Klima, Mandrakia and Firopotamos, brightly painted syrmata preserve the practical architecture of fishing communities.
Couple
A coastal boat day, sunset among the syrmata and a different volcanic beach each morning.
Friends
Kayaking, snorkelling and a road trip linking Sarakiniko with quieter coves and fishing settlements.
- Sarakiniko’s pale volcanic rock has been carved into smooth shelves, channels and overhangs.
- Milos has more than 70 beaches shaped by a varied volcanic coastline.
- The Venus de Milo was discovered on the island in 1820 and is now displayed at the Louvre.
- Painted syrmata boathouses line fishing settlements including Klima, Mandrakia and Firopotamos.
Pitarakia — half-moon cheese pies fried in olive oil; O! Hamos makes them reason enough for the trip.
Ahinosalata — sea urchin with lemon — at the fishing-village tavernas.
Hermanus
South Africa
Southern right whales surface five metres from shore beside a cliff path through town.
Laguna San Rafael
Chile
A long fjord journey reaches floating ice beneath a retreating Patagonian glacier.
Sasebo and Kujukushima
Japan
Pine-capped islands scattered across a bay like a spilt jar of green marbles.
Jeju
South Korea
Seventy-year-old haenyeo surface whistling, net bags full, no oxygen but their own.
Chania Old Town
Greece
A Venetian harbour glowing at dusk where lighthouse and minaret share the skyline in tangerine light.
Corfu Old Town
Greece
Venetian alleyways hung with laundry open onto a cricket pitch — Greece's most Italian island.
Milia
Greece
An abandoned Cretan hamlet rebuilt from stone into an off-grid eco-settlement deep in chestnut forest.
Ioannina
Greece
Ali Pasha's lake fortress — silversmith workshops and Ottoman mosques on an island reached by boat.