Greece
Patmos
The island where St John wrote Revelation — his hillside cave still open to Aegean wind.
The cave is set into the hillside between the port and the monastery — a low-ceilinged rock chamber where St John is believed to have received the visions of the Apocalypse nearly two thousand years ago. Above, the fortress-monastery of St John the Theologian crowns the hill, its grey walls visible from every bay on the island.
Patmos was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999 for both the Monastery of St John the Theologian (founded 1088 AD) and the medieval Chora surrounding it. The Cave of the Apocalypse, where tradition holds that St John dictated the Book of Revelation around AD 95, remains a pilgrimage site. The monastery treasury holds illuminated manuscripts, Byzantine icons, and one of the oldest surviving fragments of the Gospel of Mark. The island has no airport and limited ferry connections, keeping the atmosphere contemplative even during peak season.
Solo
The Cave of the Apocalypse in early morning, the monastery treasury's illuminated manuscripts, and the Chora's stone lanes at dusk when the pilgrims have departed.
Couple
The Byzantine Chora with its whitewashed mansions and hidden chapels, a harbour-side dinner at Skala, and the spiritual weight of a place that has been sacred for two millennia.
- The Cave of the Apocalypse — where St John is believed to have received his visions around AD 95 — is set into the hillside between the port and the monastery.
- The Monastery of St John the Theologian (built 1088) holds illuminated manuscripts and Byzantine icons in its treasury, open to visitors on certain mornings.
- Patmos was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999 — both the monastery and the medieval Chora around it are protected.
- The island has no airport and limited ferry connections — the permanent population of around 3,000 keeps tourist numbers manageable outside August.
Grilled swordfish steaks at Chora tavernas overlooking the monastery rooftops and the sea beyond.
Homemade pasteli sesame-honey bars sold at the monastery shop, crunchy and impossibly sweet.
Hideaway Island
Vanuatu
Post a waterproof postcard from the world's only underwater post office, then snorkel its coral reef.
Ureparapara
Vanuatu
Sail into the flooded crater of a horseshoe-shaped volcanic island where fewer than 500 people remain.
Isla Magdalena
Chile
Magellanic penguins in their tens of thousands, nesting so close you walk through their colony.
Buracona
Cape Verde
At midday, sunlight plunges through volcanic rock and ignites an underwater cave into electric blue.
Santorini
Greece
White villages balanced on a caldera rim where the sea has flooded a volcano's shattered heart.
Mykonos
Greece
Windmills turning above a labyrinth of whitewashed lanes where the Aegean nightlife never stops.
Meteora
Greece
Monasteries balanced on sandstone pillars 300 metres above the plain, reached by rope and faith.
Delphi
Greece
Stone terraces climb a sacred mountainside where the ancient world came to hear the oracle speak.