Greece
Paxos
Sea caves large enough for a sailboat glow electric blue beneath sheer white limestone cliffs.
The sea caves glow blue — Hypapanti, Ortholithos, Tripitos — each one large enough to drift a sailboat into, the light refracting off white limestone into water that seems lit from below. Above the cliffs, three hundred thousand olive trees cover the island in a canopy so dense the interior feels like a forest.
Paxos lies south of Corfu, a small Ionian island dominated by an estimated 300,000 olive trees, some over 1,000 years old. The western coast drops in sheer white limestone cliffs into the sea, where three major caves — Hypapanti, Ortholithos, and Tripitos — extend more than 100 metres under the rock. Gaios, the main village, wraps around a harbour so narrow that boats anchor almost touching the waterfront tavernas. The island has no airport, no banks open year-round, and no large hotels — visitors arrive by ferry from Corfu and move at a pace the island dictates.
Couple
Boat trip into the sea caves, olive-oil tasting from groves older than the Renaissance, and Gaios harbour at sunset when the day-boats have departed.
Family
The sea caves by boat are suitable for all ages, the harbour is safe and calm, and the island is small enough that nothing is far from anything else.
- Three sea caves on the western coast — Hypapanti, Ortholithos, and Tripitos — extend more than 100 metres back under the white limestone cliffs.
- An estimated 300,000 olive trees cover the island, some believed to be over 1,000 years old — the island produces award-winning olive oil.
- Gaios village wraps around a harbour between the mainland and two tiny islands — the main channel is so narrow that boats anchor almost touching the waterfront.
- The island has no airport, no banks open year-round, and no large hotels — visitors move at the pace the island dictates.
Paxiot olive oil pressed from ancient groves — green, peppery, the best in the Ionian.
Bourdeto fish stew spiked with paprika and served with crusty bread to soak up every drop.
Isla Contadora
Panama
A Pearl Island where Iran's exiled Shah took refuge and the 20th century washed ashore.
Oualidia
Morocco
A saltwater lagoon where oyster beds gleam at low tide and flamingos wade.
Balandra Bay
Mexico
A mushroom-shaped rock standing in knee-deep turquoise so clear it barely looks like water at all.
Manitou Springs
Canada
A prairie lake so mineral-dense you float without trying — Canada's Dead Sea under enormous skies.
Milia
Greece
An abandoned Cretan hamlet rebuilt from stone into an off-grid eco-settlement deep in chestnut forest.
Pelion
Greece
The centaurs' mythic homeland — chestnut forests and stone villages sliding from peak to shore.
Chania Old Town
Greece
A Venetian harbour glowing at dusk where lighthouse and minaret share the skyline in tangerine light.
Anafi
Greece
A monolithic rock taller than Gibraltar guards the quietest island in the Cyclades.