10 Old Greece

Kythera remains a nugget of Old Greece, isolated south of the Peloponnese, where family-run hotels dot the beaches, welcoming tavernas spill out onto the streets and oldtimey kafeneions (coffeeshops) still echo to the click clack of games of backgammon.

It’s a bucolic island of dramatic landscapes, sacred to Aphrodite, who was born here in sea foam. Stay in the Palaeopoli Villas (from £66, room only) near the fishing village of Avlemonas, and hire a car to explore the pretty castle-topped capital Chora, the waterfall at Milopotamos, the Venetian-era ghost town of Palaiochora and the Sunday farmers’ market in Potamos, where all the locals meet. palaeopolivillas.com