THE GREEK ISLANDS

MOSTA DESIRABLE REGION (SHORT HAUL)

There are so many potential reasons you could have chosen this as your top pick. Perhaps our Greek Islands special last June tugged at some old memories, or maybe you recall the summer of 2020 when it was one of the few European countries still welcoming travellers. But that’s all rather the point: it could be anything because there’s such variety here. Each of Greece’s islands – and there are over 200 of them – are culturally and historically unique. From the Italianate harbour towns of the Ionian islands to the blue-domed villages of the Cyclades, to the medieval citadels and Roman ruins of the Dodecanese, there is so much to discover. The only thing uniting them is sunshine and water so clear that you could be looking through glass.

You’re certainly not the first to be charmed. These islands have inspired artists since antiquity. Homer’s Odysseus was said to have set sail from peaceful Lefkada, while some say Shakespeare drew on Corfu’s scalloped coast as inspiration for The Tempest. Myth and history are easy bedfellows here. When wandering the ruins of the Minoan Palace on Crete, you can’t help but conjure images of labyrinths. That’s what happens when your history dates back 7,000 years.

The old reputation of Greece’s islands as a place to flop ’n’ drop was always a misnomer. The reality is much wilder, whether trekking the petrified forests of Lesvos, driving hairpin clifftop bends in northern Kefalonia, or exploring the volcanic wonders of Nisyros. There is wildlife, too. Try snorkelling alongside loggerhead turtles in Zakynthos or watching Jersey tiger moths erupt in a cloud of wings at Rhodes’ Butterfly Valley and then tell us that it’s all just beaches.

There’s so much here to conjure with: wildlife, nature, food, mountains, history, and you can’t ever see them all at once. One trip is just the start of a lifelong obsession.

It’s an island triple bill when it comes to your most in-demand short-haul regions. Your picks for second (The Azores) and third (Sicily) definitely veer more towards the rugged end of the scale, with plenty of opportunities to disappear in solitude among volcanic trails, pad quiet mountainside villages or just escape to lonely hidden shores.

Certainly, Portugal’s Azores have plenty of open-air adventures. Its seas are famed for their whale watching (Apr-oct), and humpbacks can be spotted breaching the waves in great cascades of water early on in the season. On land, the lush, rolling hillsides of São Miguel reveal beautiful trails among the crater lakes of the Sete Cidades; or make for Pico instead where 15,000 people live in the shadow of Portugal’s highest summit. There are few wilder island escapes in all of Europe.

Sicily arguably has more in common with Spain’s Catalonia and Andalucía, which came fourth and fifth respectively. Each is packed with culture and character. Andalucía, in particular, is riding high, with regional capital Seville also having placed well in your pick for top ‘Short-haul City’. Its Moorish roots are visible in the capital’s Alcázar palace, but you’ll find cultural delights aplenty throughout the region, from lonely medieval hilltop fortresses to Bronze Age settlements, to Cordoba’s Unesco-listed Great Mosque.

Just as intriguing are the clutch of mountain escapes that make up the middle of your top ten. Italy’s South Tyrol is many people’s idea of a classic hiking destination, but Lombardy is far better known as the home of Milan, where fashion boutiques, Davinci frescoes and the grand Gothic fancy of the Duomo still entrance visitors.to the north of the region, however, its border with Switzerland is fringed with Alpine peaks soaring as high as 4,000m. It’s prolific skiing country, which is something travellers are perhaps only just wising up to, with Alta Valtellina all set to host the Winter Olympics in 2026.

The Scottish Islands (we admit) are a pretty broad subject, but their popularity has definitely undergone a welcome boost during COVID times, with Brits mostly confined to travelling at home. However, the new UNESCO Trail (see

Editors’ Picks for 2022), which includes sites in the Shetlands, Orkney and the furthest reaches of the Outer Hebrides, is likely to raise their popularity even further still and it will be interesting to see where you rate them next year.

Lastly, Wanderlust readers clearly know a thing or two about picking an underdog, and it’s good to see Brittany squeeze in at the end alongside the more established Bavaria. Sustainable travel is on the rise, and with short-distance ferries putting the French coast within a five-hour hop of the UK, this choice couldn’t be more on trend if it tried.the beaches, medieval châteaux, small islands and trails of one of France’s most overlooked regions offer a countryside escape to rival any in Europe, and it’s heartening to see that they’re finally getting their due.

Short haul, big charms (clockwise from above) Walking the harbour of chic, white-washed village of Naoussa, Paros; the Azores’ Lagoa das Sete Cidades is one lake, but most people refer to it as the separate Blue and Green Lakes; medieval houses on the banks of the Onyar, Girona, Catalonia; view of Caccamo town, Sicily