The best Greek islands to visit in 2025

Why go

Tinos has been an important centre of pilgrimage for two centuries, thanks to the neoclassical Church of Panagia Evangelistria, built to house a miraculous Marian icon, discovered in 1823 after a visitation from the Virgin Mary to a humble local nun. Recent moves to build an airport there were quashed by powerful church elders who are reluctant to sacrifice the sacred beauty of their island to tourism. When you consider that Mykonos is their closest neighbour, it is not hard to understand why.

The island is almost twice the size of both Santorini and Mykonos, yet with a quiet, untainted reputation and a rugged landscape of high cliffs, rocky peaks, terraced hillsides and remote, often exquisitely pretty, villages. Pyrgos has been a popular hangout for artists and sculptors since ancient times, thanks to its fantastic marble quarries, or visit Kardiani, which has a claim to be the prettiest village on Tinos. It clings to the precipitous slopes of Mount Pateles in a labyrinth of narrow stone alleys and marble-festooned houses and churches, is the prettiest.

Tinos has a great culinary culture, with the annual spring Tinos Food Paths festival forming a great reason to visit, when producers and restaurant owners gather together for feasts and barbecues to celebrate the culinary heritage of the island. A major highlight is in the tiny port of Ormos Isternia, where visitors flock from far afield to sample chef Antonia Zarpa’s takes on Greek cuisine.

Of course the island also has great beaches. Favourites include hippy-chic Kolimbithra on the northern coast, where the larger of the two beaches has a surf club and beach shack selling crazy cocktails from a converted pink Volkswagen camper van, and Livada Beach. This is reached via a long and often bumpy drive to the remote north-east corner of the island, where the waves are big, the rocks are bigger and the landscape is unblemished and wild.

One key thing to be aware of is the unpredictable strength of the notorious meltemi, the wind that rampages through these islands between May and September and has been known to whip off open car doors. You do need a car though, exploring the island without one is impossible.

Pnoēs is one of the most luxurious places to stay on the island, a collection of villas with private pools and gardens. There’s no restaurant, but an on-site chef can cook you dinner on your terrace using ingredients from the garden.

Diles & Rinies is a similar concept, a small assemblage of two-, three- and four-bedroom villas hidden down the narrowest of country lanes, each stylishly decorated in muted hues and natural textures. They are run collectively like a hotel with a central swimming pool (though a couple of villas have their own) and a small restaurant, Moonrise.

How to get there

Tinos is best accessed via direct flights to Mykonos and a 30-minute ferry ride.

Where to stay