Tinos’ white-painted houses tightly packed like sugar cubes along cool car-free lanes is well-known to Greeks because of the Church of Panagia Megalochari, considered one of the holiest places in Greece. The island has excellent wine and a cuisine built on fresh, local ingredients. For those looking for a taste of classic Cycladic life, Tinos may well be paradise.

Andros is the greenest of the Cyclades islands as well as the second-largest after Naxos. Sophisticated yet rustic, mountainous yet beach-lined. Stone grand mansions of local shipowners laden with bougainvillea, neoclassical buildings and Venetian castles are a feast for the eyes. For all its wealth, Andros is laid-back, off the obvious tourism trail, awaiting discovery by the discerning explorer.