Greece in November

Athens pairs the Acropolis and some of the world’s great museums with a working, late-night city and a coastline of beaches and coves running south to the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion. It is also where most Greek island trips begin.

Greece’s second city: a seafront promenade, Roman and Byzantine monuments on every other corner, a serious food scene and a student-town night. The natural first stop for anyone driving down from Romania before Halkidiki.

Greece’s largest island is almost a country of its own: Minoan palaces at Knossos and Phaistos, Venetian harbours in Chania and Rethymno, gorges in the White Mountains and lagoon beaches like Balos and Elafonisi. Plan for distance, and for more than a week.

Rhodes pairs a walled medieval town built by the Knights of St John with Lindos, a sheltered sandy east coast and a wild, windy west. Big, easy to reach and good in the shoulder seasons, it rewards travellers who rent a car.

Nafplio is the Peloponnese’s most graceful harbour town: Venetian fortresses, marble lanes and seafront tavernas, within an easy drive of Mycenae, Tiryns and the theatre at Epidaurus. Base here for ancient sites by day and the waterfront by night.