Greece in September

The rim of a flooded volcano, with cliff-top villages above the caldera, Bronze Age Akrotiri, black-sand beaches and Assyrtiko vineyards. Spectacular and crowded: go in late spring or September and choose your base with care.

Milos is the Cyclades’ volcanic sculpture park: white lunar rock at Sarakiniko, the sea caves of Kleftiko, painted boathouses at Klima and dozens of beaches, with good tavernas and far less swagger than Mykonos or Santorini.

A small, steep Cycladic island with one of the most striking clifftop villages in the Aegean, a handful of beaches reached on foot or by boat, and few ferries. Come for walking, long dinners in Chora and genuine quiet.

Sifnos is the Cyclades’ table: clay-pot revithada, potters’ workshops, a medieval Kastro above the sea and whitewashed chapels on every headland, linked by walking paths and served by ferries rather than planes. Gentle, grown-up and busiest in August.

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.

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.