Íos

Íos remains a magnet for throngs of young people who spend their days lounging on one of the best beaches in the Cyclades and their evenings staggering from one watering hole to another. To discourage raucous parties and late-night revellers sleeping out on the beach, four lovely campsites have been provided, including the legendary Far Out club, which is still going strong.

The seasonal Irish invasion is so great that the island’s name has been re-interpreted as the acronym for ‘Ireland Over Seas’. pretty Chóra with its blue-domed churches, you may feel disenchanted, unless you take refuge in one of the upmarket coastal resort hotels, far from the thumping discos.

In early spring, however, when the locals reclaim it, you might find Íos as Lawrence Durrell did, full of ‘silences, fractured only by some distant church bell or the braying of a mule’. Although if you hire a car, you can find another world altogether.

Gialós and Íos Town