Financial Times recently presented its list of the 10 most beautiful hideaways in the Mediterranean and named Serifos island as the number one destination for 2018.
Serifos is a stunning island in the Western Cyclades and only a short ferry ride from Athens. It is not a hot tourist spot and the island has kept its traditional character and the landscape. Chora is the most picturesque spot in Serifos, constructed on the slopes of a mountain and has fabulous view across the Aegean Sea. The island has crystal clear beaches all around its coastline and is ideal for everyone.
"While Mykonos and Santorini are the megastars of the Cyclades, Serifos remains gloriously in their shadow, overlooked and undisturbed by the holidaying masses. As one guidebook puts it, “Little has happened here since Perseus returned with Medusa’s head.” There is no airport, and ferry timetables can be capricious (the time from Athens varying from two to five hours), but the journey is worth it — as your ferry pulls into the harbour, you can’t fail to be impressed by the steep, barren mountains rising straight from the shore. Improbably perched on one of these peaks is Chora, the island’s capital, among the most picturesque towns in the Mediterranean.
When the Victorian English traveller Theodore Bent visited in 1883, he was shocked by the poverty and filthy living conditions, but in recent years the islanders’ humble dwellings — shepherds’ huts, sailors’ cottages, even an abattoir — have been reimagined by Athenian designers and architects as stylish but discreet retreats. Several are available to rent, or you can stay at the Coco-Mat hotel, above the white-sand beach of Vagia. Formed from a row of former miners’ huts, it has a bar and restaurant scooped out of the rock and open on one side to the elements, and exudes a sort of castaway chic. Rent a car and tour the island, stopping to walk down dusty tracks to little coves you won’t have to share," FT reported.
