Ios

Ios is an island in the Cyclades, south of Paros and Naxos and north of Santorini.

The island is 17km long and 7.5km wide and covers an area of 109km². It has a population of around 2,000 and is mainly made up of rocks composed of schist, quartz and marble. The highest point, Pyrgos, is 713 m above sea level.

Tourism is strong here and, according to legend, Homer, the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, died and was buried here.

Like Mykonos, this is an island where, outside the village, there's not much to see. The main reason for going there is to party, the clientele is fairly young and the alcohol flows freely...

There's no need to hire a car here, as there's practically only one road and the south of the island, beyond its mineral landscapes, isn't very interesting, apart from Manganari beach.

Homer's supposed tomb is just a tourist trap: nobody even knows if the famous aede really existed! There's nothing spectacular about it, it's all symbolic...

The beach at Milopotas is well worth a visit, as is the hilltop village of Chora, which is probably the only village in the Cyclades with more bars than shops.

Not to be missed: a bird's eye view of the sunset from a village terrace, while sipping a local beer or a delicious cocktail - simply magical!

If you're looking for peace and quiet, this is not the island for you, unless you head off to Manganari. But Ios is well worth a stopover of a few days, for the beauty of its village!