Ios

Ios has two reputations. One is as the party island of the Cyclades, centred on the Chora's tightly packed bars and the beach at Mylopotas, which draws a young summer crowd and defines the island in July and August. The other is quieter and older: a hilltop Chora that is genuinely beautiful under the windmills, with white lanes and small churches, an excellent archaeological site at Skarkos, a Bronze Age settlement whose preserved two-storey houses won a Europa Nostra award, and the site in the far north known as Homer's Tomb, where tradition, recorded since antiquity, holds that the poet died and was buried. Beaches run from organised Mylopotas and Manganari to remote coves reached by track, and the island's interior is bare, terraced and criss-crossed by old paths.

History

With its safe natural harbour, Ios played an important role in prehistory on the sea routes to Crete, and archaeologists have found the early Cycladic settlement on Skarkos hill and other prehistoric sites. The island came under Minoan and then Mycenaean influence, the Phoenicians probably kept a presence until the 9th century BC, and it later became Ionian, a member of the Delian Amphictyony, paying tribute to Athens from 534 BC (Wikipedia, Ios).

What's there

• The Chora - a white hilltop town under windmills, lively after dark.
• Skarkos - a well-preserved Bronze Age settlement on a low hill.
• Homer's Tomb - the traditional site in the island's north, with a coastal view.
• The beaches - Mylopotas, Manganari and quieter coves around the coast.

When to go

May, June and September for the island without the party season; July and August are loud, crowded and expensive, which is exactly what part of its clientele comes for. Winter is very quiet.

Practical notes

In high summer the Chora's nightlife runs until dawn and accommodation nearby is noisy, so quiet-seekers should stay elsewhere on the island. Beaches other than Mylopotas need transport. Homer's Tomb is a modest site whose attribution is traditional rather than proven.

Nearby

Santorini lies south, Naxos and Paros north on the same ferry line.

Key facts