Twelve islands across the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the Baltic that quietly hold the look you booked Greece for, without the price tag.
Europe has more than 2,000 inhabited islands. About 30 of them carry most of the postcard traffic. The other 1,970 include some of the most distinctive places on the continent. A working list of favourites, mostly small, almost all reachable on regular ferries.
Mediterranean
Vis, Croatia
The furthest Croatian island from the mainland. Closed to foreigners until 1989 as a Yugoslav military base, which preserved the agriculture and the architecture. The wine (Vugava and Plavac Mali) is sold by tiny family producers.
Procida, Italy
The smallest of the three Naples bay islands. Marina Corricella is the pastel harbour every magazine photographer asks for, with no cars and almost no day-trip volume.
Pantelleria, Italy
Closer to Tunisia than Sicily, with the dammusi houses (squat dry-stone homes with white domed roofs), the Specchio di Venere lake and the agriculture (capers, zibibbo grapes) protected as a UNESCO intangible heritage.
Ponza, Italy
The Pontine archipelago between Rome and Naples. Roman elite vacation territory then, Roman weekend hideaway now, and almost unknown abroad.
Gozo, Malta
Slower than Malta, with the Ggantija temples (older than the Pyramids), the salt pans at Xwejni and a single ferry to keep things sane.
Atlantic
Sao Jorge, Azores
The long thin island in the middle of the chain, famous for its fajas (lava flats at the foot of the cliffs) and its raw-milk cheese. Few flights, fewer hotels.
Faial, Azores
The blue island, named for the hortensias that line every road. Horta's marina is the legendary mid-Atlantic stop for sailors, and the bar Peter Café Sport has the proof on its walls.
Madeira's Porto Santo
Nine kilometres of pale gold beach off Madeira's larger sister island. The water is calmer and warmer than on Madeira proper.
La Gomera, Canary Islands
The laurel forests at Garajonay National Park and the silbo whistled language, still used by shepherds on the steep valleys.
Baltic and Atlantic Europe
Saaremaa, Estonia
Estonia's largest island, with the medieval bishop's castle at Kuressaare, juniper-shaded coastlines and a self-deprecating local sense of humour the rest of the country quietly imitates.
Aran Islands, Ireland
Inishmore, Inishmaan and Inisheer. Dun Aonghasa fort sits on a 100-metre cliff edge, the Irish language is still in daily use, and the famine-era stone walls are a landscape in themselves.
Eigg, Scotland
Bought by its 100 residents in 1997, electrified by wind, sun and water, with one shop and one tearoom. An Sgurr, the pitchstone ridge, is the best small mountain in Britain.
