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The Best Islands
Our luxury picks, from Capri, Mykonos and the Costa Smeralda to the quiet islands of the Aegean.
Try "Saint-Tropez", "Positano", "truffle" or "Cyprus".
Home›Plan a Trip›Practical Guides›The Best Islands
Our luxury picks, from Capri, Mykonos and the Costa Smeralda to the quiet islands of the Aegean.
For glamour
The Mediterranean has thousands of islands; these are the ones we would choose, from the most glamorous to the most private. For almost all of them June and September are the months to go: the sea is warm, everything is open, and the crowds of July and August have not yet come or have gone. Checked 31 October 2026.
The island of the emperors: the Faraglioni rising from a blue sea, the Piazzetta at dusk, hotels on the cliffs, and coves reached by private boat. Stay the night, when the day visitors have gone.
The most glamorous of the Cyclades: white cubes and windmills, villas above the sea, the beach clubs of Psarou, and sacred Delos a short boat ride away.
Italy’s superyacht summer: Porto Cervo and its marina, Cala di Volpe on its bay, emerald water and granite coves, and the islands of La Maddalena by boat.
Sardinia’s Costa Smeralda guide
Far more than its nights: the walled old town of Dalt Vila, the quiet north of farmhouses and pine coves, villas above the sea, and Formentera’s turquoise water a short sail away.
The largest of the Balearics: Palma and its cathedral above the sea, the mountain villages of the Tramuntana, hidden coves, and some of the finest superyacht marinas in the Mediterranean.
For romance and history
White villages on the rim of a drowned volcano: cave suites and plunge pools above the caldera, sunsets at Oia, volcanic wines, and a Bronze Age town under the ash.
Taormina on its terrace above the sea, the ancient theatre framing Etna, and Palermo’s Arab-Norman churches glowing with gold mosaic.
The city the Knights built: golden stone above the Grand Harbour, St John’s Co-Cathedral and its Caravaggio, palazzo hotels, and Gozo and Comino by boat.
The largest Greek island: Elounda Bay and its resorts facing Spinalonga, the palace of Knossos, the Venetian harbour of Chania and the White Mountains.
The greenest of the Greek islands: a Venetian old town, villas above clear coves on the north-east coast, the Achilleion palace, and Paxos a short sail away.
A fifteenth-century village on an island, joined to the shore by a causeway and turned into one of the most famous hotels in the world.
For quiet
An island without cars: a horseshoe harbour of stone captains’ mansions, donkeys on the lanes, swimming from the rocks, and the artists and writers who never stopped coming.
Car-free Spetses across the water from Porto Heli, the summer riviera of Athens society, with Amanzoe above the olive groves on the mainland.
The quietest island of the Aegean: a white town around a fortress monastery, the cave where St John wrote Revelation, and the discreet villas of old European families.
The quiet Balearic: a whole island that is a biosphere reserve, coves of turquoise water below the pines, Mahón’s great natural harbour and old farmhouses among stone walls.
Seven volcanic islands north of Sicily: Panarea for style, Salina for capers and Malvasia, Stromboli erupting against the night sky, all reached by yacht.
A volcanic island between Sicily and Africa: lava-stone dammusi, the emerald Lake of Venus, and the sweet passito of its terraced vines.
One of the sunniest islands in the Adriatic: a Renaissance harbour full of yachts, the Pakleni Islands offshore, lavender and vines.
The wild island of France: Bonifacio on its white cliffs, the turquoise beaches of Porto-Vecchio, the Lavezzi Islands by yacht, and mountains that fall straight into the sea.
The Mediterranean Season Letter
Four letters a year, one for each season: the Mediterranean from spring to autumn, and Beyond the Mediterranean, into the Alps, in winter. The one best hotel to book, and the events worth crossing a sea for.
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