Find Your Perfect Island

15 islands to cover all tastes, from cultural breaks to castaway fantasies

Best for Atmosphere

SANTORINI, GREECE

POPULATION 15,000 SIZE 35 square miles

Few volcanic eruptions have adjusted geography for the better quite like the blast that shook Santorini more than three millennia ago, an explosion that turned a single island into a curious chunk of land shaped like a broken Polo mint. What stands today is a place quite unlike any other: windmills, churches and whitewashed houses cascading down cliffs that were once the rim of a mighty volcano, blue sea having long since replaced bubbling magma below. Holidays in Santorini follow an established routine: idling on beaches of red volcanic sand, rambling the alleyways of hilltop villages or visiting the crumbling ruins of Akrotiri – an outpost of the Minoan civilisation until it was destroyed by said eruption around 1620 BC. All, however, are but a prelude to the daily drama of watching the setting sun shimmering in the waters of the Southern Aegean, from a whitewashed balcony high in the cliffs.

GETTING THERE Fly from Singapore or Kuala Lumpur to Athens first on KLM with one layover in Amsterdam. From here, fly on Aegean Airlines to reach Santorini (from US$55; en.aegeanair.com).

Best for Walking

RÉUNION, FRANCE

POPULATION 845,000 SIZE 970 square miles