Alonissos tops Times’ picks for new, alternative Greek isle destinations

The Times of London continued its more-or-less annual survey of Greece’s top island destinations, with verdant and “off-the-beaten” path Alonissos, in the central Aegean, topping the list.

Better transportation, especially ferry boat routes, is also cited as a reason.

Alonissos gets the “top nod” by also featuring Greece’s first underwater museum, as the Sporades chain isle has long been a favorite for divers and nature lovers, while it also hosts one of the largest congregations of the Monachus Monachus (Med) seal in the world.

Other destinations cited are lush Samos; remote Kythira, near-Athens Aegina; campers’ favorite Ikaria; small and spectacular Meganissi, just off popular Lefkada (also on the list) in the Ionian Sea, Odysseus’ Ionian isle of Ithaca; northern Thassos, another pine-covered isle not often visited by west European visitors; the large eastern Aegean island of Lesvos of migration crisis fame and the typically Cycladic island of infinite and secluded beaches, Milos.