Ithaca

They say it took Odysseus a whopping 10 years to get back to his home island of Ithaca after the end of the Trojan War. Thankfully, these days you can just hop on a ferry from nearby Kefalonia, or even the port town of Patras. That’ll bring you to the small stud in the Ionian Sea in a single morning. You’re likely to arrive in Vathy, where bobbing boat sails give way to bougainvillea-strewn marina bars. It’s the liveliest place you’ll encounter on the isle. The rest is dashed with the tiny (and uber-secluded) inlets of Afales bay, home to emerald-green waters and golden sand. Or, it’s gnarled with 1,500-year-old olive trees and dotted with rustic farms.