My Favorite Secret Stays on Lesser-Known Greek Islands
Memorable stays worth traveling for...
I’ve been fortunate to visit the Greek Islands many times—often returning to favorites like Sifnos and Milos, while also discovering new islands with each trip, thanks to the ease and frequency of the ferries. As partial as I am to a great hotel—and there’s no shortage of epic ones on the Greek Islands (see my consolidated Vogue list here)—I’m particularly fond of stays whose elemental spirit speaks indelibly of their location. I call these secret stays. They’re not quite hotels, which means they often slip under the radar of booking sites, making them harder to find.
On the lesser-known Greek islands, traditional hotels are scarce, so I find that secret stays are usually the best—and most memorable—alternative. Picture a stone house perched above a private cove you have entirely to yourself, or a micro-home nestled in a sprawling pistachio orchard, bathed each evening in the golden light of sunset, as if blessed by a benediction. My secret stays range from self-catered hideaways to intimate bed-and-breakfasts, and while they may forgo the modern amenities typically associated with hotels—like infinity pools, wellness spas, or 24/7 concierges—they’re enriched by the generous brushstroke of nature’s bounty or the kind of heartfelt hospitality that embodies the true spirit of philoxenia, the Greek love of welcoming strangers. They reveal the unfiltered beauty and simplicity that draws us to the Greek Islands in the first place—a kind of magic that feels distilled in these stays, like Greek summer in a bottle.
Waking to the hum of cicadas in the early morning heat, days unfold slowly: morning swims in hidden coves, long lunches beneath vine-covered pergolas, our bellies full from too many dolmades, the sound of clinking glasses filled with crisp white wine—reminding us there’s nowhere to be but here. Whitewashed villages spill down sun-drenched hillsides, their narrow paths leading to moments of pure spontaneity: a fisherman offering fresh octopus, a grandmother gifting a fig from her garden. On the Greek Islands, life is boiled down to its simplest pleasures—sun on your skin, salt in your hair, and the quiet magic of endless blue horizons and chance encounters. These are the stays where it all comes together in perfect alchemy—where the essence of place, pace, and presence far outweigh any modern luxury you may have left behind at that fancy hotel in Santorini.
If you’ve been here long, you’ll have heard me say that my favorite thing about discovering a new “favorite place” is returning to it. These are the places you’ll want to come back to time and time again that will feel more like home with each visit.
Below, my favorite secret stays on some of the lesser-known Greek islands…