Greece’s Skopelos Island was recently named to Travel + Leisure’s best secret islands on Earth. The Thessaly region paradise in the North Sporades took up position #6 in the magazine’s “30 Secret Islands to Visit for the Ultimate Secluded Vacation” list.
Just a brief ferry ride from Skiathos, Skopelos Island is a nature and history lover’s dream come true with its picturesque blue-roof architecture, scores of hidden coves and beaches, and postcard-perfect landscapes.
According to legend, Skopelos was founded by Staphylos, one of the sons of the god Dionysos and the princess Ariadne of Crete. During the late Bronze Age, the island was called Peparethos or Peparethus and was a colony of Crete. It was the Minoans who started the viticulture of the island that survives today.
The island is blessed with more than 360 churches and chapels, many from the Byzantine Era. One of the most famous and most visited is Agios Ioannis Church.
Visitors will also be interested in the scores of secluded beaches here including; Staphylos, Velanio (a nudist beach) Agnondas, Limnonari, Panormos, Adrines, Milia, Kastani, Elios, Hovolo, Armenopetra, Kalives, and many others.
Famous places to stay on the island include the Adrina Beach resort, the Aegean Wave Hotel, and Tripadvisors top-rated Thea Home Hotel, to name a few.