Andros is the northernmost and second-largest island of the Cyclades, but it feels nothing like its famous neighbours. Where Mykonos and Santorini draw crowds, Andros is green, mountainous, and relatively quiet — an island of stone-walled footpaths, spring-fed valleys, and Venetian dovecotes scattered across the hillsides.
The main town, Chora, occupies a narrow peninsula on the east coast and has a surprisingly good Museum of Modern Art (the Goulandris Foundation) alongside a crumbling Venetian castle and the famous Tourlitis Lighthouse perched on a bare sea rock offshore. Gavrio, on the west coast, is where the ferries dock. Batsi, a few kilometres south, is the closest thing Andros has to a resort — a sheltered bay with a small beach and a handful of tavernas. Serious walkers come for the network of old mule paths that criss-cross the island's interior, connecting villages through some of the finest hiking in the Aegean. On the west coast, Palaiopoli preserves traces of the island's ancient capital.