The 14 Best Things to Do in Greece

White cliffs curve around a cove of pale pebbles and turquoise Ionian water, and the only way in is by boat or down a trail steep enough to discourage the casual visitor. That self-selection is the whole point. Fteri Beach on Kefalonia ranks second on World's 50 Best Beaches, and Europe's top-ranked beach overall, which means you won't be alone, but it's still quieter than anywhere that takes a shuttle bus.

White thyme growing along the clifftops means you smell Porto Katsiki before you see it. A pebble beach at the base of towering limestone cliffs on Lefkada Island, it draws people willing to earn the view, since the descent is steep enough to thin out anyone who isn't sure they want to be there. The water runs a cold, improbable turquoise, and the general lack of sunbeds is, depending on your mood, either the whole point or a dealbreaker.

Two crescent beaches meet back to back on a narrow strip of land, which is the kind of geography that makes you wonder how anyone found it in the first place. The hike down from Afionas keeps the crowds honest, and the double bay on Corfu rewards the effort with calm, clear water good for swimming and snorkeling, steep green hills tumbling to the shore, and a quiet that feels increasingly hard to come by. Ranked among Europe's 50 Best Beaches.

The bioclimatic architecture lets Cretan light and mountain air do half the work before any treatment begins. This spa at a hillside resort outside Kissamos sits among olive groves with views toward the sea, and the whole philosophy runs on deliberate disconnection from screens and schedules. Vogue named it among the 100 best spas in the world. The team behind it traded a tech career for this, which explains why the antidote to overstimulation has been so carefully engineered.

Xinomavro, the grape that Macedonian winemakers love to compare to Nebbiolo, is reason enough to make the drive up the slopes of Mount Vermio. Kir-Yianni is a family-run winery with deep roots in the region, producing wines from some of Greece's most characterful native varieties. Come for a tasting, linger over the vineyard views, and leave with more bottles than you planned for. Named a Discovery by The 50.

Vangelis Gerovassiliou's 80-hectare estate wraps around the Thermaic Gulf on three sides, with Mount Olympus sitting across the water like it wandered in from mythology. A winery visit here doubles as a serious art tour, with sculpture turning up in the gardens, the terraces, the car park, and pretty much everywhere else. The wines draw on native Greek varieties, and the setting does at least half the storytelling.