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Portugal's mid-Atlantic volcanic archipelago offers crater lakes, whale watching, hot springs, hydrangea-lined roads, and Europe's best-kept secret for nature lovers.

Denmark's outlier — a 588 km granite island in the middle of the Baltic, closer to Sweden and Poland than to Copenhagen. Locals call it Solskinsoen (sunshine island) for clocking the country's highest annual sunshine totals, and it shows in the smoked herring smokehouses of Svaneke, the wooden cottage colonies of Gudhjem, and the white-sand beaches at Dueodde and Sandvig. Four medieval round churches built as Knights-Templar fortresses ring the interior, with Osterlars the largest and oldest. The Hammershus castle ruin on the northern cliffs is the largest medieval fortress complex in northern Europe. Reach it from Copenhagen by 3-hour combined train and ferry through Ystad in Sweden, or 35-minute direct flight.

A 4-square-mile limestone island in the Bay of Naples — the Faraglioni sea stacks rising 100m straight from the Mediterranean, the eerie blue glow of the Blue Grotto where Tiberius bathed, the open chairlift to Mt Solaro’s 589m summit, the Piazzetta’s aperitivo theatre, and Villa San Michele’s cliff-edge Roman columns. Where Tiberius ruled the Roman Empire from AD 27–37, where Capri Pants were invented, and where 10,000 day-trippers pour off Naples ferries by 11 AM — overnight to see the island after they leave.

Greece's largest island is a world unto itself — the Palace of Knossos preserves the earliest advanced civilization in Europe (Minoan, 2700–1450 BCE); the Heraklion Archaeological Museum holds the finest Minoan collection on earth; the Samaria Gorge is a 16 km hike through Europe's longest canyon. In the west: Chania's Venetian harbor, Elafonissi's pink-sand beach, Balos Lagoon. A car is essential — the island rewards those who leave the package-resort coast.

Croatia's sunniest island receives over 2,700 hours of sunshine per year — more than anywhere else in the country. The Stari Grad Plain (UNESCO) was laid out by Greek colonists in 384 BC in a geometric field system unchanged for 2,400 years. Hvar Town's limestone piazza, backed by the Fortica fortress and facing the Pakleni Islands, is the most glamorous harbour scene in the Adriatic.

The third-largest Balearic Island wraps two completely different identities into one Mediterranean idyll — the UNESCO-listed Renaissance walls of Dalt Vila, the most complete coastal fortifications in the Mediterranean, sit above an island that hosts the world's most influential club scene (Pacha since 1973, Amnesia, Ushuaïa, DC10, Hï Ibiza). Two-thirds of the island is protected: Ses Salines Natural Park where Phoenicians have harvested salt for 2,700 years, the underwater Posidonia seagrass meadows that produce the clearest water in Spain, and the rural north of pine-forested fincas and almond groves. Cala Comte sunsets, Es Vedrà mythology, and 30-minute ferry rides to Formentera's white-sand beaches round out an island that delivers everything from teenage stag weekends to UNESCO archaeology.

The largest of the Inner Hebrides at 1,656 km², connected to mainland Scotland by the Skye Bridge since 1995 (the toll abolished in 2004 after a long civil-disobedience campaign by islanders refusing to pay). The population is just 10,000 but the island receives 600,000+ tourists a year — a 60-to-1 ratio that has caused real strain on infrastructure (Fairy Pools car-park gridlock is famous). The Old Man of Storr basalt pinnacle, the Quiraing landslip ridge, and the green Trotternish hills define the photogenic north; the Cuillin range divides into the technical Black Cuillin (gabbro and basalt, the Inaccessible Pinnacle is the only Munro requiring rock climbing) and the walkable Red Cuillin. Skye is the spiritual heartland of Gaelic Scotland — about 30% of residents have some Gaelic, and Sabhal Mòr Ostaig on Sleat is the main Gaelic-medium college. Talisker (founded 1830) on the western shore is the island's only legal distillery. Closest airport: Inverness (INV), then a 2.5-hour drive across the Skye Bridge.

Portugal's "Island of Eternal Spring" in the Atlantic has never had a winter — subtropical laurel forests (UNESCO World Heritage), 400 km of levada irrigation channels converted into hiking trails, the highest sea cliff in Europe at Cabo Girão (580m), and wicker-basket toboggan rides down Funchal's hills. Cristiano Ronaldo was born here. Madeira wine is made nowhere else on earth; poncha (local rum, honey, lemon) is the island's contribution to cocktail culture.

The largest of the Balearics — Palma's Gothic cathedral La Seu rises straight from the harbour, the Serra de Tramuntana's UNESCO cultural landscape protects 1,000-year-old terraced olive groves, and Cap de Formentor's lighthouse marks the dramatic northern tip. Deià was Robert Graves's village; Valldemossa hosted Chopin and George Sand for one famous winter; Sa Calobra and Cala Mondragó are the headline coves. Spring (April–June) and autumn (September–October) are the sweet spots before German charter season.

The Cycladic island that defines the Greek summer — Chora's whitewashed Cycladic alleyways and 16th-century windmills frame Little Venice's seafront balconies. Paradise and Super Paradise are the loudest beach clubs in the Mediterranean; Psarou and Agios Sostis are the calmest. Boats run hourly to UNESCO Delos, the sacred birthplace of Apollo and Artemis and one of the most extensively excavated sites in the Aegean. June–September is high season; July–August is when prices triple and clubs run until dawn.

The largest Cyclades island (430 km², 20K residents) is the most agriculturally self-sufficient and the best-value Cycladic base — the iconic Portara doorway from a 6th-century BC unfinished Apollo temple silhouetted at sunset, the Venetian Kastro of Naxos Town, the highest peak in the Cyclades (Mt Zeus, 1,003m, with the Cave of Zas where the king of the gods was hidden), the marble-paved mountain village of Apeiranthos, the 4 km Plaka beach arc, and the unique Kitron citrus liqueur from Halki’s 1896 Vallindras Distillery.

The Cyclades island that delivers the Mykonos atmosphere at 30–40% lower prices — Naoussa’s photogenic harbour with a half-submerged 15th-century Venetian Kastro at the entrance, Parikia’s marble-paved Old Town centred on Panagia Ekatontapyliani (one of the oldest continuously functioning Christian churches in the world), the marble quarries at Marathi where the Venus de Milo was carved, the Lefkes mountain village and its 1,000-year-old Byzantine Path, Golden Beach’s windsurfing scene, and the 7-minute ferry to Antiparos with its spectacular cave.

The largest of the Dodecanese (1,400 km², 90K residents) wraps a UNESCO Old Town that’s the largest inhabited medieval town in Europe — 4 km of intact Knights Hospitaller walls, the Street of the Knights, and the Palace of the Grand Master. Plus the cliff-top Acropolis of Lindos above twin azure bays, the Valley of the Butterflies (June–September Jersey tiger moths in the millions), the Acropolis of Rhodes on Monte Smith, Mandraki Harbour where the Colossus once stood, and 220 km of beaches along both Meltemi-cooled western and calm eastern coasts.

Santorini is the Greek island of dreams — whitewashed villages clinging to volcanic cliffs above a sapphire caldera. Oia's sunset is legendary, Fira's clifftop bars are unforgettable, and the black sand beaches are unlike anywhere else. Visit the ancient Akrotiri ruins, taste Assyrtiko wine, and take a boat trip to the volcanic hot springs.

The Mediterranean's second-largest island after Sicily, sitting halfway between Italy and Tunisia and reached in an hour by air from Rome or Milan. The northeast Costa Smeralda, developed by the Aga Khan and Berlusconi-era investors, is one of Europe's premier yachting strips, with turquoise water that fades from emerald to deep blue against pink granite headlands. Cagliari, the southern capital, climbs from a working port up to the Bastione di Saint Remy. Inland, more than 7,000 prehistoric nuraghi stone towers from the Bronze Age are scattered across the hills, and pasta sa malloreddus with pecorino sardo defines the table.

The largest of the Canary Islands and a Spanish autonomous community sitting 300 km off Western Sahara — geologically African, politically Spanish. Mt Teide (3,718 m) is the highest peak in Spain and the world's third-tallest volcano measured from its oceanic base; the entire island is essentially the volcano's above-water portion. The summit cable car climbs to 3,555 m in 8 minutes (Mirador Las Cañadas), with the final 200 m to the crater requiring a free permit booked weeks ahead. The southern resort strip — Costa Adeje, Los Cristianos, Playa de las Américas — concentrates 85% of the 6 million annual tourists; the greener, wetter northern half stays comparatively quiet around the colonial capital of Santa Cruz, the Anaga laurel forest, and the cliffs of Los Gigantes. The IGIC tax regime (7% versus mainland Spain's 21% VAT) makes electronics, alcohol, and luxury goods notably cheaper. Two airports — Tenerife South (TFS) for international charter, Tenerife North (TFN) for inter-island and Iberia.