CYCLADES ISLANDS (Greece)

Vacation Rentals & Holiday Rentals in the Cyclades Islands and surrounding area.	Hotels	Flights	Car Hire/Rental

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For a first-time visitor to Greece, the Cyclades would be a perfect choice. They're everybody's idea of what Greek islands should look like - all white sugar-cube houses, blue-domed churches, winding cobbled streets, brightly painted fishing boats, working donkeys, and bougainvillea draped over every available wall. This is where you'll find the images that provide the cover shots for 99 per cent of Greek holiday brochures.

The Cyclades group, lying in the midst of the Aegean, directly north of Crete, is made up of hundreds of islands and islets, of which 33 are inhabited, and is said to get its name from the fact that they form a rough circle (kyklos) around the sacred island of Delos, legendary birthplace of Apollo and Artemis.

The Cyclades were produced by a mixture of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and some believe that one of the large chunks of land to be submerged was the lost city of Atlantis.

The most visited islands of the group are Mykonos, Ios, Paros, Naxos and Santorini. Of these, Mykonos, the jet-setter island famed for its gay bars, nude beaches and serious nightlife, is the most popular.

It's more sophisticated than the other islands in the group, and consequently more expensive. Rival for the title of island party queen is Ios. A former hippy haven, it's now a mecca for bingeing, heavy-drinking backpackers, with masses of bars and clubs for those who want to party all night and plenty of pretty little coves to sleep off the hangover the next day.

On Paros you can pick between the party atmosphere of Parikia, the capital, or the more peaceful pace of the east coast. Naxos, the largest of the Cycladic islands, is also the greenest, which can make a welcome relief from the relatively barren scenery of the others.

It's also littered with archaeological remains and blessed with beautiful beaches, mostly on the west coast. Santorini, also known as Thira, is dramatically different from the other islands, with black sand volcanic beaches and the stunning sight of its capital city Fira spilling down near-sheer cliffs on the side of a flooded crater.

Then there's Andros, the most northerly island in the group and popular with Athenians, many of whom have second homes here. Tranquil and lush, it has lots of underground streams that keep much of the island looking green and fresh throughout the summer.

It also has a couple of excellent museums in Andros Town. Tinos (said in myth to be the home of Aeolus, the wind god) is a holy island, attracting throngs of pilgrims who come to benefit from the healing powers of the icon in the Panagia Evangelistra church. It's also known for its hundreds of pretty Venetian dovecotes.

On Syros you'll find Ermoupolis, the capital of the Cyclades, a fine town of neoclassical buildings cascading down a natural amphitheatre to the harbour.

Milos, a horseshoe-shaped island with volcanic soil and rich mineral deposits, is famous for being the spot where the Venus de Milo was found, buried, in the 19th century.

There are dramatic cliffs on Amorgos and thermal springs on Kythnos and Kimolos, and for solitude and peace, there are still islands in the eastern Cyclades such as Iraklia and Shinoussa where few tourists reach. Almost everywhere you can find ancient ruins, great beaches and pretty, hilly villages.

All the islands are compact enough to 'do' in a day if you must - but that's not really the point. It's not the sightseeing people come to the Cyclades for, but the beaches, the pretty scenery and the laid-back lifestyle. This is a place to just lie back, relax and be unashamedly lazy.

Most people will spend their time here doing nothing more demanding than sunbathing and possibly a bit of shopping (the more developed islands have some surprisingly chic boutiques to tempt you to part with your Euros).

Of course, you can be energetic too, if you wish. There's good hiking here, with lots of goat and donkey trails to follow. The compact size of the islands means that you'll have almost constant sea views and never be too far from the nearest village and its taverna. And as most people stay on the beaches, hikers will often have inland areas pretty much to themselves.

The Cyclades is the perfect place for an island-hopping holiday - the islands are small and closely grouped together so it's quick and easy to get from one to the other, and there are great inter-island connections.

They also offer a variety of environments - you can party on Mykonos and Ios, be a beach bum on Paros and Naxos, get away from it all on Folegandros or Anafi, shop on Santorini, get a culture fix on Delos or Andros, take a pilgrimage to Tinos... or combine several of these elements within a fortnight's holiday.