Spétses

Spétses is a beautiful low-lying, pine-scented island in the Argive Gulf, the furthest of the Argo-Saronics from Athens, a factor that long kept it more relaxed than its more accessible sisters.

For all that, it’s an old hand at tourism: since the First World War Athenian families have come every summer for its safe beaches and climate; today so many have villas and mega yachts, it’s been called ‘the Greek Monaco.’

For decades the island lured British visitors lured by the descriptions in John Fowles’ The Magus; today it’s become something of a mini Hollywood on the Aegean: Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter wiht Olivia Coleman was filmed here in October 2020, as was the sequel to Knives Out with Daniel Craig in the summer of 2021; at the time of writing Sam Mendes’s new series on The Magus is in post production