Chora

Chora — Greek for simply "the town" — is the name given to the main settlement on dozens of Greek islands, from Mykonos to Amorgos. This one is the Chora of Ios, in the Cyclades: a hillside town of whitewashed cubic houses that has been the island's capital for centuries and remains its largest settlement, home to 1,957 residents according to the 2021 census.

The town's Cycladic architecture is deliberately preserved: buildings are whitewashed with sea-blue doors and window frames, and stepped pedestrian lanes take the place of roads, with stairs rather than streets leading up the hill. Despite a busy tourist trade, Chora has been designated a traditional settlement by the Greek state, and it contains at least 24 small churches, the most photographed of which is Panagia Gremiotissa, built in 1797 on the highest point of the village with a view over the harbour and the Aegean.

Chora also sits on the ruins of the ancient polis of Ios, and its Archaeological Museum displays finds from the nearby Skarkos site — an Early Bronze Age settlement excavated between 1984 and 1997 that is regarded as one of the best-preserved prehistoric sites in the Cyclades. For live entertainment, the open-air Odysseas Elytis Theatre, named after the Nobel Prize-winning Greek poet, hosts concerts and plays through the summer months.

Ios has long been a fixture on the Cycladic sailing route, and Chora — a short walk up from the port — is worth a visit if you're chartering a gulet in Greece, offering both a genuine slice of island history and one of the liveliest evening scenes in the Cyclades.