Poros

The channel

Poros is separated from the Peloponnese at Galatas by a strait a few hundred metres across. The name means "ford" or "passage", and that is precisely what the town has always been. Small ferries cross it constantly and take a few minutes, so the crossing is less a trip than a commute.

You can stand on the Poros waterfront and read the shop fronts on the mainland opposite. Boats run through the day, so there is no timetable to plan around if you want to put a foot on the Peloponnese side. Give the mainland shore a look too, because the bay there holds sights of its own.

The strait is the most distinctive thing about the island, and the water between the two fronts is where most of the first evening gets spent.

The clock tower

The town climbs a low hill in tiers of tiled roofs to a white clock tower built in 1927, which is the postcard image of Poros. The walk up through the lanes takes about fifteen minutes at an easy pace, and the lanes themselves are half the point, with houses and cats and the strait appearing between roofs as you gain height. The view back down over the water to Galatas is the reason to do it.

Go early or late in high summer, because the climb is unshaded and the afternoon sun on bare stone is serious. Wear shoes with a grip, since the lanes are smooth and worn. From the top you can pick out the route across the channel before you descend to the waterfront for the reward.

The pine forest and the monastery

Most of the island's eastern half is covered in Aleppo pine running down to the water, which is unusual in the Saronic and makes the island better for walking and cycling than its neighbours. The paths are shaded for long stretches, a real advantage in summer when the open road is punishing. The monastery of Zoodochos Pigi sits in the forest above a small bay.

On the Peloponnese side of the strait, reached by the little ferries, the Lemonodasos is a forest of lemon trees, and in its bay stands the ruined stone Russian naval base built in 1834 as a supply station for the Russian Aegean fleet. Bring water. The forest roads are the island's best riding, and a bike hired in town covers far more of them than a walk.

For what to do in Athens before or after the ferry from Poros, the things to do in Athens hub gathers the top attractions, and the best tours in Athens page covers guided options for the days you spend on the mainland.

The Temple of Poseidon

A sanctuary of Poseidon stood on the ridge at the island's far end. Its claim on history is a death: in 322 BC the orator Demosthenes, hunted by the Macedonians after his resistance to them collapsed, took poison here rather than be taken alive. A man who had spent his career railing against Philip and Alexander chose the sanctuary as his exit.

Very little of it survives, foundations in a field, so go for the story and the position rather than the ruins. It is a walk, and there is no site staffing, ticket desk or shop up there, so carry your own water and do not expect interpretation boards to do the work. Read up on Demosthenes before you set out and the ridge will do the rest.

It suits

Families, because the swimming is easy and the town is small and flat along the front, so nobody has to be marched uphill in the heat. People who want to sit on a waterfront and read rather than tick off a list. Anyone who has already done Aegina and Hydra and wants a third, quieter island, since Poros has neither Pistachio orchards nor a car-free harbour town to live up to, and trades both for calm.

And cyclists, because the pine forest roads on the eastern side are the best short riding near Athens, with shade over most of the route. If your ideal day is a morning on the water and an afternoon in a chair with a book, this is the island built for exactly that.

It does not suit

Anyone who wants a monument, a museum or a photograph they have seen before. There is no equivalent here of the Temple of Aphaia on Aegina, with its 24 standing columns, or the stone captains' houses round Hydra's harbour, built from the wealth of a fleet of about 125 ships. The sanctuary of Poseidon is foundations in a field, and the clock tower is a walk rather than a monument.

If you have one island day out of Athens, this is not the one to spend it on, because you will come back having seen little that could not be seen elsewhere in more spectacular form. Come on a second or third trip instead, once the big names are done, and the lack of a headline sight stops mattering.

The cruise version

Poros is the stop where the ninety minutes the cruises allow actually fits what there is to do. On a three-island day the timetable is the constraint everywhere, but here it is generous rather than cruel. Walk up to the clock tower, about fifteen minutes each way through the lanes, look back over the strait from the top, and you will still have time for a swim or a drink on the front.

The other two islands give you less than you want and leave you counting minutes. This one gives you about enough, which is why it is the stop to use your legs on rather than sit in a café near the quay. Stay near the landing point at the end, because the boats leave on cruise time, not Greek island time.