Tilos

Tilos is an island that has placed environmental principles at the centre of its identity, and the commitment runs deep: it was the first island in the Mediterranean to operate entirely on renewable energy, it banned hunting long before such things became fashionable, and it actively protects one of the last Mediterranean breeding habitats of Eleonora's falcon. The landscape is greener and more varied than most Dodecanese islands; the hiking through terraced valleys and abandoned villages is rewarding; the local food is straightforward and good. The ghost village of Mikro Chorio, abandoned in the 1960s and visible on the hillside above the main settlement, adds an elegiac undertone to wandering the island. The quietness here is intentional, principled, and genuinely restorative — not the quietness of an island that has been passed over, but one that has made a considered choice.