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The following are among my favourites >

Kastellorizo > one of Greece’s remotest hideaways. Kastellorizo, a rocky speck 80 miles from its nearest island neighbour, Rhodes. The island is favoured by arty celebs such as rock and roll recluse Dave Gilmour, it inspired his latest solo album, ‘From an Island’, and was the setting for the 1991 movie Mediterraneo, a pre-’Captain Corelli’s Mandolin’ treatment of Italian soldiery during World War II.

The only village looks like an Aegean version of Balamory, with blue, green, pink and saffron houses, cafés and tavernas around a deep blue fjord of a harbour. Even the coast guard office, with its distressed purple and ochre paint job, looks like something out of the interior design pages, and the whitewashed dome and minaret of a disused mosque, relic of the Ottoman era, lend an air of eastern promise to the waterfront.

This is the prettiest, most unspoilt island village in Greece. Some great walks in the deserted hinterland, but take lots of drinking water, it gets hot up there. It would not be great for families, there are no beaches although you can sunbathe and swim from the bathing deck of the Hotel Megisti, even if you’re not a resident. It hosts lots of overly happy and attractive Italians from mid June to the end of August.

To get there, take a scheduled or charter flight to Rhodes, then the Olympic Airways puddle-jumper (25 minutes) Dodecanese Seaways catamaran (two-and-a-half hours) or ANES Symi Lines or LANE ferry (four-and-a-half hours). Alternatively fly directly from Athens. Hotel Megisti, tel 22460 49219, www.megistihotel.gr, doubles from €35-50, has no pool but super harbour views and a swimming deck with bar, loungers and bathing ladder. Mediterraneo Hotel, tel 22460 49007, www.mediterraneo-megisti.com, doubles from around €80, is a dazzlingly colourful boutique hotel on the harbour.

Fourni > “Welcome to Fourni, Island of the Corsairs” reads the sign as you sail into one of the Aegean’s most perfect hidden harbours. Way off in the north-east Aegean, Fourni was a pirate’s lair for more than 2,000 years, the last of its sea-wolves were finally cleared out by the Royal Navy in the 1820s. With its deeply indented bays, sandy beaches and barren hills, Fourni offers the best of both worlds, it feels remote but is easy to get to, and if you start to get bored you can hop over to bigger, livelier Samos or Ikaria easily enough. Plenty of waterfront tavernas in its only village, which has an adequate beach, and even a makeshift summer disco, tucked away out of earshot from the village so as not to disturb the locals.

And then there is probably the best seafood in the Aegean, Fourni’s huge fleet of tiny fishing boats supplies all the best Athens restaurants, but you can eat the same thing, fresh off the boat and for a quarter of the price, right on the harbour. Peace and quiet to read all those worthy tomes you’ve been meaning to get around top. Minimal traffic. Why not? No luxury accommodation, no activities, no sightseeing.

The best way to get there is a charter flight to Samos then connecting ferry (two hours, 30 mins) or hydrofoil (one hour) from Samos, or fly to Athens and take a ferry from Piraeus, at least one per day in summer, journey time less than eight hours. Fourni has no full-service hotels, but there’s a decent choice of clean, bright pensions, studios and apartments with en-suite facilities and plentiful solar-heated hot water. Owners or younger members of their extended family, meet every arriving ferry.

Samothraki > Not all hideway islands are tiny. Hulking great Samothraki, original home of the Winged Victory, is the joker in the pack, with miles of rugged coastline and pebble beaches surrounding a central massif that rises to the summit of Mount Fengari, the peak from which Poseidon brooded over the changing fortunes of the Trojan War. It’s a fantastic island for walking, with thick woodland natural hot springs and cold cascades that gush even in high summer. The enigmatic Sanctuary of the Great Gods is one of the strangest and least visited of Hellenic ancient places, and Chora, the only town of any size, is happily devoid of tourism.

Go to feel the faint presence of ancient gods, swim in clear water from deserted pebbly beaches and paddle in mountain streams. The only other visitors are likely to be French archaeologists, elderly Athenians taking the waters in the outdoor hot springs at Therma, and a dwindling tribe of almost equally elderly German hippies. This is not an island for foodies or fans of luxury hotels. Long, empty, pebbly beaches are good for swimming and beachcombing, but there’s no sand. Getting there takes time and patience.

To get there, start with charter flights to Kavala or Thessaloniki on the mainland, then ferry. The Hotel Kastro, tel 25510 89400, www.kastrohotel.gr, is the only full-service hotel on the island, on the bland side but with a big pool, it’s in Palaiopiolis, the original island capital and now effectively the old quarter of Chora. Otherwise, an old-fashioned array of pensions and village rooms with less facilities.

Kyparissi > Not all hideaways are islands. Kyparissi is one of a string of tiny villages along the east coast of the Peloponnese mainland, between Nafplio and Monemvasia. It’s intimidatingly difficult to get to by road, the mountains behind its twin pebbly beaches rise almost vertically out of the Aegean, and even harder, spiritually, to leave. Once you’re there there is absolutely nothing to do except unwind, bring twice as many books as you normally would. It also offers swimming and snorkeling, energetic hiking among empty hillsides. Unless you are happy falling back on your own inner resources, you’ll go stir crazy. It’s a very long way from anywhere, though the village has a few shops and basic tavernas.

To get there take the hydrofoil from Piraeus, the port near Athens, two-three times a week in summer, or rent a car and brave the mountain roads, it’s a seven to eight-hour drive from Athens airport. Hotel Kyfanta, tel 27320 55356, is pretty much the only place to stay, and very nice too, with five self-catering studios sleeping up to three. Book well ahead, or risk dosing among the olive groves.