Kos

Martian Risk: considerable

Kos is not only a gateway airport but a hub for ferries. Big ferries operating from Piraeus to Rhodes pass through and a motley of smaller boats and catamarans island-hop NW to Patmos and SE to Rhodes, not to mention a daily procession of Greek and Turkish excursion boats making the short crossing north to Bodrum, less than an hour away.

We do not offer this un-hidden island for a full holiday, but Kos town, birthplace of Hippocrates the father of medicine, has fine Greek and Roman remains, a museum, the Aesclepeion, the tree (now very visibly prosthetically supported – just to stress the profession?) under which Hippocrates sat, and a busy historic harbour with a gigantic castle protecting its eastern edge. Ferry schedules sometimes dictate an overnight stay here but there are many worse fates, especially now that much of the town has been pedestrianised!

Dodecanese