Two Sides of Greece: The Aegean or the Ionian?

This summer I was fortunate enough to experience two very different sides of Greece.

We started the summer on Patmos in the Aegean and ended it on Paxos in the Ionian. I've probably been to Greece at least ten times, but seeing these two very different island groups within the same summer really brought home just how varied Greece is.

Paxos also has a special connection for us. My wife's grandparents retired there from the UK, lived on the island and are buried there, so it's somewhere we've been returning to for many years.

The Aegean

Our summer began on Patmos, and we also stayed with friends in their private house on Poros, which was an absolute pleasure.

What struck me as we traveled through the Aegean was the landscape.

As ferries made their way between islands, dropping off passengers and picking up another collection of holidaymakers, I found myself looking at these incredibly dry, stark and rocky landscapes and wondering what it must have been like to live on them year-round over the past few hundred years.

There is often remarkably little fertile soil, and historically fresh water was precious. With limited opportunities to grow crops, island communities inevitably looked towards the sea for much of their livelihood.

Yet against that rather austere landscape you have beautiful white villages, little harbors, old windmills and an almost ridiculously blue sea.

This is, in many ways, the Greece people imagine before they have ever been there.

Then There's the Ionian

At the end of the summer, we found ourselves on the other side of Greece, back on Paxos.

The Ionian feels completely different.

I've been there many times, particularly to Paxos and Kefalonia, and it has a very different personality from the Aegean.

Think olive groves, cypress trees, green hillsides, Venetian-influenced architecture and little bays tucked into the coastline. Some of the islands are small and relatively undeveloped, while others have sophisticated hotels, restaurants and villas.

Paxos itself is tiny, green and wonderfully intimate. You can rent a little boat, putter along the coastline, stop for lunch in a small harbor and find a bay where the water looks almost artificially blue.

For us, though, Paxos isn't simply another beautiful Greek island, there's a little family history mixed in with the holiday.

Perhaps that's partly why the Ionian feels so different to me.

First Trip or Fifth Trip?

During my former life as President of Scott Dunn USA, we sold travel all over the world, and Europe was enormously popular with our American clients. Greece was consistently one of the more popular European destinations, generally sitting behind the perennial heavyweights of Italy, the UK and Ireland, and France.

What I noticed was that many Americans, particularly on their first trip to Greece, naturally gravitated towards the Aegean.

And understandably so.

They wanted the Greece they had pictured: whitewashed villages, little blue-domed churches, old windmills, wonderful restaurants and that extraordinary sea.

Often, though, they also gravitated towards exactly the same handful of famous islands.

There's nothing wrong with that. They're famous for a reason.

But there is an awful lot more to Greece.

With my The Spence Connection hat on, this is where I think it gets interesting.

If it's your first trip, I completely understand wanting to spend time in Athens and then head into the Aegean. There are some wonderful islands, and you certainly don't have to limit yourself to the obvious names.

But if you've already been to Greece, or perhaps you're simply looking for a slower and slightly different experience, I'd seriously consider the Ionian.

And then there's another question: How do you actually want to travel?

Stop Collecting Islands

You can island-hop by ferry, spending three or four nights on each island. This is how many of my American clients naturally approach Greece. They want to see several places, stay in lovely hotels and have all the logistics taken care of.

It works extremely well.

But as I get older, and perhaps simply more traveled, I'm increasingly attracted to doing the opposite.

Go somewhere and stay put.

There comes a point when collecting another island every three nights becomes less appealing than actually getting to know one.

Rent a Villa and Pretend You Live There

There is something wonderfully liberating about having your own house and, for a week or two, pretending that you actually live there.

Villas come in every conceivable shape, size and level of service.

At one end, rent a lovely self-catering house. Make your own light breakfast, have someone come in occasionally to clean, and wander out to whichever local restaurant or taverna takes your fancy that evening.

At the other end, have a beautiful house with a private chef and a full complement of staff looking after your every move.

Or find somewhere in between.

Rent a tiny car and potter around the island finding beaches and tavernas. Hire a little boat for the day. Or, if navigating Greek roads and deciphering signposts isn't your idea of a holiday, have a driver and guide organized and everything planned in advance.

There isn't a right answer. That's rather the point.

I work with several excellent villa specialists in Greece, partly because no single company has the best houses on every island.

Finding the right villa is less about scrolling through hundreds of beautiful photographs and more about understanding which island, which village and which house actually suits you.

And Then There's the Blue

The other thing that keeps pulling me back to Greece is the sea.

It's not necessarily the beaches.

Greek beaches aren't always conventionally beautiful. Plenty are pebbly, rocky or tiny little strips squeezed between cliffs.

But the water is extraordinary.

I genuinely think Greece has some of the most beautiful blue water anywhere in the world. Aquamarine, turquoise and deep cobalt, sometimes all within a few hundred yards of each other.

I once saw somebody on Instagram describe it as “Gatorade blue.”

That made me want to gag.

Unfortunately, I knew exactly what they meant.

It's blue. Very blue.

So, Aegean or Ionian?

For a first-time visitor wanting Athens, iconic Greek villages and a few different islands, I would probably start by looking at the Aegean.

For someone who has been before, wants to slow down, rent a villa, hire a little boat, explore independently and discover a greener and rather different Greece, I would seriously consider the Ionian.

But those are starting points, not rules.

You can island-hop by ferry, base yourself in a beautiful hotel, rent a villa for two weeks or charter a yacht, either with a crew or, if you know what you're doing, without one.

The important thing isn't simply deciding to go to Greece.

It's working out which Greece is right for you.

The Perfect Bookends

We started on Patmos, surrounded by the dry, rocky landscape of the Aegean, and ended on green little Paxos, an island that has been part of my wife's family history for generations.

Two seas. Two very different versions of Greece.

And I wouldn't particularly want to choose between them.

If you're considering Greece for the first time or the fifth, give me a ring. Whether you're looking for a custom multi-island journey, a villa for the family, a sailing trip, or simply the perfect little village in which to flop for a week, I can connect you with the right specialist.

As for me, I'll be going back next summer.