Things to do in Limnos

Limnos is flat where most Greek islands are steep. It is a large, low, agricultural island in the north Aegean, growing wheat and vines and grazing sheep, with a coastline of long sandy beaches that almost nobody is on. That combination, farmland and empty sand, is unusual, and it is why Limnos feels less like a resort island than almost anywhere else of its size. What there is to do here follows from being a working island rather than a decorated one.

Myrina and its castle. The main town is built either side of a rock headland carrying an enormous Venetian and Byzantine castle, one of the largest fortress sites in the Aegean. Deer live inside the walls. The climb is short and the view takes in both of the town’s beaches and, on a clear evening, Mount Athos across the water. A short climb to one of the biggest fortresses in the Aegean, with deer in it and a holy mountain on the horizon, is about as much value as an hour buys anywhere in Greece.

The town itself. A stone-built quarter, a working fishing harbour and a long waterfront. It is a town that does other things besides receive visitors, which is the whole character of the island in miniature.

The dunes at Gomati, which do not belong on a Greek island. On the north coast there is an actual dune field, wind-blown and shifting, that people call the desert of Limnos. Not a sandy beach with a dune behind it: a dune field. It is the strangest landscape on any island in this part of the Aegean and it is the thing people come back talking about.

Falakro and the volcanic rock. In the northwest, wind erosion has carved the rock into hollowed, honeycombed shapes. The island’s volcanic origins also show in its dark rock coasts and its thermal springs, so the geology is legible in three separate places once you know to look.

Poliochni, one of the oldest known settlements in Europe. On the east coast, and that sentence is worth sitting with: not one of the oldest in Greece, one of the oldest in Europe. Hephaistia, the ancient city in the northeast, is the island’s other archaeological site. Neither is a crowded place, and both are the kind of site where you supply your own sense of occasion.

Keros, if you sail or surf. On the east coast, and a serious windsurfing and kitesurfing bay rather than a beach that happens to get wind. That is a real destination for people who do it and a reason to check the forecast for everyone else.

The car, which is not optional. A car is essential here: the island is large and spread out, and the castle, the dunes, the north-east sites and the beaches are in four different directions. Four nights is the minimum that covers them. Which islands need a car is the general question and this is a clear yes. Our Limnos guide has the practicalities, the beaches cover the long empty sand, and the group is the north Aegean.