European islands and beaches

Travelers looking for an authentic nude beach experience should go to Centre Hélio Montalivet, the birthplace of the international naturist movement. Established in 1950, this nude beach resort on France's Atlantic Coast provides a safe and legal wilderness setting for nudists and their families. Within the complex are more than 1,800 camp sites, 172 bungalows, shops and facilities for art classes, yoga, soccer and more. No other nude beach or camp on earth rivals Montalivet's family-friendly environment.

With its cobalt blue waters, sun-bleached cottages, ancient ruins and red sandstone cliffs, Crete's Red Beach is picturesque to say the least. Made famous in 1968 when hippies from across Europe flocked to its shores, the resort at Red Beach has remained a naturist favorite for its rustic charm and its tolerance (nudity is allowed everywhere except the dining room). Visitors to Red Beach will find the area's ancient caves interesting, as well as sunken bits of history that wash ashore from time to time. What's Cool: Hiking the beach's rocky outcrops

The sound of an Irish fiddle in a cozy village pub warmed by a turf fire and lively conversation. Scenes straight out of the movies. Literary, poetic, gifted in the art of conversation, the Irish extend their love of language even to the names of counties and towns, which roll off the tongue like music: Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, and Kilkenny. For a taste of Irish culture, from the Abbey Theatre to traditional music, proceed directly to Dublin, where Joyce, Shaw, and Yeats all worked – and U2 still does. Shoppers may want to stroll Grafton Street for traditional tweeds and newfangled knits,...

More than 1,100 islands lie off the coast of Croatia, and for many visitors the crown jewel of this Adriatic archipelago is Korcula. The island, along with the rest of the isles in the Dalmatian chain, managed to escape the violence of the sad and lengthy conflict that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, and today travelers are once again returning to rediscover Korcula’s charms. Likely as not, they begin in Korcula town, where a network of narrow, cobbled streets dating to the 8th-century line this walled medieval fortress. Not surprisingly, here at the edge of the Mediterranean,...

Longing for the bygone, uncrowded days of the Cote de Azur? Look no further than offshore, to Iles d’Hyeres, a trio of islands that still proffer the best of the South of France: long days of sun, warm water, and Provencal cuisine. The largest and most popular of the group is Porquerolles, which in 1912 was purchased as a wedding present by a wealthy Frenchman – who promptly planted a large vineyard. Today the island and its small village remain a place where the good things in life (food, wine, sailing) are still the cornerstones of day-to-day living. A 20-minute ferry ride from the mainland...

Warm sun, lots of beaches – and all the vast historical heritage of the Aegean? Well, chalk up one for Rhodes. On this Greek island, there’s no lack of sandy bays, mega-resorts, and watersports (snorkeling, windsurfing, and sailing are familiar favorites). But you’ll probably want a guidebook as much as a beach towel – and time to explore both ancient ruins and traditional mountain villages. Start at the northern tip of the island in the medieval city of Rhodes, where the old town is a labyrinthine maze of cobblestone streets and castles built by the Crusaders in the Knights’ Quarter along...

Crete could certainly fit into a leisurely, ferry-hopping beach holiday through the Greek islands, but that's giving short shrift to a place that is so rich with history, archaeological treasures, and an intrinsically Mediterranean landscape. Greece's largest island, it has seen burgeoning tourism (and the companion development of major resort areas, particularly on the north coast), but remains a land of remote villages where Zorba the Greek would feel right at home. In summer it's very hot and the number of visitors can be overwhelming in July and August, but a sense of timelessness...

In the 1800s, the island of Pico was a familiar port of call for Nantucket whalers, a remote Atlantic island famed in both America and Europe for its fine verdelho wine, and considered perhaps the loveliest of the Azores. Sadly, those grape vines were lost to disease before the century ended, but reminders of the isle’s whaling heritage are still evident on Pico today – and although jets have made the Portuguese archipelago a little less remote, the world of modern tourism has mostly passed by this chain of nine islands. And a lovely chain it is, with vast green patchworks of farms and fields...

The Island of Capri lies to the South of the Bay of Naples between the parallels 40°30'40" and 40°16'48" North and the meridians l4°11'54" and 14°16'19" East of Greenwich. The island has a perimetre e of approximately 17 Km and a total area of about 1..036 hectares, it is 6,7 Km long and its width varies between 2,7 Km and 1,2 Km. Map of the Island The highest point is Mount Solaro - 589 metres. There are two towns: Capri and Anacapri. About 8000 people live in Capri and 7000 in Anacapri. The town of Capri is located on the eastern side of the island, Marina Grande - the port -...

Santorini is a one-of-a-kind Greek island, a place where whitewashed villages seem to have been dropped gently from the sky onto steep cliffs overlooking the cobalt blue Aegean. Arriving at the island's old port is one of the great moments in travel: You anchor in the vast submerged caldera of a volcano, surrounded by crescent-shaped walls that rise dramatically from the sea.