By the time Tony co-founded Lonely Planet Publications in 1973, he already had the travel bug. And ever since, travel and discovery have been at the heart of his life and career.
It’s the furthest north of the Cyclades Island group and more a Greek holiday destination than a foreign one. In fact if you want reassurance that overtourism has not taken over the world then Kea is a good place to come. This is not Mykonos, Santorini or even Hydra.
Ferries run regularly from Lavrio on the mainland in about an hour to Korissia, the island’s port. At a standard fare of €14 they’re pleasantly cheap. Many Kea visitors are Athenians with a weekender on the island, but there’s no shortage of accommodation for visitors including, for my group of nine friends, the very flashy One&Only Resort at Vroskopos, south of Korissia. The regular arrivals of helicopters, for guest who can’t be bothered with ferries, indicates what sort of resort this is. Otherwise a fleet of shiny new Land Rover Defenders are lined up ready to convey visitors around the island.
◄ The absurdly pretty hilltop ‘capital’ of Ioulida is the main centre on the island. A useful stroll beyond Ioulida takes you to the Lion of Ioulida, the most notable landmark on the island it dates from the 6th century BC.
▲ The Lighthouse of Agios Nikolaos offers stunning views across the bay to Vourkari and Korissia.
▲ Walking round to the lighthouse from Vourkari you pass the fenced off ruins of Agia Irini.
▲ Much of the island is marked off by stone wall, upright stones separating the stacked horizontal ones.
◄ From Stavroudhaki on the western side of the island a steady downhill walk takes you to the ruins of ancient Karthea. The fact that it takes visitors an hour’s walk to the site (and longer back uphill?) means this is definitely not an overcrowded site.
Ioulida has an excellent small Archaeological Museum with one floor dedicated to finds from Karthea and another to Agia Irini. Other island locations include the ruined watchtower of Agia Marina, it was five stories high until earthquakes damaged it, currently it’s shrouded in scaffolding and undergoing restoration.
▲ The Athena Temple is the main attraction at the Karthea ruins.
▲ Plus the amphitheatre.
▲ Kea Island is particularly noted for its superb sunsets, looking across Makronisos Island to the mainland. Your ferry trip to Kea Island from the mainland dodges around Makronisos and at one time the island was used as an isolated prison.
◄ There are plenty of walking opportunities around Kea, as the signposts indicate.
▲ Towards the north-east corer of the island is the beautiful Panagria Kastriani Monastery.
▲ En route to Kea Island, or on your way back, it’s only a short detour from the Lavrio port to the impressive Poseidon Temple at Sounion.
It’s the furthest north of the Cyclades Island group and more a Greek holiday destination than a foreign one. In fact if you want reassurance that overtourism has not taken over the world then Kea is a good place to come. This is not Mykonos, Santorini or even Hydra. ...
Wow – that Donald Trump – aka Taco Trump, Dog-E Trump, Liz Trump, Tariffs Trump – he keeps on providing travel inspiration. Only a couple of weeks ago I suggested ‘Donald (Taco) Trump presents the best travel list since Bush’s Axis of Evil’ when he came up with his 12...
Wow, another presidential travel challenge. I wrote my book Bad Lands, published back in 2007, because George W Bush had proclaimed Iran, Iraq and North Korea as his ‘Axis of Evil’ and, of course, I thought ‘well I want to go there.’ I added Afghanistan, Albania, Cuba...
All the airline routes that follow are from FlightRadar24’s wonderful website. I commented recently on Ryanair 4978 from Athens, Greece to Vilnius, Lithuania doing a little westward jog approaching or departing Vilnius to avoid crossing Belarus airspace. That’s a r...
My recent blog – I’m Not Going There Anymore – soon raised other possibilities for a ‘no go’ list. I should agree immediately that this is a change of attitude for me. For a long time I’ve thought we should go anywhere, it’s important for all sorts of reasons that we ...
Uluru (aka Ayers Rock back in the day) – my multiple visits – I was back to Uluru in April 2025, with a family group, 17 of us, down to newborn baby Molly (definitely her first visit), Veda (aged 6) and assorted others, some on their first visit, some not. For me it w...
Recently I suggested that I hope I never have to go back to Bali. I simply never want to sit through another hour of Balinese gridlock. The traffic is impossible, insufferable, intolerable. When you get to your destination you basically do not want to leave. A quick t...
▲ Southern Ocean Lodge & Hanson Bay Maureen and I spent four luxurious days – and nights – at the remote (and luxurious!) Southern Ocean Lodge on Kangaroo Island off the Australian state of South Australia over New Year 2008-2009. Eleven years later on 3 Januar...
My recent Bali retreat mainly circled around travel writers and their Bali-related books, including Bill Dalton’s classic Indonesia Handbook and my own South-East Asia on a Shoestring, but other authors also featured. ◄ The Painted Alphabet – A mythical story of Ba...
The boring, too often repeated, questions I field all the time are ‘what’s your favourite place – followed by what’s the most dangerous thing that’s ever happened to you – and then where do you never want to go to again.’ Recently I’ve been hearing from friends who ha...
© Tony Wheeler’s Travels 2013