No cars, no wheels — stone, sea, and donkeys.

Hydra is unlike anywhere else in Greece: motor vehicles are banned, and goods still move by donkey, mule, and water taxi — which has kept its amphitheatre of stone mansions almost exactly as the nineteenth century left it.

Like Spetses, Hydra grew rich on shipping and spent that wealth on the 1821 revolution, sending captains such as Andreas Miaoulis to sea against the Ottoman fleet. The grand stone arhontika of those families still climb the hillsides above the port.

In the twentieth century its light and quiet drew painters, writers, and musicians — Leonard Cohen famously kept a house here — and the island remains a haunt of galleries, small museums, and good tavernas, worn but never tired.

About 90 minutes away by ferry, Hydra delivers you to a working harbour with no traffic at all: swim from the rocks, walk the coastal paths, and watch the boats come and go from a waterfront table.

← Back to Costa Phos