Balos lagoon

Balos is the aerial-looking photograph everyone has seen — a hooked spit of white sand enclosing a lagoon in three blues, wild grey mountains around it — except no drone is needed: the overlook on the footpath down gives exactly that view. The frame from the path, with the couple on the rocks in the foreground and the lagoon spread below, is the reason to come.

Getting there is the filter that keeps it special: eight kilometres of washboard dirt road from Kissamos (small hire cars survive it, slowly), then twenty minutes down a stepped path. The day boats from Kissamos deliver crowds to the lagoon itself from late morning to five — but they arrive by sea, so the overlook stays workable even midday, and the lagoon empties beautifully in the last hours.

Go late afternoon: the boats leave, the low sun warms the sand bars, and the walk back up happens in the cool. Water, hats and real shoes are not optional; there is nothing at the top but the view.