Agali bay

Agali is the beach Folegandros sends you to. It sits in a bay on the west coast about twenty minutes below Chora by road, and the setting is the point: fine grey sand and pebble, water that stays calm because the bay faces away from the meltemi, and dry treeless hills rising straight behind it with a scatter of white houses.

For a session it is the wide, quiet counterweight to Chora's lanes — horizon, sand and rock instead of whitewash and steps, and space to move. From here small boats run to Agios Nikolaos and Livadaki, coves with no road at all, which turns half an hour on the water into the best part of the afternoon.

The bay faces roughly west, so it holds light until the sun goes and the hills behind pick up the last of it. There is a handful of tavernas and rooms and not much else; parking is limited above the beach and the walk down is on a stepped path. If you want the boat coves, check the timetable and the last return before booking a late slot.