Why you should follow Boris Johnson to this underrated Greek island

A quick quiz to begin: What is the name of Greece’s second-largest island?

Take a few moments. Absolutely no rush.

OK. If you answered “Crete,” then you have underestimated the (vast) size of the biggest piece of the Aegean jigsaw. If you opted for Lesbos (third) or Rhodes (fourth), then you have a commendable appreciation of Greek geography, although you are incorrect on this occasion. If you answered Evia then – I’m sorry – I suspect you resorted to using Google.

It is no wild-eyed act of libel to write that the place in question is, for all its hugeness, almost entirely without profile beyond its own country. Certainly, when the New Year’s Day hangover shifts, and the conversation turns towards selecting a Greek island for a summer break, very few Britons throw Evia into the discussion.

Enormous it may be (1,417 sq miles), but it hardly leaps out from the atlas. Indeed, you have to scan the map carefully just to spot it, skulking 40 miles to the north of Athens. In part, this is because it shadows the mainland so closely that it appears to be a peninsula; it is only the Euripus Strait – at the narrowest point, only 130ft wide – that gives it island status.

Nonetheless, considering its proximity to the Greek capital, with its international airport, it is amazing that Evia isn’t better known. Its shroud of mystery even extends to its name. You will also see it referred to – interchangeably – as “Euboea.” Confusing? Just a little.

So it would be logical to argue that the news that Boris Johnson has been enjoying a family holiday in one of its posher villas will provide Evia with a dose of much-needed publicity. Except that this news is not really news at all. The former prime minister is a regular visitor; he was there in August 2022, just a fortnight before his defenestration from Downing Street, and again in August last year. If this has not already sparked a stampede to the island, it seems improbable that a third turn of the wheel will do so now.

Yet Johnson is onto something here. Even his most ardent supporters would surely concede that he made a few questionable decisions during his time in Number 10, but his repeat choice of holiday destination betrays no such misjudgement. There should be scant surprise that he is so attracted to Evia. Whether a man with a well-documented love of Classics has enjoyed three consecutive summers on its shoreline because it offers him an immersion into the Greek culture he so adores – or because the dearth of British tourists means he won’t be pestered on the beach – is difficult to say. It may well be a bit of both. But either way, Evia is an Aegean oasis – which rewards those who bother to seek it out.

True, it is happy in its own world, and does not sell itself readily. Chalcis, its biggest city, is swarthy rather than stunning (though it has an archaeological museum befitting a place which pops up in Homer’s Iliad). And you have to avert your gaze from the power station which smudges the otherwise lovely south coast at Anthoupoli. But the further in you go, the more you are entranced. The north-east coast is glorious, Kalamos Beach serving up visual perfection at Avlona. And the “dragon houses” which dot the interior at the likes of Kapsala – ruined stone homes whose origins and era are unclear – add further intrigue.

There is also an air of pragmatism to the island that Johnson surely values. Maybe it is the absence of too many expensive hotels, but there is a discernible unfussiness to Evia.

Like the ex-PM, I was on the island in August 2023. This was the second half of a getaway during the heatwave which led to numerous wildfires and – most notoriously – the evacuation of holidaymakers on Rhodes. Our first week had been on the Peloponnese – where the resort-town of Finikounda seemed on edge, scanning the hillsides for clouds of smoke. Evia, which also felt the flames in that troubled period, was far more relaxed; not quite toasting marshmallows on the embers, but, with no need to bus thousands of terrified tourists back to the mainland, going about its business without obvious concern.

We spent a couple of long and lazy lunchtimes at waterside tavernas in southerly Eretria, watching the ferries chug across the strait from Skala Oropou, opposite. Each time they docked, they disgorged a car-load of Athenians, coming over for the weekend or an afternoon of sun-bathing. As British visitors, we were made unfailingly welcome – but no one sounded too desperate for their “mystery” island to give away its well-kept secret.

Three late-summer getaways to Evia

Although it has no airport, Evia is easily reached from Athens by road (a pair of bridges span the Euripus Strait at Chalcis). The following options can still offer sunshine in 2024:

The budget beach break

Evia is still basking in the low twenties Celsius in early October. A seven-night dash to the four-star Kymi Palace (at Kymi, on the north-east coast), flying from Stansted on October 5, starts at £319 a head, with Love Holidays (01234 230 440; loveholidays.com).

The walking tour

The island’s considerable ruggedness – its highest peak, Dirfi, hits 5,719ft (1,743m) – lends itself to active holidays. Exodus Adventure Travels (020 3993 6073; exodus.co.uk) offers “Mountains & Villages of Evia,” a regular eight-day escorted break which wanders widely on foot. Six departures are still in the 2024 diary, from £1,099 a head, flights extra.

The luxury villa

It says a lot about Evia’s relative underdevelopment that high-end travel specialist The Thinking Traveller (020 8131 7307; thethinkingtraveller.com) offers but a single property on the island. Arocaria definitely isn’t cheap – from £13,766 for a week. But in housing up to 14 guests in seven bedrooms close to south-coast Amarynthos – while adding a large infinity pool into the bargain – it caters to bigger groups who want to share the cost.