Spetses has the patrician air of an island that has been hosting well-heeled visitors for over a century. Cars are restricted to the outskirts, and the main mode of transport in town is the horse-drawn carriage — a tradition that gives Spetses its distinctive, unhurried character.
The island's naval heritage runs deep. During the Greek War of Independence, Spetses contributed ships and sailors, and the heroine Laskarina Bouboulina — one of the few female admirals in naval history — commanded her fleet from here. Her mansion is now a museum. The Armata festival each September re-enacts a naval battle in the harbour with fireworks and burning ships.
The old harbour and Dapia waterfront are lined with grand captains' mansions, now home to cafes and restaurants. Anargyrios and Korgialenios College, the English-style boarding school that inspired John Fowles's The Magus, sits above the town. By yacht, Spetses's pine-covered coastline reveals beautiful coves — Zogeria, Agioi Anargyroi, Xilokeriza — that are the island's best-kept swimming secrets.
Horse-drawn carriages — no private cars in town
Bouboulina Museum — Greece's female naval hero
Zogeria bay — pine-backed turquoise cove
Armata festival — September naval re-enactment with fireworks
The Magus connection — Fowles wrote it here
Grand captains' mansions along the Dapia waterfront
