Manolates

The most photographed village on Samos, built at 360m above the Aidonia (Nightingale) valley. Cars stop at the entrance and from there you walk cobbled lanes between geranium-filled courtyards, small workshops and craft shops. Tavernas on the little square serve local food and Samian wine with the Aegean spread out below. Very few people live here year-round, so it feels empty early in the morning — which, along with late afternoon, is the best time to come, because midday brings the tour coaches.