Top 5 Seaside Strolls

Few things can beat the thrill of wind in your hair and the invigorating scent of salt lingering on your skin as you explore these coastal paradises.

Gozo: Malta’s best-kept secret

Gozo is still a secret, of sorts. Malta’s little sister is an island of lush terraced fields and flowering valleys, crumbling churches and wandering lanes, salt pans formed in vast honeycombs and burnt orange beaches. Its mysterious megalithic temples are older than even Stonehenge, and legend has it that it was here that the Greek goddess Calypso trapped Odysseus for years in Homer’s epic tale. Calypso’s Isle: Self-Guided Walking in Gozo  

Greece: glimpses of the past

Santorini

When they weren’t fending off sea-weathered pirates or tending to sun-bleached sheep, sailor and shepherds once plied the stone paving slabs of the Byzantine Way. Wild flowers and purple-berried myrtles have since edged their way through the old stone walls, but you can still trace the well-worn path across the east coast of Paros and gaze out to the shimmering Aegean sea. Walking on the Greek Islands  

Spain: pretty as a picture

Beach of Begur, Catalunya

Discover blue-shuttered Cadaqués and the landscape that captured the hearts of the 1930s modernists and surrealists. Miró and Magritte paddled in the shallow turquoise bays, while Salvador Dali built a summer house by an isolated cove. Coastal Trails of Catalunya  

France: coastal walks on Côte d’Azur

Spectacular views over Menton

Doctor James Henry Bennett’s great discovery was the French Riviera, and his 1861 book inspired English and Russian aristocrats to flock to the “sunny, picturesque shore, overshadowed by bold mountains, and inhabited by fishermen”. Glamorous hotels and villas sprung up faster than palm trees and lemon groves. Explore Menton, as dapper and sun-kissed as ever, as well as the rocky coastal paths and surrounding hillside villages. Walking the French Riviera  

Italy: Walk of the Gods

Sorrentino Peninsula

After 20 years working on boats and travelling the world, Exodus guide Eduardo Palermo remains convinced that the Walk of the Gods is "the most beautiful walk in the world". Weaving through lemon groves and wild flowers, above multi-coloured matchbox houses, with coastal cliffs rolling out in front and the path plunging sideways down to the sea below, it's breathtaking. Walking the Amalfi Coast Self-guided Walking Tours on the Amalfi Coast