A more authentic Greece can be found in the Cycladic haven of Tinos. With its own enchanting sunsets and rugged charm, this under-the-radar gem is an alluring alternative. A two-hour ferry ride from Santorini and a half-hour from Mykonos, Tinos is the laid-back sister to Greece’s high-watt destinations. Beckoning to be explored, Tinos is dotted with villages, hidden inland to protect them from pirates during a bygone age, and an unusual network of 18th-century dovecotes perched on hillsides and above ravines. Tinos, with its mountainous spine and unusual rock formations, is renowned for the pure white marble used since ancient times to build its houses, archways, streets, churches and fountains. Tinos’s beaches are more expansive than Santorini’s, and under the blazing sun, the turquoise sea is calm. And as night falls, the sunset from one of Tinos’s mountainside villages is about as breathtaking as a sunset on Santorini — minus the hordes.

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