Where we would actually stay.

A five-star resort on the edge of Naousa built around garden courtyards, a seasonal pool and a full spa card, with the town's harbour restaurants close enough to walk to and far enough to sleep past.

A small whitewashed hotel in Naousa's Agioi Anargyroi quarter with gardens, terraces and a hot tub, close to the fishing harbour without sitting in its evening noise.

Simple self-catering studios with a garden and bar on Parikia's main street — the honest Cycladic baseline: a clean room, a shaded table, and the port and evening volta within a few minutes on foot.

A five-star spa hotel terraced above Vietri sul Mare at the coast road's eastern gate, with a sea-view pool, a full wellness floor and the ceramics town at its feet. The composed, grown-up end of the coast rather than the crowded middle.

A polished boutique stay a few steps above Amalfi's harbourfront, trading pool acreage for position: the passeggiata, the cathedral steps and the ferry quay are all a short walk downhill.

A family-run hotel in hillside Scala, across the valley from Ravello, with a garden, a terrace and free parking — the rarest amenity on this coast. What it asks in hairpin bends it returns in quiet and in views.