Which is the Greek island for you?

Enormous Crete has just about everything, from good food and wine to sandy beaches, ancient ruins (it was the cradle of Minoan civilisation during the second millennium BC), and top-drawer hiking. There's also the lively bars of Malia, while its southerly location means it's a great bet for late-season breaks. See telegraph.co.uk/crete for more information.

Once among the poorest, barest Greek islands, Mýkonos in the 1960s became a bohemian mecca and is now one of the glitziest places in the Med - as well as one of the most gay-friendly. Expect trendy bars, hip hotels and boutiques - but not much peace-and-quiet. See telegraph.co.uk/mykonos for more information.

"If I could give a child a gift, I'd give him my childhood," said Gerald Durrell, the author and conservationist, shortly before his death in 1995 - a ringing endorsement for Corfu as a family-friendly destinations. Much has changed since then, but away from the excesses of Kavos in the south, you'll still find idyllic, sleepy spots and good beaches. "Tourist development is quarantined on certain coastal patches, and once inland you really seem to be on another island, even another era," says Marc Dubin, our Corfu expert. There's also Unesco-listed Kérkyra old town, some fine museums, monasteries, castles and a long-distance hiking trail. See telegraph.co.uk/corfu for more information.

Santorini's dramatic caldera views and boutique accommodation make it perfect for a romantic break. There are also a handful of museums, a couple of spectacular hikes, some excellent local wines and several black-sand beaches. See telegraph.co.uk/santorini for more information.

The setting for Louis de Bernières' fabulous novel Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Kefalonia's myriad appeals include magnificent, rugged scenery, friendly locals, a certain rural charm, and some of the best beaches in the whole of Greece. And despite the success of the novel – and the subsequent film adaptation – it remains mercifully unspoilt by mass tourism. See telegraph.co.uk/kefalonia for more information

Symi might well be Greece's most romantic island. It has one of the country's most picturesque ports, crowded with pastel-coloured houses, bars, tavernas and chic boutiques, and dozens of tiny beaches accessible only by boat. Francesca Syz calls it a "rugged gem with a harbour of crumbling neoclassical mansions. It offers a wonderful local experience and some of the best food on the Greek islands."

The setting for Mamma Mia! has all the ingredients for a perfect Greek holiday: good beaches and walking routes, monasteries stuck in a timewarp, striking hilltop towns and a pretty main port. See telegraph.co.uk/skopelos for more information.

"With miles of beaches, a forested, mountainous interior, Crusader castles, frescoed churches, one of the finest medieval towns in the Mediterranean and eight sunny months a year, Rhodes can’t help but be a winner for holidaymakers," says Marc Dubin, our Greece expert. "The walled old town of Rhodes, a successive effort of the Knights Hospitaller of St John and the Ottomans, has justly been accorded Unesco World Heritage status, and rarely fails to impress with its sandstone architecture, flying buttresses over cobbled streets and a skyline exotically stooked with minarets and palm trees." See telegraph.co.uk/rhodes for more information