Hidden Mediterranean Coastal Towns

Cassis on the French coast

Cassis is 30 minutes from Marseille and has, somehow, stayed itself. A small fishing harbour, a row of pastel facades, and behind it the Calanques National Park: a coast of white limestone fjords that you can reach on foot or by small boat. The wine is local rosé. Lunch is bouillabaisse or oursins in season.

Stay two or three nights. Hike to Calanque d'En-Vau at sunrise to beat both the heat and the day boats.

Cadaqués on the Catalan coast

Cadaqués is the white village at the end of the Cap de Creus peninsula, on the last twist of the Costa Brava before France. The road in has 30 hairpins and that's part of why it stayed quiet. Dalí lived in Portlligat next door, and his house-museum is bookable in advance and is one of the most personal artist museums in Spain.

Perast in the Bay of Kotor

Kotor itself has had its moment and gets crowded by cruise traffic. Perast, 15 minutes by car around the bay, is a single line of stone palazzos along a quiet waterfront with two small islets offshore. Stay overnight to have it to yourself in the evening.

Sperlonga, between Rome and Naples

Sperlonga is the white town on a promontory two hours south of Rome that almost no foreign tourist visits, despite being on the train line. The old town spills down a cliff above two long sand beaches. The Tiberius villa with its sea grotto is a 15-minute walk down the coast.

Camogli on the Ligurian coast

Camogli is the painted village just before you get to the Cinque Terre rush. The houses are tall and ochre and lemon-yellow. There's a basilica on a rock at the harbour, ferries to the abbey at San Fruttuoso, and a fish festival in May where they fry the whole catch in a giant pan on the beach.