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From a car-free Aegean island to an Atlantic outcrop where puffins outnumber residents, five tiny European islands worth the ferry ride
Enrica Tancioni / Unsplash
Sometimes travelers need real distance between themselves and the world, and boarding a ship bound for a small, low-key island offers one of the most effective ways to find it. Adding an island day to a European itinerary can deliver a distinctly welcome break from a busy week of big-city attractions, and even the largest national parks, with their overwhelming number of trails and viewpoints, rarely offer the same sense of completion that a small island can.
A small island explored entirely on foot over a day or two, where there’s nothing to do but enjoy quiet nature or wind down an evening reading on a rocky cove, offers a distinctly different kind of travel experience. Following the coastline of nearly any European destination reveals islands like these scattered throughout the region, each reachable only by boat and each offering a considerably different flavor of escape.
