Why? Because of its silver sea, snow-capped mountains and the huddled, intimate hamlets.

The best thing: The Cretans. The people on the island have a raw, unpredictable and admirable energy for life, and they burst with hospitality. Cretans are very much of their island and it is hard to separate the two - I couldn't imagine one without the other.

My ideal day: I'd wake up at the Nida plateau,'the roof of Crete' reputed to be the birthplace of Zeus. It's a green plain closed in by the ash-grey Dikti mountain. Then I'd head for a swim at Kefalas, in a hidden bay, followed by lunch. An afternoon siesta is a national event in Crete. In the evening, I'd go to a taverna called The Three Doors in Vrysses, which has fantastic food fresh from the mountains.

My advice: Get out of the tourist villages and explore - it's such an un-European island. Hire a car but not a moped or motorbike - the Cretans are dangerously spirited drivers!

Getting there: Cheapflights currently has return flights to Heraklion, Crete, from Gatwick from around £139.

· Rory MacLean's Falling For Icarus: A Journey Among The Cretans is published by Penguin at £7.99.