What to do in Salamis

Be clear about what this is. Salamis is a working commuter island with shipyards, traffic and supermarkets, not a beach holiday, and the reason to come is the water you crossed to get here. The main thing to do is the battle: stand on the eastern shore, look back at the mainland, and take in how narrow the strait is. There is no visitor centre and next to no signage, so it rewards a bit of reading beforehand. Add the old settlement at Ampelakia, the small archaeological museum in town, and the seventeenth-century monastery in the north-west with its remarkable painted interior, which is the best single sight on the island. On the west coast there are a couple of decent pine-backed beaches, fine for a swim on a weekday, packed with Athenian families at the weekend. You will be bored here if you want whitewashed lanes and a fishing harbour. Salamis is a suburb with a coastline and some very important history. One day is right, two is a stretch.