Skiathos is one of the Sporades group of Greek islands that lie just off the east coast of Greece and this one's the nearest to the mainland.
One of the first to cash in on the Greek holiday boom thanks to an international airport Skiathos has remained one of the most popular Greek island holiday destinations.
Skiathos is a small and compact island, just 12km long and about 6km wide, and its main claim to fame is a plethora of large, deep, sandy beaches strung right the way along its southern coastline.
Recent years have seen an explosion in tourist facilities and, nowadays, a virtually unbroken line of hotels, apartments and neon-lit tavernas flank the once rural road that runs the length of the south coast.
A ban on high rise hotels has curbed major downmarket excess and the tavernas may be as much baklavas as burgers, but Skiathos still groans under its own weight in annual tourist numbers.
The island's ever growing popularity has resulted in higher prices in the popular resorts and the inevitable drift to dumbed down tackiness.
The closely-packed Skiathos holiday beaches are sandy and safe for children, making this an ideal island for family holidays.
Most of the interior of Skiathos is hilly, heavily wooded and almost totally deserted with a few less crowded beaches on the north coast.