Greece remains one of the most popular destinations for British travellers according to National Geographic Traveller magazine. But how well do you know your islands and inland idylls? National Geographic created a guide for savvy travellers with 4 tips that will certainly pay off.

1. Athens: There’s more to Athens than the Acropolis

Wherever you stand in the Greek capital, you can’t miss the Acropolis. Indeed, you’re not supposed to. The Parthenon, the temple that rises beautifully out of this ancient summit citadel was completed in 432BC as a tribute to the city’s guardian goddess Athena — and as a constant reminder to its citizens as to who they should thank for the good times.

Over two millennia on, it’s still visible from almost every street, even in the modern metropolis. But while you should certainly visit this global wonder, there’s more to Athens than its cornerstone. Not least, the adjacent Acropolis Museum, an elegant showcase for the Parthenon friezes since 2009 — and an eloquent appeal for the return of the London half of these tale-telling slabs, the Elgin Marbles.

2. On foot: Greece is for walkers

You can have an original taste of Greece if you don’t walk.

3. Northerly Epirus: Deserves your attention

Only true disciples of Greece appreciate its north-west corner, where the country rubs shoulders with Albania. Yet Epirus is intriguing — the Pindus peaks jutting up sharply; the capital Ioannina set on the edge of the lake; the ruined Roman city of Nicopolis.

4. Folegandros: Santorini has a little sister

Gaze north-west through the sunset inferno that envelops Oia — Santorini’s most northerly clifftop town — every evening, and you may just be able to spy a lingering Greek secret. Folegandros lies 31 miles beyond the most feted piece of the Cyclades jigsaw. Ferries (from the port of Athinios) take around 70 minutes and drop you at Karavostasis, whose dock area is almost the sole concession that this island makes to the noise and motion of travel. What waits beyond is a sleepy time capsule: the modest capital, Chora, where the whitewashed Panagia church preens on a bluff above the rest of the town; the implausibly tranquil village of Ano Meria in the west; Agali beach, a seafront pocket on the south coast reached down a rough road, where you might find a sizeable scattering of hotels — but only encounter a pair of tavernas and the relentless slap of waves on shore.