The greenest island of the Cyclades. Andros is a very attractive island with some traditional and very picturesque villages. The fortified capital of the island is a real jewel which combines Venetian and Cycladic architecture, narrow stone paved alleys, arcades .

In the island's four ranges of hills, the largest of which is Mount Petalon (997 m), are marble quarries which were already being worked in antiquity. Thanks to its unusual abundance of water Andros - most Cycladic islands are rather barren - has a flourishing agriculture.
Despite their charming ports both Andros and especially Tinos are rarely visited by charter yachts. Yet, the ports of Batsi, Gavrion and Kastro on Andros,

In antiquity Andros was sacred to Dionysos, and its festivals in his honour were widely famed. Originally settled by Ionians, Andros came under the control of Eretria at an early stage. In the 7th c. BCE it sent settlers to Chalkidiki. After the Battle of Salamis, when it had supported the Persians, it was unsuccessfully besieged by Themistokles. Later it became an ally of Athens; then in 338 BCE it fell into the hands of the Macedonians, and thereafter became Roman.

From 1207 Andros was ruled by Venetian dynasts, who built the watch-towers still to be seen on the island. At the beginning of the 15th c. Albanian incomers settled in the north of the island, preserving their language into the 20th c. In 1566 Andros was occupied by the Turks, and remained in Turkish hands until the establishment of the Greek State in the 19th c.