Milos.

A small, family-run set of suites on the Pollonia waterfront — going since 2004, right by the harbour and a short walk from Enalion, Yialos and the rest of the village. The rooms are the cleanest and lightest in the price band, breakfast is in the courtyard, and the family at the desk knows the island cold. The reliable Pollonia base if you want somewhere well-run and central, not a destination in itself.

Ten white-on-white suites at the quiet Pelekouda tip of Pollonia, part of the Mr & Mrs White group — raw timber, aged-plaster walls, no hard corners. It sits on the calm, no-wind side of the peninsula, so the sun sets over the water directly off your balcony, where an à la carte breakfast is brought each morning. A short walk to Enalion and Yialos and the rest of the village. The best-value design base in Pollonia if Skinopi and the top tier are out of budget.

Cycladic minimalism done with restraint — white-on-white, polished cement, pebble-shaped basins, the Pollonia bay in the window. Twelve adults-only suites on the Pollonia waterfront, eight with private plunge pools, built by three Greek-Australian women with Athens firm KKMK and now in the Michelin Guide. A Greek breakfast is brought to your terrace, facing the sea.

Six adults-only suites on the hill above Paliochori beach on the south coast, most with a private plunge pool and the wide view over the volcanic bay. There’s a small spa too — sauna, hammam, a treatment room — and the Sirocco sand-oven taverna is a walk down the hill. The choice if you want privacy and a pool day without full-resort prices.

A 23-room clifftop hotel above Pollonia, with the view running across to Kimolos, Sifnos and Poliaigos and a magnesium-mineral infinity pool as the centrepiece. White-and-blue-grey rooms, natural wood and raffia, breakfast made to order by the pool — it reads more "small resort" than "boutique," which makes it the design-tier pick for a family or a longer stay.

Seven stone-and-glass villas above the bay, designed by Athens architects Kokkinou + Kourkoulas and built from volcanic stone — the one Milos hotel the architecture press actually writes about. Each villa is named for a local herb or tree and is bioclimatic, so it barely needs air-conditioning, and the place is deliberately stripped of the usual machinery: no spa, no restaurant, no buffet. Just the villa, the cove below it, and silence, ten minutes from Adamas.

The new-money entrant — 42 villas and suites built into their own cove at Agkali, with infinity pools, a beach club, two restaurants and the Obsidian spa. Reachable only through the hotel or by boat; the closest Milos has to a Mykonos-style luxury complex.