Alternative Greece: six of the best holidays beyond the sunlounger

The Axios delta, Greece, ‘a photographer’s dream’. Photograph: Hercules Milas/Alamy

Explore the Axios delta and stay in Thessaloniki

A neat line of wooden houses on stilts sits over water, with fishing boats tied up between them. Marshland stretches as far as the eye can see, blending with the sky. In a mirror-like lagoon, salmon-pink flamingos stalk the shallows, their beaks trawling for crustaceans.