Our Comprehensive
List of Greek Islands

"How many islands are there?" and "do you have a list of Greek islands?" These are question we're asked quite a lot.

You see, we have visited many islands during the last 30+ years. It was 1977 when we were first here (since then, we've been frequent visitors).

It's amazing that a country the size of Greece can have so many wonderful, varied islands.

We fell in love with them, with the people, with this entire country.

We have seen dolphins as we were island hopping in our younger days.

We've eaten at some wonderful restaurants on many of the islands.

And we slept in a variety of accommodation ranging from cockroach infested studios (don't worry, we won't point you in the direction of those places) to the luxury of five star cruise ships.

We've slept in a serene, comfortable villa on a very secluded island. (Even many lifelong Greeks weren't sure where it was, so on an island that's considered secluded, that's really secluded!)

There's nothing like being lulled to sleep by gently lapping waves of the Aegean every night.

And Colin? Well, he loved the tavernas and beach bars. Something about "Ouzo and..."

The Greek islands have so much to offer everyone... warmth, sunshine, peace, parties, relaxation. Bask and laze on a sunbed or snorkel till your feet cramp.

And during this period, we also came to have a whole bunch of other favourites, which I will be writing about in this Web site...

* Some Our favourite beaches

* Absolute "must do" in the Greek Islands

* Best hotels and resorts (cheap and expensive)

* Our favorite Greek Island -- where we bought a house.

* Most pleasurable Greek Island restaurants

* Most rewarding spots for sports

* Why Colin adores some of the lesser known islands.

* Greatest groceries (you'll see why this is important)

* Our top spots for Greek real estate.

* The totally unique "little things" that make the Greek islands, the Greek islands.

* My number one tip for exploring the islands

* More to come on these and other "Greek islands best" things to do, eat, and experience. Watch as I add to this list of "best of the Greek islands"...

So, what does our, list of Greek islands consist of, after 30 years of exploration and play? And, how many are there?

We don't know the definitive answer to that! You see, every Greek island is different, each with its own qualities that makes it special and each with another island on the horizon.

Still, I'll answer that question the best I can.

The islands are Greece’s chief morphological trait and an integral part of the country’s civilisation and tradition. The Greek territory comprises 6,000 islands and islets scattered in the Aegean and Ionian Sea, a truly unique phenomenon on the European continent; of these islands only 227 are inhabited.

Most islands lie in the Aegean Sea and are divided in seven groups (from north to south):

• The Northeastern Aegean Islands: Agios Efstratios, Thasos, Ikaria, Lesvos, Limnos, Inousses, Samos, Samothrace, Chios, Psara.
• The Sporades: Alonissos, Skiathos, Skopelos, Skyros 
• Evia
• The Argo-Saronic Islands: Angistri, Aegina, Poros, Salamina, Spetses, Hydra and the coastal area of Methana.
• The Cyclades: A group of 56 islands, its most important ones being Amorgos, Anafi, Andros, Antiparos, Delos, Ios, Kea, Kimolos, Kythnos, Milos, Mykonos, Naxos, Paros, Santorini, Serifos, Sikinos, Sifnos, Syros, Tinos, Folegandros, as well as the “Minor Cyclades” comprising Donousa, Irakleia, Koufonisia and Schinoussa. 
• The Dodecanese: Astypalaia, Kalymnos, Karpathos, Kasos, Kastelorizo, Kos, Lipsi, Leros, Nisyros, Patmos, Rhodes, Symi, Tilos, Halki.
• Crete

The Ionian Sea is home to one sole island group:

• The Ionian Islands: Zakynthos, Ithaca, Corfu, Cephallonia, Lefkada, Paxi, Antipaxi, Ereikoussa, Mathraki, Meganissi, Othoni, Strofades.
  These islands, together with Kythira, which is however cut-off from the rest, opposite the southern Peloponnese (Lakonia), as well as neighbouring Antikythira, they constitute the Eptanissa.

Here's our list of Greek islands, detailing the most popular islands and some of the lesser known islands that you may or may not of heard of.

Most Popular

Other Lesser Known Islands

If you need a detail-specific list of Greek islands, I can't tell you where to get one, and believe you me, I have tried. No two lists are the same and the sources of information can't even agree on the total number of islands or those which are inhabitated.

So, there you have it, our very own list of Greek islands which is probably very different to others you may see.