List of islands of Greece

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from Greek Islands)
Jump to: navigation, search

Greece has a large number of islands, with estimates ranging from somewhere around 1,200[1] to 6,000,[2] depending on the minimum size to take into account. The number of inhabited islands is variously cited as between 166[3] and 227.[2]

The largest Greek island by area is Crete, located at the southern edge of the Aegean Sea. The second largest island is Euboea, which is separated from the mainland by the 60m-wide Euripus Strait, and is administered as part of the Central Greece region. After the third and fourth largest Greek Islands, Lesbos and Rhodes, the rest of the islands are two-thirds of the area of Rhodes, or smaller.

The Greek islands are traditionally grouped into the following clusters: The Argo-Saronic Islands in the Saronic gulf near Athens, the Cyclades, a large but dense collection occupying the central part of the Aegean Sea, the North Aegean islands, a loose grouping off the west coast of Turkey, the Dodecanese, another loose collection in the southeast between Crete and Turkey, the Sporades, a small tight group off the coast of Euboea, and the Ionian Islands, located to the west of the mainland in the Ionian Sea (one of these islands, Kythira, is off the southern tip of the Peloponnese Peninsula and part of the Attica region, but still considered part of the Ionian Islands, mainly because of historical reasons). There are also many islands, islets and rocks that surround the coast of Crete.

Islands of Greece by size[edit]

The following are the largest Greek islands listed by surface area. The table includes all islands of over 75 square miles (190 km2).

Island Area
(sq. miles)
1 Crete 3,219 8,336
2 Euboea 1,417 3,670
3 Lesbos 630 1,633
4 Rhodes 541 1,401
5 Chíos 325 842.3
6 Cephalonia 302 781
7 Corfu 229 592.9
8 Lemnos 184 477.6
9 Samos 184 477.4
10 Naxos 166 429.8
11 Zakynthos 157 406
12 Thassos 147 380.1
13 Andros 147 380.0
14 Lefkada 117 303
15 Karpathos 116 300
16 Kos 112 290.3
17 Kythira 108 279.6
18 Icaria 99 255
19 Skyros 81 209
20 Paros 75 195
21 Tinos 75 194

Saronic Islands[edit]

Main article: Saronic Islands

Inhabited islands[edit]

Uninhabited islands[edit]

This list includes islands that may have been inhabited in the past but are now uninhabited:

The Northern Sporades[edit]

Main article: Sporades

Main islands[edit]

Other islands and islets[edit]

The Ionian Islands[edit]

Main article: Ionian Islands

The Dodecanese Islands[edit]

Main article: Dodecanese
164 total islands of which 26 are inhabited.

Aegean Islands[edit]

Main article: Aegean islands

Of the Aegean Sea[edit]

Of the Thracian Sea[edit]

The Cyclades[edit]

Main article: Cyclades
Cyclades comprise around 220 islands

Cretan islands[edit]

This is a list of islands, islets, and rocks that surround the island of Crete.

Of the Aegean Sea[edit]

The islet of Leon, on the left, next to the larger islet of Souda, within Souda bay
The islet of Trafos in the Libyan Sea.

Of the Libyan Sea[edit]

Euboea and surrounding islands[edit]

Islets close to mainland[edit]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ The Greek claim is disputed by Turkey (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Turkey : "The Kardak Dispute" retrieved 30 November 2012).


  1. ^ John S. Bowman,; Sherry Marker; Peter Kerasiotis; Heidi Sarna (2010). "Greece in depth". Frommer's Greece (7th ed. ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-470-52663-7. 
  2. ^ a b Ellinikos Organismos Tourismou (EOT). "Greek islands". Retrieved 29 April 2012. 
  3. ^ Poffley, Frewin (2002). Greek Island Hopping. Thomas Cook. p. 15. 
  4. ^ Map 1
  5. ^ Athens News Agency, 21 June 1997: "Gov't satisfied with Pentagon statement referring to Imia as Greek territory"