Regions for Greek islands

Greece has many islands,[Note 1] 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 both area and population is Crete, located at the southern edge of the Aegean Sea. The second largest island in area is Euboea or Evvia, 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, chiefly located to the west of the mainland in the Ionian Sea. Crete with its surrounding islets and Euboea are traditionally excluded from this grouping.

This article excludes the Peloponnese, which has technically been an island since the construction of the Corinth Canal in 1893, but is rarely considered to be an island due to its artificial origins

Islands of Greece by size

NASA image of Crete
NASA image of Rhodes
Ithaca is to the upper right of the larger Kefalonia island in this picture. The small island in the top-right corner is the uninhabited Atokos island (NASA World Wind satellite picture).

The following are the 40 largest Greek islands listed by surface area.

IslandGreek nameArea
(miles2)
Area
(km2)
Cluster
1CreteΚρήτη3,2198,336Cretan
2EviaΕύβοια1,4173,670Euboean
3LesbosΛέσβος6301,633North Aegean Islands
4RhodesΡόδος5411,401Dodecanese
5ChíosΧίος325842.3North Aegean Islands
6KefaloniaΚεφαλονιά302781Ionian Islands
7CorfuΚέρκυρα229592.9Ionian Islands
8LemnosΛήμνος184477.6North Aegean Islands
9SamosΣάμος184477.4North Aegean Islands
10NaxosΝάξος166429.8Cyclades
11ZakynthosΖάκυνθος157406Ionian Islands
12ThassosΘάσος147380.1North Aegean Islands
13AndrosΆνδρος147380.0Cyclades
14LefkadaΛευκάδα117303Ionian Islands
15KarpathosΚάρπαθος116300Dodecanese
16KosΚως112290.3Dodecanese
17KythiraΚύθηρα108279.6Ionian Islands
18IcariaΙκαρία99255North Aegean Islands
19SkyrosΣκύρος81209Sporades
20ParosΠάρος75195Cyclades
21TinosΤήνος75194Cyclades
22SamothraceΣαμοθράκη69178North Aegean Islands
23MilosΜήλος58151Cyclades
24KeaΚέα51132Cyclades
25AmorgosΑμοργός47121Cyclades
26KalymnosΚάλυμνος42.5110Dodecanese
27IosΊος41.7108Cyclades
28KythnosΚύθνος38.499.4Cyclades
29AstypalaiaΑστυπάλαια37.296.4Dodecanese
30IthacaΙθάκη37.196.2Ionian Islands
31SalamisΣαλαμίνα37.196.2Argo-Saronic
32SkopelosΣκόπελος37.196.2Sporades
33MykonosΜύκονος33.085.5Cyclades
34SyrosΣύρος32.083.6Cyclades
35AeginaΑίγινα31.982.6Argo-Saronic
36SantoriniΣαντορίνη29.476.2Cyclades
37SerifosΣέριφος29.075.2Cyclades
38SifnosΣίφνος28.673.9Cyclades
39KasosΚάσος26.869.5Dodecanese
40AlonnisosΑλόννησος24.764.1Sporades

Islands of Greece by population

IslandPopulation
Crete636,504
Evia191,206
Rhodes125,113
Lesbos83,755
Corfu102,071
Chios50,361
Zakynthos41,180
Salamis37,220
Kefalonia36,064
Kos37,089
Samos32,642
Lefkada21,900
Syros21,507
Naxos20,578
Lemnos16,411
Kalymnos17,752
Santorini15,480
Thasos13,104
Paros14,520
Aegina12,911
Mykonos10,704
Tinos8,934
Andros8,826
Icaria8,843
Leros7,992
Skiathos5,802
Aitoliko4,935
Karpathos6,567
Milos5,302
Skopelos4,518
Kythira3,644
Ithaca2,862
Patmos3,283
Skyros3,052
Samothrace2,596
Sifnos2,777
Alonnisos3,138
Symi2,603
Kea2,335
Paxos2,466
Poros3,261
Spetses3,748

Islands of the Aegean Sea

Argo-Saronic Islands

Aerial view of the port city of Hydra on Hydra Island

This list includes Argo-Saronic islands, which are located in the Saronic Gulf. The largest Argo-Saronic island is Salamis. The main islands are in bold. Uninhabited islands are indicated, including those that may have been inhabited in the past:

Cretan islands

The two lists below show the islands, islets, and rocks that surround the island of Crete that are in the Aegean Sea or Libyan Sea.

Cretan islands of the Aegean Sea

The islet of Leon, on the left, next to the larger islet of Souda, within Souda bay
Spinalonga (Kalydon)
The islet of Pontikonisi (mouse island) which has the shape of a mouse.

Cretan islands of the Libyan Sea

The islet of Trafos in the Libyan Sea

Islands on the south coast of Crete are considered in the Libyan Sea.

Cyclades islands

Cyclades islands
Iconic windmills of Mykonos

The Cyclades islands comprise around 220 islands and islets. The main islands are indicated in bold below.[7][8]

Dodecanese islands

Dodcanese Islands
Harbor of the island of Astypalaia

There are 164 total Dodecanese Islands of which 26 are inhabited. There are 12 main islands, as listed in bold below:

Euboea and surrounding islands

North Aegean islands

There are also two North Aegean islands in the Thracian Sea:

Sporades islands

Northern Sporades

The 30 islands in the Sporades are listed below with the four major islands in bold. The largest Sporades island is Skyros.

Ionian Sea islands

Main Ionian Islands
Echinades islands

Islands in the Ionian Sea are listed below. The seven largest and most popular islands are listed in bold.[13][14]

Islets close to mainland

The following islands are close to the mainland and not part of a sea:

Islands not in the sea

Lake and river islands

Ioannina island in Lake Pamvotida

Islands in an island

Lagoon islands

See also

Notes

    1. In Greek: Island-Νησί (Nisi), Islet-Νησάκι (Nisáki)

    References

    1. John S. Bowman; Sherry Marker; Peter Keraislands siotis; Heidi Sarna (2010). "Greece in depth". Frommer's Greece (7th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-470-52663-7.
    2. 1 2 "Islands". Visit Greece - Official website of the Greek National Tourism Organisation. Hellenic Organization of Tourism (EOT; Ελληνικός Οργανισμός Τουρισμού). Retrieved 7 February 2022.
    3. Poffley, Frewin (20 December 2012). Greek island hopping, 23rd ed. 2013. Thomas Cook Publishing. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-84848-569-3. OCLC 827800689.
    4. Google Maps
    5. 1 2 "Islands of Greece". GeoNames. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
    6. "Nisida Agio Pantes". GeoNames. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
    7. "Tageo Worldwide Index for Greece Islands". Tageo, www.tageo.com. Retrieved 24 March 2020.(in English)
    8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 "Islands of the Cyclades". GeoNames. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
    9. "Glaronisi, South Aegean". GeoNames. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
    10. "Mikro Glaronisi". GeoNames. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
    11. "Mikro Sofrano". GeoNames. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
    12. "Nerónisi". GeoNames. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
    13. "Ionian Islands of Greece". GeoNames. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
    14. Kruse, Hellas, vol. ii. pt. ii. p. 455, seq.; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. pp. 30, seq., 50, seq.; Mure, Tour in Greece, vol. i. p. 104.


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