List of islands of Greece explained

Greece has many 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 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

The following are the 50 largest Greek islands listed by surface area.

IslandGreek name Area
(km2) 		Area
(miles2) 		Cluster
1 Κρήτη8336km2 Cretan
2 Εύβοια3670km2 Euboean
3 Λέσβος 1633km2 North Aegean Islands
4 Ρόδος1401km2 Dodecanese
5 Χίος842.3km2 North Aegean Islands
6 Κεφαλονιά781km2 Ionian Islands
7 Κέρκυρα592.9km2 Ionian Islands
8 Λήμνος477.6km2 North Aegean Islands
9 Σάμος477.4km2 North Aegean Islands
10 Νάξος429.8km2 Cyclades
11 Ζάκυνθος406km2 Ionian Islands
12 Θάσος380.1km2 North Aegean Islands
13 Άνδρος380km2 Cyclades
14 Λευκάδα303km2 Ionian Islands
15 Κάρπαθος300km2 Dodecanese
16 Κως290.3km2 Dodecanese
17 Κύθηρα279.6km2 Ionian Islands
18 Ικαρία255km2 North Aegean Islands
19 Σκύρος209km2 Sporades
20 Πάρος195km2 Cyclades
21 Τήνος194km2 Cyclades
22 Σαμοθράκη178km2 North Aegean Islands
23 Μήλος151km2 Cyclades
24 Κέα132km2 Cyclades
25 Αμοργός121km2 Cyclades
26 Κάλυμνος110km2 Dodecanese
27 Ίος108km2 Cyclades
28 Κύθνος99.4km2 Cyclades
29 Αστυπάλαια96.4km2 Dodecanese
30 Ιθάκη96.2km2 Ionian Islands
31 Σαλαμίνα 96.2km2 Argo-Saronic
32 Σκόπελος 96.2km2 Sporades
33 Μύκονος 85.5km2 Cyclades
34 Σύρος 83.6km2 Cyclades
35 Αίγινα 82.6km2 Argo-Saronic
36 Σαντορίνη 76.2km2 Cyclades
37 Σέριφος 75.2km2 Cyclades
38 Σίφνος 73.9km2 Cyclades
39 Κάσος 69.5km2 Dodecanese
40 Αλόννησος 64.1km2 Sporades
41 Τήλος 61.5km2 Dodecanese
42 Σύμη 57.8km2 Dodecanese
43 Λέρος 54km2 Dodecanese
44 Ύδρα 49.6km2 Argo-Saronic
45 Σκιάθος 47.3km2 Sporades
46 Άγιος Ευστράτιος 43.3km2 North Aegean Islands
47 Σίκινος 41.6km2 Cyclades
48 Νίσυρος 41.2km2 Dodecanese
49 Ψαρά 40.4km2 North Aegean Islands
50 Ανάφη 38.6km2 Cyclades

Islands of Greece by population

Island Population
624,408
191,206
125,113
99,134
83,755
50,361
41,180
37,220
Kos37,089
Kefalonia36,064
32,642
21,900
21,507
20,578
16,411
17,752
15,480
13,104
14,520
12,911
10,704
8,934
8,826
8,843
7,992
5,802
4,935
6,567
5,302
4,518
3,644
2,862
3,283
3,052
2,596
2,777
3,138
2,603
2,335
2,466
3,261
3,748

Islands of the Aegean Sea

See main article: Aegean Sea and List of Aegean Islands.

Argo-Saronic Islands

See main article: Saronic Islands. This list includes Argo-Saronic islands [4], 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 island

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

Cretan islands of the Libyan Sea

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

Cyclades islands

See main article: Cyclades. The Cyclades islands comprise around 220 islands and islets. The main islands are indicated in bold below.[8] [9]

Dodecanese islands

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

Euboea and surrounding islands

North Aegean islands

See main article: North Aegean islands.

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

Sporades islands

See main article: 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

See main article: Ionian Islands. Islands in the Ionian Sea are listed below. The seven largest and most popular islands are listed in bold.[14] [15]

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

Islands in an island

Lagoon islands

See also

Notes

  1. Book: Frommer's Greece . 2010 . Wiley Publishing . Hoboken, NJ . John S. Bowman . Sherry Marker . Peter Keraislands siotis . Heidi Sarna . 7th . 978-0-470-52663-7 . Greece in depth . 12.
  2. Web site: Islands. Visit Greece - Official website of the Greek National Tourism Organisation. Hellenic Organization of Tourism (EOT; Ελληνικός Οργανισμός Τουρισμού). 7 February 2022.
  3. Book: Poffley, Frewin . Greek island hopping, 23rd ed. 2013 . Thomas Cook Publishing . 20 December 2012 . 978-1-84848-569-3 . 827800689 . 15.
  4. Web site: Islands of the Argo Saronic Gulf .
  5. Google Maps
  6. Web site: Islands of Greece. GeoNames. November 6, 2021.
  7. Web site: Nisida Agio Pantes. GeoNames. November 10, 2021.
  8. Web site: Tageo Worldwide Index for Greece Islands. Tageo, www.tageo.com. 24 March 2020.
  9. Web site: Islands of the Cyclades. GeoNames. 13 November 2021.
  10. Web site: Glaronisi, South Aegean. GeoNames. November 10, 2021.
  11. Web site: Mikro Glaronisi. GeoNames. November 10, 2021.
  12. Web site: Mikro Sofrano. GeoNames. November 10, 2021.
  13. Web site: Nerónisi. GeoNames. November 10, 2021.
  14. Web site: Ionian Islands of Greece. GeoNames. November 12, 2021.
  15. 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.

References

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "List of islands of Greece".

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