Greece has a large number of islands, with estimates ranging from somewhere around 1,200 to 6,000, depending on the minimum size to take into account. The number of inhabited islands is variously cited as between 166 and 227.
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, 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.
List of Greek Islands
The below list of Greek Islands shows these islands in the way they are geographically distributed in clusters within the archipelagoes of Greece. This list contains the 115 largest of them as it is impossible to include in such list every tiny one since it is incredible how many Greek islands are there. The sailing heaven of the Greek Islands is divided geographically into the following clusters of islands:
Ionian Islands: Erikoussa, Othoni, Mathraki, Corfu, Paxos, Antipaxos, Kefalonia, Lefkada, Meganissi, Kalamos, Kastos, Arkoudi, Atokos, Ithaca, Petalas, Oxia, Zakynthos, Strofades, Kythera, Antikythera.
Saronic Gulf Islands: Salamina, Aegina, Agistri, Poros, Hydra, Dokos, Spetses.
Cyclades: Syros, Naxos, Santorini, Paros, Andros, Mykonos, Tinos, Milos, Sifnos, Kea, Ios, Amorgos, Kythnos, Serifos, Antiparos, Kimolos, Folegandros, Koufonissia, Anafi, Sikinos, Schinoussa, Donoussa, Iraklia, Thirassia, Delos, Makronissos, Gyaros, Polyaigos, Keros, Rhenia.
Sporades: Skiathos, Skopelos, Alonissos, Peristera, Kyra Panagia, Jura, Pipperi, Skantzoura, Skyros, Skyropoula.
Northern Aegean Islands: Thasos, Samothrace, Lemnos, Agios Efstratios, Lesvos, Chios, Psara, Antipsara, Oinousses, Samos, Ikaria, Fournoi, Thymaina.
Dodecanese: Rhodes, Kos, Kalymnos, Leros, Karpathos, Patmos, Symi, Astypalea, Kassos, Nisyros, Lipsi, Tilos, Kastelorizo, Chalki, Agathonisi, Pserimos, Pharmakonisi, Telendos, Arki, Levitha, Gyali, Kalolimnos, Saria Kinaros, Sirna, Alimia, Nimos.
Crete: Crete, Dia, Spinalonga, Koufonisi, Chrisi, Gavdos.
Evia: Evia, Petalia.
Apart from the above list of Greek islands there are also many which are located near the coast of mainland Greece and do not belong to any of the above clusters. Out of these, of particular interest is Elafonisos which is located just 5 miles off the northernmost tip of Kythera.
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