Pelagos

All 89 Greek islands: the complete checklist

This is the whole list: the 89 inhabited Greek islands a traveller can actually get to and stay on, grouped the way Greeks group them. Between them they are home to 1,646,478 people — and 15 of them have fewer than a hundred residents.

Why 89 and not 6,000? Because every other number counts rocks — here is the honest arithmetic. Beyond the main list there are 23 famous excursion islets (Delos, Spinalonga and company) in an optional expert tier, and 874 named rocks beyond those.

Cyclades · 24 islands

The ring of islands at the centre of the Aegean — Santorini, Mykonos, Naxos and Paros are here, but so are car-free islets a fraction of their size. It is the region most people picture when they picture Greek islands, and the biggest single block on the checklist.

Dodecanese · 19 islands

The south-eastern chain along the Turkish coast: Rhodes and Kos carry the airports, and around them sit some of the most remote inhabited islands in Greece — Kastellorizo is closer to Kaş than to any Greek port of size. "Twelve islands" by name; rather more of them in fact.

Ionian Islands · 13 islands

The green islands off the west coast — Corfu, Zakynthos, Cephalonia, Lefkada — shaped by centuries of Venetian rule rather than the Cycladic white-and-blue. Different sea, different architecture, different light.

Sporades · 4 islands

The wooded chain off Pelion and Evia: Skiathos, Skopelos, Alonissos — whose waters hold Greece’s first national marine park — and windswept Skyros further out on its own.

North Aegean Islands · 12 islands

The big, unpackaged islands of the northern and eastern Aegean — Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Ikaria — plus the small ones scattered between them. Fewer charter flights, longer ferry rides, and some of the most distinctive islands in the country.

Saronic Islands · 6 islands

The islands within reach of Athens: an hour or two from Piraeus puts you on Aegina, Poros, Hydra — where cars have never been allowed — or Spetses. The easiest region to start on, and the one Athenians finish first.

Crete · 2 islands

Greece’s largest island counts as one tick — which feels unfair, and is. Around it sit its satellites, including Gavdos, the southernmost inhabited island in Greece, a place many Cretans have never made it to.

Standalone Islands · 9 islands

The islands that belong to no archipelago — from Kythira between the Peloponnese and Crete to Ammouliani up in Halkidiki. Each one is its own trip.