
Islands for Islomaniacs · 29 Greek islands
Some islands you visit. These ones keep you.
Swims before breakfast. Lunches that last until sunset. Village feasts that end at dawn. Island by island, and the places to stay while it all happens.
Islands for Islomaniacs
is·lo·ma·ni·a
noun · /ˌaɪ.ləˈmeɪ.ni.ə/
An irresistible pull towards islands. The word comes from Lawrence Durrell, writing about his years on Rhodes, and if you are reading this, you probably have it. This guide is written for you: 29 stunning Greek islands, told through their people, their crafts, their kitchens and the small strange things that happen nowhere else.
“There are people, in other words, who find islands somehow irresistible. The mere knowledge that they are on an island, a little world surrounded by the sea, fills them with an indescribable intoxication.”
You might be an islomaniac if…
You count islands, not countries, and you can name the ferry that gets you to each one.
You swim before coffee, and you know the colour of the water changes with the wind.
You go for the village feast you heard about from a fisherman, not the sight on the poster.
The day you leave an island, you are already planning the next one.
Find your soulmate island
What are you longing for?
Forget the spec sheets. Pick the feeling, and we'll show you the bay, the taverna and the room with the view.

Coves & lagoons
“Water so clear it looks lit from below”
Turquoise lagoons, wild pebble coves at the end of a dirt road, and a hot spring that runs into the sea.
Show me where 26 islands
Villages & long tables
“Sunset from a mountain village, then dinner until midnight”
Stone lanes in the pines, raki with the owner and village feasts where everyone dances until dawn.
Show me where 23 islands
Ancient stones
“Ancient stones at golden hour”
Minoan palaces, the birthplace of Hera and the sanctuary where the followers of Hippocrates healed the sick.
Show me where 26 islands
Island by island
Choose your island
Greenest, sandiest, wildest, liveliest or the quietest of all: pick what you love and we rank the islands for it.

Κρήτη
Crete
Myth, mountains and the Libyan Sea
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Cyclades · Νάξος
Naxos
Ariadne's island, with marble villages and long sandy beaches
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Cyclades · Σαντορίνη
Santorini
A ring of cliffs around a drowned volcano, with white villages on the rim
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Cyclades · Μύκονος
Mykonos
The party island of Greece: Little Venice at sunset, beach clubs till dawn, and sacred Delos next door
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Cyclades · Δήλος
Delos
An island that is one great sanctuary: three temples to Apollo, the lions of the Naxians and the gods of every trader who landed here
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Cyclades · Πάρος
Paros
The marble island, with a fishing harbour that glows at dusk
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Cyclades · Ίος
Ios
The party island of the Cyclades, with a hill town of bars, a long sandy bay below it and, at the northern tip, the tomb of Homer
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Cyclades · Σίφνος
Sifnos
The island where Saturday night smells of wood smoke and chickpeas, and a ferry stops for a rock
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Cyclades · Μήλος
Milos
The volcanic island of coloured rocks, sea caves and painted boathouses
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Cyclades · Φολέγανδρος
Folegandros
'Iron Folegandros': a village on the lip of a 200 m cliff, a medieval Kastro still lived in, and farmsteads walled against the wind
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Cyclades · Σύρος
Syros
The capital of the Cyclades: two hills, two churches, an opera house and loukoumi
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Cyclades · Τήνος
Tinos
Marble villages, a thousand dovecotes and the holiest church in Greece
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Saronic · Αίγινα
Aegina
Two Archaic temples, a ghost town of chapels and the first capital of modern Greece, forty minutes from Piraeus
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Saronic · Ύδρα
Hydra
The best island for art and bohemians: no cars, captains' mansions and an artists' colony that drew Leonard Cohen
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Saronic · Πόρος
Poros
A town on a volcanic rock, a strait you can almost swim across, and pine woods full of coves
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Sporades · Σκόπελος
Skopelos
The green island of the Sporades: pine forest to the sea, a town of slate roofs and the Mamma Mia! chapel
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Dodecanese · Κως
Kos
Island of Hippocrates, hot springs and long sandy beaches
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Dodecanese · Ρόδος
Rhodes
Island of the Knights, Lindos and two seas
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Dodecanese · Σύμη
Symi
A harbour of painted mansions, sponge divers' stories and coves you reach by boat
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Dodecanese · Πάτμος
Patmos
The island of the Apocalypse, quiet and white
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Dodecanese · Κάσος
Kasos
The heroic island at the end of the Dodecanese: a harbour lit from under the water, all-night feasts and the memory of 1824
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North Aegean · Ικαρία
Ikaria
The island where people forget to die
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North Aegean · Σάμος
Samos
Island of Hera, Pythagoras and Muscat wine
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North Aegean · Χίος
Chios
The mastic island, of medieval villages and citrus mansions
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North Aegean · Σαμοθράκη
Samothraki
The wild mountain island of waterfalls, plane forests and the Great Gods
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North Aegean · Άγιος Ευστράτιος
Agios Efstratios
Ai Stratis, the island of exile: one village, wild volcanic beaches and a museum of democracy at the end of the Aegean
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Ionian · Κέρκυρα
Corfu
The green Ionian island of Venetian lanes, olive groves and turquoise bays
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Ionian · Παξοί
Paxos
The island of peace and quiet: no airport, olive groves to the sea and the turquoise bays of Antipaxos
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Ionian · Ζάκυνθος
Zakynthos
The party strip of Laganas, a turtle sanctuary next door and the cliffs of the Shipwreck
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“I hope for nothing. I fear nothing. I am free.”
Romantic stays
Where you'll wake up
We picked each stay for its mornings, and for the view from the window when you wake.

Chania old town · Crete
Breakfast in a 17th-century Venetian courtyard
Casa Delfino · Boutique hotel · €€€

Armenistis · Ikaria
Step out of your room and onto Livadi beach
Erofili Beach Hotel · Beach hotel · €€

Kokkari · Samos
Wake above Kokkari with the whole north coast at your feet
Arion Hotel · 4-star hotel · €€€

Kos Town · Kos
Wake to the sea, a stroll from the Knights' castle
Kos Aktis Art Hotel · Design hotel · €€€

Rhodes Old Town · Rhodes
Sleep behind a red door in a knight's house from 1340
Kókkini Porta Rossa · Adults-only boutique hotel · €€€

Gialos · Symi
Open the shutters of an 1895 mansion onto the harbour
Hotel Aliki · Neoclassical boutique hotel · €€€
How we write
A guide that makes you want to go
How a place feels
What a village is like at seven in the morning and at midnight, then where to sleep for it.
Only-here moments
Village feasts until dawn, hot springs by the sea, a tunnel through a mountain, a gorge to the Libyan Sea.
5,000 years of history
Minoan palaces, the birthplace of Hera, the island of Icarus, told the way a good guide would tell them.
Tables and rooms we love
Family tavernas and stays with a view, picked for character, not star ratings.
Your island is already waiting
The sea is warm from June to October. The best rooms with a view go first.
Find your soulmate islandLast updated