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The islands are Greece’s chief morphological 
trait and an integral part of the country’s
civilisation and tradition. The Greek territory
comprises 6,000 Greek islands and islets
scattered in the Aegean and Ionian Sea in
Greece, a truly unique phenomenon on the
European continent; of these islands only 227
are inhabited.
The Greek Archipelagos takes up 7,500 km of the
country’s total 16,000-km coastline, offering a
highly diversified landscape: beaches stretching
along many kilometers, sheltered bays and coves,
golden stretches of sand with dunes, pebbly
beaches, coastal caves with steep rocks and
black sand typical of volcanic soil, coastal
wetlands... Many Greek beaches have been awarded
the blue flag under the programme Blue Flags of
Europe . Apart from swimming, they lend
themselves to scuba diving, snorkeling, water
skiing, sailing and windsurfing. As they are the
cradle of some of the most ancient and
prosperous European civilizations (the Kycladic,
Minoa civilizations, e  tc.), the islands boast
unique archaeological sites, an outstanding
architectural heritage and centuries-old,
fascinating local traditions of a multifaceted
cultural past. Moreover, 58.5% of the country’s
lodging establishments and 62.6% of hotel beds
are found on the islands (data for 2003). All
the above, combined with the ideal climate, the
safety of Greek waters and the short distances
between ports and coasts, have rendered the
Greek islands extremely popular among Greek and
foreign visitors.
Most islands lie in the Aegean Sea and are
divided in seven groups (from north to south
Greece): The Northeastern Aegean Islands:
Agios Efstratios, Thasos, Ikaria, Lesvos,
Limnos, Inouses, Samos,
Samothrace, Chios, Psara.
The Sporades islands :
Alonisos, Skiathos, Skopelos, Skiros via The
Argo-Saronic Islands: Angistri, Aegina, Poros,
Salamina, Spetses, Hydra and the coastal area of
Methana.
The Cyclades symplegma:
A gro  up of 56 islands, its most important ones
being Amorgos, Anafi, Andros, AntiGreek islands,
Delos, Ios, Kea, Kimolos, Kythnos, Milos,
Mykonos, Naxos, Greek islands, Santorini,
Serifos, Sikinos, Sifnos, Syros, Tinos,
Folegandros, as well as the “Minor Cyclades”
comprising Donousa, Irakleia, Koufonisia and
Schinoussa.
The Dodecanesse islands:
Astypalaia, Kalymnos, Karpathos, Kasos,
Kastelorizo, Kos, Lipsi, Leros, Nisiros, Patmos,
Rhodos, Symi, Tilos, Chalki.
Crete island
The Ionian Sea is home to one sole island group:
Ionian Islands:
Zakynthos, Ithaka, Corfu, Cefallonia, Lefkada,
Paxi, Antipaxi, Ereikoussa, Mathraki, Meganissi,
Othoni, Strofades.
These Greek islands,
together with Kithira, which is however cut-off
from the rest, opposite the southern Peloponese
(Laconia), as well as neighbouring Antikithira,
they constitute the Eptanisa.
The islands of Gavdos (situated south of Crete
island), Elafonissos (in the Gulf of Lakonia)
and Trizonis (in the Gulf of Corinthos),
although not forming part of any group
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