Greek Islands
The Greek Islands are perfect for cruising or sailing adventures. Spanning over the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas, the Greek Islands each have their own individual charm.
In total, there are over 6,000 islands in the chain but out of these only 227 of them are inhabited.
The largest of the islands is Crete, which is situated at the southern edge of the Aegean Sea.
The Greek Islands consist of the following groups:
Saronic Islands
The Saronic Islands are located just off of the Greek mainland in the Saronic Gulf.
The Sporades
The Sporades aka the Northern Sporades, which consist of 24 islands, are located along the east coast of Greece, northeast of the island of Euboea, in the Aegean Sea
Ionian Islands
The majority of the Ionian Islands are in the Ionian Sea but The seventh island, Kythira, is off the southern tip of the Peloponnese, the southern part of the Greek mainland. Kythira is not part of the region of the Ionian Islands, as it is included in the region of Attica.
The Dodecanese Islands
The Dodecanese are a group of 12 larger plus 150 smaller Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, of which 26 are inhabited.
Aegean Islands
The Aegean Islands are the group of islands in the Aegean Sea, with mainland Greece to the west and north and Turkey to the east. The island of Crete delimits the sea to the south, those of Rhodes, Karpathos and Kasos to the southeast. The ancient Greek name of the Aegean Sea, Archipelago (ἀρχιπέλαγος) was later applied to the islands it contains and is now used more generally, to refer to any island group.
Cyclades
The Cyclades is a Greek island group also in the Aegean Sea, south-east of the mainland of Greece.
The Greek Islands have a Mediterranean climate similar to that of mainland Greece. The winters are mild and wet and the summers are dry and hot.