Quiet unspoilt Greek island without hordes of Brits….. ????

[Merse]

Keen to go to Greece on hols and wondered if anyone had any ideas about charming islands that aren't overrun with tourists. Particularly keen to avoid the booze cruise set. After lovely local food, quiet beaches (stony ones fine) and simple accommodation. Nothing flashy. Went to Koufonissia once which was wonderful, but wondering if I should be considering anywhere else? TIA.

Travel section of telegraph today has a huge article on this!!

Patmos, is my favourite.

Oh and Molyvos was tiny, but unspoilt and very cute

Spilia Beach from its taverna - you can see how busy it is , our favourite taverna in Vathi (the harbour below Katomeri, which is where Hotel Meganissi is), with our bikes (2 hire ones and one we took with us) and the back of the hotel, which overlooks the pool

We loved Meganisi too. Easy flight and transfer by speedboat! Fab, fab island with barely anything to do but lounge. We stayed here:

www.ionianislandholidays.com/villa-sgouri-near-vathi-meganisi-property-GLSGOU.htm

My photos wouldn't load ' cod I'd reached the Mumsnet daily limit. I'll have to post them tomorrow.

Another alternative is Lemnos. We've just returned from there and found relatively few tourists. It is largely agricultural and not as mountainous as some parts of Greece. It has it's own airport but one thing that may influence your decision is that flights only go as many airports as larger islands. No evidence of booze cruises or banana boats where we were.

2nd attempt to add my photos of Meganissi : the view of Spilia Beach from the taverna; our favourite taverna in Vathi (with hire bikes plus the bike we took with us); and the hotel and its pool

All photos taken between 1 and 2pm (different days ) in the 2nd week of July. You can see how overcrowded the place is

Paxos is lovely and so is Andros. Andros has some sandy beaches too and doesn't get many Brits at all. As a PP said you have to get the ferry out there. It has natural springs so is still green in September unlike a lot of Greek islands. Would love to go back if we weren't stuck with the summer holidays when I think it will be too hot for me.

Meganisi off Lefkas is small and quiet. Pretty basic but lovely. One of the most relaxing holidays ever.

Kastellorizo off the coast from the Turkish town of Kas. Beautiful.

Poros? I don't recall lots of Brits but it's been a while since I went.

Symi, off Rhodes is gorgeous.

Loads of great suggestions here; I'm keeping an eye out for future holidays! People have mentioned most of the islands I'd mention, so just a recommendation for a company to look with if you want a package: we use Sunvil. They're a bit more upmarket than Thomas Cook etc and go to a wide range of islands, from the popular to the more remote. We always find their accommodation to be a good standard and their resort descriptions accurate. They tend to avoid the main Brits abroad type places. We're off to Samos with them in a few weeks; can't wait!

Loved that link but £1k per person for 7 nights in July!

I've just done my sums and our 7 days to Meganissi cost us c.£650 per head Dinner, Bed and Breakfast, including flights and transfers. That was dealing direct with Hotel Meganisi (where we ate every night bar one), who also arranged the taxis to/from the airport and the speedboat taxi back to Levkas (which was an extravagance: we could have saved 45€ by getting the ferry back across). We stayed in a "suite", with a lounge and a bedroom (so ds - 14 - slept in the lounge giving dh and me some privacy ) and got charter flights via Monarch (were actually Enter Air flights - a Polish charter company but although basic, the flights were fine and more spacious than the Monarch flights in previous years) from Manchester to Preveza Airport.
That also includes good wine on 3 nights - the other 3 we brought in interesting Greek wines from the surprisingly very good local wine shop. The hotel is fine with that - and will even bring a wine bucket for it . It also includes ds' regular ice creams!