Which Greek Island to visit?

[savon]

DH and I are going to Greece this summer. We are meeting up for a family trip in Santorini for 5 nights, but before that we have up to a week to go somewhere else.

We can fly into Athens or another Greek island. We are keen to go to an island without an airport, and catch the ferry in. We have been to the 'package holiday' Greek islands, and love them, but looking for something a bit more 'authentic' or untouristy.

We like to swim, drink wine, hike, look at old buildings etc. We are not afraid to slum it in some nice basic 'pension'.

So far we have a list of a few islands that were recommended to us

Milos (too touristy?), Anafi, Serifos, Sifnos, Astypalaea, Kimolos?

Any experiences welcome to be heard

Bumping this for you as I’m interested too. Afraid I can’t advise as this will be my first trip to Greece in almost 40 years! DH has never been. We like the same types of activities as you and are planning to visit 4 or 5 islands. Flying into Athens and out of Santorini and starting with Tinos. Also hoping for some suggestions of lovely places to stay/visit/eat.

Spetses - fly into Athens and get ferry or hydrofoil

Rhodes is beautiful. You could stay in either Rhodes Town or Lindos, lots of what you are after there

I had a wonderful holiday in Skiathos several years ago.

Naxos would be great, I think. It's not very far from Santorini so the ferry trip wouldn't be too long, it's bigger than other cycladic islands but with a really nice town with a castle, beautiful villages, great food and amazing beaches.

Ithaca might suit you. It doesn’t have an airport and is very much not a developed touristy island. However, you would be able to hop on a ferry to Kefalonia if you fancied a day there with slightly more to do.

Paxos. Beautiful, great food and the most lovely people. Fly to Corfu and get the Dolphin across.

I came to say Naxos too - hugely recommend.

Ithaca, Naxos and Paxos are all lovely have been once to each and Ithaca especially due to no airport.

Kefalonia is nice but if you do go research where you’ll stay as we stayed at top of a hill and not near a beach as promised! Argostoli the capital also it horrible. Myrtos Beach etc is stunning though.

Paros is great - Naoussa is a beautiful town, all higgledy piggledy streets to confuse pirates and full of lovely little shops and restaurants. It's quite windy, which cools it down a bit.

Forgot to add that Naxos has also a number of archaeological sites that are really good, including the ones where the kouroi are and the temple of Demeter. It does have an airport but it only serves domestic flights from what I remember.

Was going to post this same question so am watching!!

Symi-ferry from Rhodes
Paxis-ferry from corfu
Lemnos ( has airport)
Aeghina ( ferry from Athens)

Good to see Naxos and Paxos mentioned, my two favourites. Of the two, I'd probably say Paxos. We hire a boat, find tiny coves and swim, snorkel and laze about. So much to explore.

The people are truly lovely - the property owners and their family end up as friends and you'll be going home laden with olive oil from their garden, soap made from the oil, and the offer of free use of their property! The food is also better than on many Islands, lots of good restaurants.

Kefalonia.

Zakinthos all the way!

Traditional Zakinthos is beautiful.

So many islands. So little time!

If you're meeting up with family in Santorini then I would definitely recommend that you stay within the Cyclades group of islands. Getting from one group to another, say Rhodes which is in the Dodecanese, to the Cyclades is doable, but you could easily spend a day or more just on the travelling which is a lot if you've only got a week there.

Paros and Naxos (Cyclades) have daily connections with Santorini and I definitely recommend getting the ferry to Santorini as the view is just spectacular, especially if you get one of the slower boats which have outside decks. Paros and Naxos both have fantastic beaches, lots of hikes available, tons of history and a massive choice of places to stay. For something a bit quieter you can catch the boat from Paros to AntiParos, even just to visit for a couple of hours.

I've been backpacking around the Greek Islands for over 20 years so if you've got any questions please feel free to PM me

Ooh I have another thread running on this very subject! Place-marking with interest... .

Is Santorini good for families? Looking into going this summer 😊

I went to Simi/Symi several times pre DC. Took ferry from Rhodes.
Were almost the most relaxed few weeks. Beautiful beaches, though often we’d just hike around the coast and find secluded spots to sun bathe in. Lots of skinny dipping!

Amazing restaurant, beautiful harbour - though avoid the crowds during the day when the day trippers come in!
Would hire a scooter and explore the island.

It’s the place I want to go back to when DC no longer want to do family holidays.

Kefelonia is fabulous. I hated santorini it had too many people on the island and was not my thing

I just recommended Naxos on another thread.

Fly into Mykonos or Santorini (cheaper flights) and it's a lovely ferry trip. Stay in Plaka.

We spend a couple of days in Santorini (Akrotiri at the quieter end of the island) at either end of the trips but @TCMcK I wouldn't recommend it for a family holiday.

Zákynthos (bare with me!) Yes, there are some very touristy bits on the island, but Zante town itself is lovely (full of locals, a magnificent church and hardly any English people) and the North of the island is breathtakingly beautiful and peaceful. There are some glorious deserted coves in the North (even in high season), lots of churches/old buildings to visit, fabulous hikes and accommodation to suit all budgets. We love it and go every year. If you decide to give it a go, stay around Agios Nikolaos. Makris Gialos suites are super and very reasonable.

We visited Santorini in the 80s. There were no direct flights so you had to take a short flight to the island which landed at what was in effect a military airport. There was no lounge, you waited outside in a pen! The island was wonderful back then, hardly any tourists and completely unspoilt. Sadly many people seem to be disappointed when they visit these days, it's another case of mass tourism (especially cruise ships) changing somewhere forever.