Best Greek island on a budget

[Summerconfused]

I want to go for a week in August with budget for flights and accommodation £1500 for me and 15yr old daughter, for flights and accommodation. Don't want to hire a car. Would like somewhere close to sandy beach (prefer white to black sand), balcony, pool, fridge, modern. Ideally in small town with shops and restaurants but not club scene. My daughter isn't a party girl and happy reading her book on a beach. Looked at santorini but confused about where to stay. Does fira have beaches? Like the idea of paros, milos or naxos but seem expensive to get to with ferries on top of flights? Any advice on island and/or accommodation options greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Santorini is expensive. You’ll be lucky to get much with that budget in august. Particularly anything modern, more likely to get basic Greek accommodation which is usually lovely.

Try kefalonia.

Santorini is stunning - but in August will be rammed. There are gorgeous apartments crater side in Fira and Oia but they'll cost an arm and a leg and there isn't a good beach. You could probably get something for just over £100 a night that is not crater facing though if you have a look on Booking.com or somewhere like that. Kamari and Perissa are the popular beach resorts but the sand is dark. It's very easy to get anywhere on the island from Fira as all the buses go out from the little bus station there. If the main thing you want is a beach then I'm sure there are better options though.
This page shows lots of islands with lovely beach options,
https://www.themediterraneantraveller.com/best-greek-islands-for-beaches/

Thanks, we did kefalonia before and loved it but were hoping to try somewhere different.
That link is v helpful, thanks @takemeawayagain

Naxos is the cheapest of the islands you’ve listed.

Crete! It's cheap, has lots of beaches and good public transport (buses).

We went to Pefki islands resort last year in Rhodes and it was £2000 for 4 of us. Flew with Ryanair.

Naxos has gorgeous beaches and lovely little town. Much much cheaper than Santorini. You can catch buses easily to the main beaches. I also did a guided tour to the interior (don’t usually like guided tours but didn’t want to hire a car, and it was actually great fun).

re getting there. I’d already been in Athens, so got the ferry from there, which was fairly cheap but long. I also caught the ferry from Naxos to Santorini, had a couple of days there and then flew back direct from Santorini to London, so you could poss do that the other way around - fly to Santorini and ferry to Naxos? Santorini was very interesting, spectacular but also much more expensive.

Jet2 recently added Lesvos and was pretty cheap.

Me and my DD15 went to Corfu last summer. Stayed at Terezas sunset hotel in San Stefanos and it was lovely. Cost £1200 for the two of us half board with Jet 2. Food was great and drinks were cheap ( my bar bill for the week came to €70 ) lovely big sandy beach a few minutes walk away and shops 5 mins away too. Tavernas in the beach were really cheap for light lunches and drinks too. Sunbeds on the beach €8 per day for two plus a parasol and a bottle of water. Did have to pay around €35 for air con. I'd go back again and again for a relaxing break. The pool area was practically empty most days too.

Holiday to Crete was half the price of the holiday to Santorini. Both for a week in June.

Santorini is expensive and overcrowded and the beaches are not great (mostly black sand too). Naxos and Paros are both great and have good bus systems so you don’t need a car. If you can find flights to Mykonos the ferries to Naxos and Paros are shorter and cheaper than from Santorini. Flights to Athens are usually cheaper than to the islands but travelling to the islands via ferry or domestic flight will take up more of your week so maybe that’s better for a longer trip.

Totally agree about Naxos. It's my favourite island. It's also a ferry hub and you can easily do Santorini in a day, we went by the express ferry which was a bit like a floating plane.

Basically the fewer tourists the cheaper the island once you get there

Crete. Holidays there are cheaper and once there it's cheaper to eat as much of the food is grown locally rather than flown in like some of the smaller islands.

Rhodes has reasonable prices

Thanks everyone. Crete definitely seems like a good option. Naxos and paros look lovely but still quite expensive in August. Have also been looking at Morocco around Taghazout which is an absolute bargain by comparison.

My vote is also Crete - it has pink sand beaches everywhere! Stay in Chania. It's insanely charming there.

I've never seen anyone here thats been to San Stef before 🩵, it's the most amazing village. We always stay at The Athina.

Hydra is lovely. Small and no cars allowed. We found brilliant room with twin beds for 65 euro per night. It’s mostly rocky si you do need to get a boat taxi to get to bigger beaches. Flights to Athens and then ferry.

Pefkos is reasonable and lovely. We went to Naxos many years ago and I'd say Pefkos is nicer.

Crete (Chania), Corfu or Kefalonia are nice. Kefalonia probably more expensive. I haven't been for a long time.

Santorini is overrated and crowded. My least favourite of the islands. I did like Naxos, Paros and Ios but you say ferries are expensive.

Morocco a completely different vibe and you might not appreciate the hassle factor, especially with a teen girl.

Mainland but you wouldn't know it, Parga. I've been to Greece around thirty times, never to large islands, and this is perfect.