Some lesser-known Greek islands
How to reduce over-tourism
In the last newsletter I wrote about the increasing problems in Greece of over-tourism in the most popular places like Athens, Mykonos, and Santorini. If you’ve only subscribed in the last week (as quite a few people have) then welcome, and you can read that post here.
One way to make sure that you’re not contributing to the problems of over-tourism is to either travel out of the main season (August can be unbearably hot in Greece anyway, and I speak from experience!), or go to off-the-beaten-track places which would welcome a few extra tourists. So this week I’d like to point to five Greek islands where you definitely won’t be bothered by, or contributing to, over-tourism.
One of my early rules of thumb when choosing a Greek island for my summer holidays (before I started writing a lot about Greece), was to choose somewhere that didn’t have an airport. Most people coming on holiday want to get off the plane, get to their hotel, and have done with the travelling. I always opted for an island that didn’t have an airport and you needed to catch a ferry after getting off the plane. It worked for me.
Tilos
Tilos is the perfect example of this, and why I’ve been there several times. To get there you have to fly to Rhodes and then catch a ferry to Tilos, which takes 2-3 hours. It means you usually arrive in Tilos in late afternoon or early evening, with time to get to your accommodation and then look forward to choosing where to eat that night. Except one year I went and there was a storm, and it was almost midnight by the time the ferry docked.
Tilos is the perfect place to relax. It has some nice beaches, although I’m not a beach person and prefer instead to sit on a balcony or in a cafe, read a book and enjoy a coffee or a glass of wine or beer. On Tilos that book would be An Octopus in My Ouzo by Jennifer Barclay, which is set on the island. If not reading I’d be out walking, as there are plenty of hiking paths on Tilos, which only has two main settlements and a population of under 1,000.
Kastellorizo
If you go to Kastellorizo, then you may want to pack a copy of another book by Jennifer Barclay, Taverna by the Sea. She left Tilos to spend a summer working at a new taverna on Kastellorizo, with mixed - and entertaining - results.
Kastellorizo is much bigger than Tilos physically, but has far fewer people with a population of only about 300. It does have an airport but this has only a handful of domestic flights from Rhodes. You might be able to time it so you fly to Rhodes and can catch a domestic flight, but more likely you’ll get there by ferry. In summer there’s one ferry a week from Rhodes, but there’s another service that operates twice a week from Piraeus via Rhodes and on to Kastellorizo. If you want to take the ferry all the way from Piraeus then go prepared as it takes 24 hours to reach Kastellorizo.
To find out what to do on Kastellorizo, and where you might want to stay, visit our full page on Kastellorizo.
Thassos
Thassos is a delightful island, all the more so because it’s harder to get to. It has no airport, the nearest one being on the mainland in Kavala. In summer there are charter flights from several European cities to Kavala, and from there you catch a ferry to Thassos. Otherwise you must fly into Athens, get a domestic connection to Kavala, and then take the ferry.
Thassos is a beautiful and heavily wooded island, with a mountainous interior. If you want to get around you have to take the coast road that runs around the island in a circle. You can explore inland, as many of the coastal villages have a matching village inland in the hills. There are also mountain tracks to hike, monasteries to visit, and good beaches on the south coast where there are several low-key holiday resorts.
One of my memories of one visit to Thassos was when we went there towards the end of the season, in October. The weather was perfect for exploring on foot and by bus - warm but not too hot. The first night we chose a taverna just because we liked the look of it. The food was superb. We headed straight back the second night, only to find it had closed for the season. Oh no! Never mind. We found another taverna where the food was equally excellent. When we went there again the following night… well, I’ll let you guess what we found.
Chios
Like Thassos, Chios is also in the North-East Aegean group, and you can go to any of these islands without worrying about over-tourism. You do have a choice of ways of getting to Chios, but it’s certainly not over-run with visitors, and those you meet will be mostly Greek. It has its own airport and there are direct flights from Athens and Thessaloniki, and from a few other Greek islands in summer.
Chios also has ferry connections from Piraeus, Thessaloniki, and Kavala, and again in summer from some other Aegean islands. If you’re visiting Chios from Europe, your best bet is likely to be a flight to Athens and then an ongoing connecting flight to Chios.
To find out why you should visit Chios, read our full Chios page.
Kythira
Kythira is technically in the Ionian Islands but is located at the foot of the Peloponnese, a long way from its Ionian neighbours. It’s closer to Crete than it is to Zakynthos, the most southerly of the Ionian Islands. In fact you can take a ferry to Kythira from Crete, but not from the Ionian Islands. There are also flight connections with Athens, so if you’re heading to Kythira on holiday, take a flight to Athens and a connecting flight to Kythira.
To learn more about Kythira, see our Kythira page.
And that’s it for this week. Wherever your next visit to Greece takes you, may you enjoy it.
Yammas!
Mike and Donna
Wise post.
Love the "Traffic on Chios" - seems like our kind of place!