Which Greek Islands Are the Least Touristy?

Nobody ranks the Greek islands by crowds, and the guides that name quiet ones do not agree. Lonely Planet’s quieter picks include Kythnos and Serifos (“low-key”), Nisyros (“crowd-free caldera climbs”) and the Small Cyclades, and it suggests Folegandros as a quieter alternative to Santorini. Condé Nast Traveller’s UK edition picks Kythnos and Kastellorizo for “peace and quiet”, and GNTO calls Amorgos “a tranquil romantic refuge”. What these islands share is size and access: small populations, no international flights, and in most cases no airport at all.

One kind of crowd can be counted. In 2025 cruise ships brought 434 passengers to Folegandros and 2,546 to Sifnos, against 1,222,748 to Mykonos and 1,203,052 to Santorini (Hellenic Ports Association). This guide covers the smaller islands, none of which has a page of its own here.

The Small Cyclades

Lonely Planet’s “How Many Greek Islands Can I See in a Week?” sends “couples desperately seeking serenity and umbrella-free beaches” to the Small Cyclades: Iraklia, Schinoussa, Koufonisia and Donousa. They have no airport and belong to the municipality of Naxos and the Small Cyclades. Blue Star’s overnight boat from Piraeus, leaving at 23:30, calls at them on its way from Paros and Naxos to Amorgos.

From Naxos you can see two of them in a day. Jason Daily Cruises leaves Agia Anna port at 09:00 and stops for a swim off Kato Koufonisi (the boat does not dock; you swim from its ladders). It then gives you about 2.5 hours on Ano Koufonisi and swims at the Rina Cave on Naxos’s south coast on the way back, returning about 18:30. A barbecue lunch, wine, soft drinks and snorkel gear are included. It costs from $86 as of October 2026 and is rated 4.8 from 848 reviews; if wind cancels the sailing, you rebook or get a full refund.

The quieter islands at a glance

Lonely Planet’s list also has Ikaria (“remote exploration”), which has a small airport, and Alonnisos (“underwater adventures”), whose boats leave from Volos.

Folegandros

GNTO describes a Hora about 200 m above the sea, built in and around a medieval castle on the cliff edge, a zigzag path up to the Church of Panagia and “dozens of trails”. 719 people lived there in 2021. The trade is the journey: there is no airport, and Fast Ferries’ conventional western line, which calls there, runs three or four times a week outside its summer peak. Attica Group’s Artemis also calls on its way from Lavrio.

Kythnos, Kea and Serifos

Lavrio is the main port for Kea and Kythnos, and Serifos is the first stop on SeaJets’ western line from Piraeus. Condé Nast Traveler’s US edition files Kythnos under “vacationing like a local”. Serifos was declared in a water-scarcity emergency in July 2024, later extended.

Kythira

Ionian by tradition, Kythira is governed from Attica. Its small airport had no international flights in 2025, and SeaJets lists a route to Kissamos in western Crete.

Amorgos

GNTO’s “tranquil romantic refuge” has two ports, calm Katapola and livelier Aegiali, good trails and the Hozoviotissa Monastery, set into a cliff 300 m above the sea and reached by 350 steps; tradition dates it to 1088. It is a place of worship, so dress for a church and keep your voice down. Blue Star’s overnight boats from Piraeus reach Aegiali at 07:10 or Katapola at 08:50, depending on the route. In February 2025, during the earthquake swarm between Santorini and Amorgos, the island’s schools closed and a state of emergency was declared.

Small, but not empty

These four come up in searches for quiet islands, though none of our five guides calls them that.

Sifnos

GNTO notes its pottery workshops and Sifnian cooking, and that Nikolaos Tselementes, “the most famous Greek chef”, came from the island; both Condé Nast editions send people there to eat. 2,777 people lived there in 2021. The conventional boat from Piraeus takes about five hours, and SeaJets serves it too. Sifnos was declared in a water-scarcity emergency in June 2024; we could not confirm whether it still applies.

Ithaca

GNTO presents Ithaca as the land of Odysseus. Whether it is Homer’s Ithaca is argued: some scholars place Homer’s island at Paliki on Kefalonia, and the archaeologist who identified a site as Odysseus’s palace in 2010 did so, in the municipality’s words, “with every scientific reservation”. Everyone arrives by sea. GNTO lists Sami on Kefalonia to Pisaetos in 31 minutes, Vasiliki on Lefkada to Frikes in 1 h, and Kyllini on the mainland to Pisaetos in 2 h 50. ithacagreecetour.com covers the crossings and the sites linked with Odysseus in more detail.

Symi

Symi is a day trip from Rhodes as well as a place to stay. Dodekanisos Seaways sails daily from Kolona port in Rhodes, Blue Star, SAOS and Sebeco also serve it, and the day trip featured on the Rhodes page leaves from Mandraki Harbour. Cruise ships brought 4,310 passengers in 2025. The monastery at Panormitis, which has its own port, is a place of worship.

Patmos

Patmos is not quiet on a ship day: 310 cruise calls brought 166,324 passengers in 2025, about four times Milos’s total. It has no airport; SeaJets’ line from Piraeus calls there on the way to Leros and Kos. Patmos was put under a water-scarcity emergency in November 2025, extended by three months in May 2026.

What quiet trades away

• Water. Several small islands have had water-scarcity emergencies: Sifnos (June 2024), Serifos (July 2024, extended), Leros (June 2024, and again from November 2025, extended in 2026), Patmos (November 2025, extended in May 2026) and Astypalaia (May 2026). In June 2026 the Environment Ministry funded desalination on Astypalaia and Leros and a reservoir on Amorgos.
• Seasonal closures. 62% of Greek hotels are seasonal, and in 2025 they opened for 5.8 months on average (ITEP).
• Fewer boats, and longer ones. With no airport, every trip starts with a ferry, and Piraeus to Amorgos is an overnight crossing. The ferry year starts on 1 November, some links run only in high summer, and when the meltemi blows, port authorities stop small and high-speed boats first. Greek island hopping has the timetables and the wind.

A quieter island for a day

If you are staying on a bigger island anyway, two trips listed here reach a smaller one and bring you back the same day:

Prices, ratings and review counts from our October 2026 data check; operators use seasonal pricing, so treat them as the shape of the market, not a quote.

Questions people ask

Which Greek island is the least touristy?

There is no measured answer. The guides’ picks are in the table above, and cruise passengers are the one crowd figure published port by port: in 2025 the lowest counts were Folegandros (434), Ios (604) and Skopelos (795). Those figures miss air and ferry visitors, though; GNTO still describes Ios’s international reputation for nightlife.

Are there Greek islands to avoid?

No official body tells visitors to avoid an island. The measures show where the pressure is: Santorini plans for at most 8,000 cruise passengers a day, Santorini and Mykonos charge cruise passengers the highest fee (€20 each from June to September), and Milos limits them to 1,500 a day at Adamas. On Zakynthos, Navagio (Shipwreck Beach) is closed to landing and swimming until 31 October 2026.

What is the most underrated Greek island?

That is opinion. Lonely Planet’s quieter alternatives to the famous two are Folegandros for Santorini and Paros or Naxos for Mykonos; the other quiet picks are in the table.

Which is the prettiest and quietest Greek island?

Prettiest is a matter of taste. GNTO’s own word for Amorgos is “tranquil”, and both Amorgos and Folegandros are built high on cliffs: Folegandros’s Hora about 200 m above the sea, Amorgos’s monastery 300 m.

What is the most affordable Greek island to visit?

Lonely Planet’s budget pick is Crete; the cheapest Greek islands has the fees and tour prices.

Which Greek islands are a must?

It depends on the trip. The five guides agree on Santorini for couples and Mykonos for nightlife, and on little else; the island chooser matches islands to what you want.

The islands with their own pages: Santorini, Crete, Mykonos, Milos, Paros, Naxos, Rhodes, Corfu, Kefalonia, Zakynthos and Hydra. The Greek islands map shows where the smaller ones sit, and how many Greek islands there are lists them by group.

Sources: GNTO (visitgreece.gr); Lonely Planet; Condé Nast Traveller (UK) and Condé Nast Traveler (US); the Hellenic Ports Association; HCAA; ELSTAT; the ferry operators; ITEP; the Ministry for Climate Crisis and Civil Protection and the Environment Ministry; the Municipality of Ithaca. Tour details from the listings. Checked October 2026.