Greece has a large number of islands, with estimates ranging from somewhere around 1,200 to 6,000,depending on the minimum size to take into account. The number of inhabited islands is variously cited as between 166 and 227.
The largest Greek island by area is Crete, located at the southern edge of the Aegean Sea. The second largest island is Euboea, which is separated from the mainland by the 60m-wide Euripus Strait, and is administered as part of the Central Greece region. After the third and fourth largest Greek Islands, Lesbos and Rhodes, the rest of the islands are two-thirds of the area of Rhodes, or smaller.
The Greek islands are traditionally grouped into the following clusters: The Argo-Saronic Islands in the Saronic gulf near Athens, the Cyclades, a large but dense collection occupying the central part of the Aegean Sea, the North Aegean islands, a loose grouping off the west coast of Turkey, the Dodecanese, another loose collection in the southeast between Crete and Turkey, the Sporades, a small tight group off the coast of Euboea, and the Ionian Islands, located to the west of the mainland in the Ionian Sea (one of these islands, Kythira, is off the southern tip of the Peloponnese Peninsula and part of the Attica region, but still considered part of the Ionian Islands, mainly because of historical reasons). There are also many islands, islets and rocks that surround the coast of Crete.
Saronic Islands
Aegina
Hydra
Poros
Spetses
Angistri
Salamina
Close to mainland
Evia (Euboea)
The Northern Sporades
Skiathos
Skopelos
Skyros
Alonissos
The Ionian Islands
Corfu
Ithaki or Ithaca
Cephalonia
Kythira
Lefkada
Paxi
Zakynthos
Others
Elafonissos
The Dodecanese Islands
Astypalaia
Agathonissi
Nissiros
Chalki
Patmos
Kalimnos
Kastellorizo
Kassos
Karpathos
Kos
Rhodos
Symi
Tilos
Arki
Leros
Marathi
Lipsi
Telendos
Aegean Islands Of the Aegean Sea
Agios Efstratios
Chios
Oinousses
Psara
Antipsara
Ikaria
Fournoi Korseon
Agios Minas
Thymaina
Lesbos
Lemnos
Samos
Samiopoula
Of the Thracian Sea
Samothraki
Thasos
The Cyclades
Amorgos
Anafi
Andros
Antiparos
Delos
Donoussa
Folegandros
Ios
Iraklia
Kea
Keros
Kimolos
Koufonisia
Kythnos
Milos
Mykonos
Naxos
Paros
Santorini/Thera
Schoinoussa
Serifos
Sifnos
Sikinos
Syros
Thirasia
Tinos
Of the Aegean Sea
Crete