The North Aegean Islands are in the northeastern part of the Aegean sea.
Regions
The North Aegean Islands do not form a clearly defined group of islands. To them one counts the islands in the Greek region "North Aegean", the southern islands in German often as East Aegean Islands are designated.
The North Aegean Islands lie off the coast of the Greek provinces Thrace and Macedonia:
- 1 Thasos (Θάσος). green, mountainous island with a multitude of beautiful beaches and archaeological sites.
- 2 Samothrace (Σαμοθράκη). small, mountainous, green island with pebble beaches and an important archaeological site, not very touristic but popular with young Greek people as "Hippy Island".
- 3 Lemnos (Λήμνος). hilly island, brown in summer, with many best beaches and archaeological sites, little touristy.
- 4 Agios Efstratios (Άγιος Ευστράτιος). small hilly island, brown in summer, with beautiful beaches, almost no tourism.
The following islands are also called East Aegean Islands but administratively belong to the North Aegean region.
- 7 Chios (Χίος). large island with many beautiful beaches, ancient sites, mountain villages worth seeing, and much more.
- 10 Fourni (Φούρνοι Ικαρίας). Archipelago with very rugged small dry islands, ideal for sailors, little tourism.
- 11 Samos (Σάμος). Large island that has enough to offer for every taste: from large beach resorts to rustic villages, forests and many sights.
Further south follows the archipelago des Dodecanese
The for Turkey islands belonging to it become a Turkish province in the article Ege treated.
background
With the exception of Lesbos and Samos, the North Aegean Islands are little known and package tourism in particular is very limited. The islands are more visited by individual travelers. This gives them a more original character than the tourist strongholds further south.
getting there
International airports only exist on Samos and up Lesvos and Lemnos. The other islands can be reached via the airports of Thessaloniki, Kavala, Alexandroupolis and from there on with the ferries.
Most of the islands can be reached daily by ferry.
climate
Web links
- North Aegean region, official site (English Greek)
- wikipedia: East Aegean Islands