The North Aegean Islands

The North Aegean islands are a scattered group in the northeastern Aegean Sea, most of them lying close to the Turkish coast and a long way from the Cyclades. They are among the least visited of the Greek island groups, and the ferry journeys are correspondingly longer.

Unlike the Cyclades, the North Aegean is not a hopping archipelago. The islands are widely spaced, the connections between them are infrequent, and several are served mainly from the mainland rather than from each other. That is precisely what keeps them quiet.

Which islands are in the group?

The main inhabited islands are Lesbos (Mytilini), Chios, Samos, Ikaria, Limnos, Samothraki, and Thasos, along with smaller islands including Agios Efstratios, Fourni, Psara, Oinousses and Thymena.

Administratively the grouping is looser than the Cyclades or the Dodecanese, and you will sometimes see Thasos and Samothraki treated separately as "northeast Aegean" islands because they are reached from the northern mainland rather than from Piraeus.

Getting there by ferry

There are three practical approaches, and which one you use depends on the island:

From Piraeus. Lesbos, Chios, Samos and Ikaria are all served by long overnight sailings from Athens. These are proper distances — a Piraeus–Lesbos crossing runs well over ten hours — so a cabin is worth the money rather than a luxury.

From the northern mainland. Limnos, Samothraki and Thasos are reached from Kavala, Alexandroupoli and Lavrio rather than from Athens. If you are combining the islands with northern Greece, this is much the shorter route — see Alexandroupoli to Samothraki and Agios Efstratios to Lemnos.

From Turkey. Several of these islands sit within sight of the Turkish coast and have short international crossings — Samos to Kusadasi and Kusadasi to Pythagorio among them. These run seasonally and are a common way to combine the two countries in one trip.

Island hopping within the group

Hopping between North Aegean islands takes more planning than the Cyclades. Connections exist — Lesbos to Chios is one of the more reliable — but sailings can be a few times a week rather than a few times a day, and a missed boat can cost you two days rather than two hours.

The practical advice is to treat each island as a destination in its own right rather than a stop on a chain, and to check the timetable for your specific dates before committing to an itinerary.

When to go

The season is shorter here than in the southern Aegean. Services thin out considerably from late October and rebuild through May, with the fullest timetables in July and August. Outside those months, check current schedules rather than assuming a route runs — the mainland connections to Limnos and Samothraki hold up better in winter than the inter-island ones.