North Aegean Islands

The North Aegean Islands form a loose chain along the eastern edge of the Aegean, close to the coast of Asia Minor, from Lemnos and Agios Efstratios in the north down through Lesvos, Chios, Samos and Ikaria to a scatter of smaller islands around them. They are a world apart from the whitewashed Cyclades: larger, greener and more self-sufficient, shaped by farming, seafaring and trade rather than by tourism, and among the most genuinely local islands in Greece.

Each has a strong identity. Chios built its wealth on mastic, the fragrant resin that gave rise to its extraordinary medieval villages such as Pyrgi and Mesta. Ikaria is famous the world over as a Blue Zone, where people live remarkably long lives and dance at all-night village festivals. Lemnos is broad, volcanic and fertile, known for its wines, its sand dunes and one of the oldest towns in Europe. Around these larger islands lie smaller, quieter ones, each with its own character: Psara and Oinousses off Chios, one heavy with revolutionary history and the other home to shipping dynasties; the pirate coves of Fournoi and tiny Thymaina between Ikaria and Samos; and remote Agios Efstratios, adrift in open sea.

Travellers use the region for a slower, more rooted kind of island holiday: for empty beaches, hearty local food and wine, hiking and history, and for island-hopping between the big islands and their small satellites. Because they hug the Turkish coast, many also connect easily to Turkey by day boat.

The season runs from late spring to early autumn, with June, September and early October offering warm seas without the peak crush; summer brings the festivals and the fullest ferries. Distances from Athens are longer than in the Cyclades, so the North Aegean rewards those who give it time.