Summer is well over, but it is better to plan early for your holidays. But there are so many islands in Greece that you might get overwhelmed. This time we will not offer any advice or pointers as to which ones are the best to visit, but rather just find out how many there are in the country.

There are more than 6,000 Greek Islands but only around 230 are inhabited and about 80 have a population over 100. About a dozen are major holiday destinations with another 20 having substantial tourist visitors.

There are six basic island groupings: the Ionian lies to the west and contains the holiday islands of Corfu, Lefkas, Kefalonia, and Zante. The Cyclades are found in the central Aegean and include Mykonos and Santorini as well as lesser-visited islands like Paros and Naxos.

To the east are the Dodecanese and major islands like Rhodes and Kos as well as smaller ones such as Symi and Patmos. To the northeast is the Sporades group which includes Skiathos and the north Aegean group of Samos, Lesvos, and Thassos.

To the south is Crete – big enough to be on its own.