Greek Islands, Greece

Greece Is Actively Trying to Reduce Crowds on Its Most Famous Islands

Starting in the summer of 2025, Greece introduced a per-person cruise passenger levy at Santorini and Mykonos: 20 euros per person during peak season (June to September) and 12 euros in shoulder months. Santorini went further and introduced a hard daily cap of 8,000 cruise visitors, backed by a berth-allocation system. For 2026, the passenger count is calculated at 100 percent of ship capacity rather than the 80 percent figure used in 2025. The result: scheduled cruise arrivals at Santorini fell roughly 18 percent year on year. Mykonos, which has no equivalent cap, saw cruise calls grow by about 16 percent in 2025 because price signals alone do not limit volume.

This matters for planning. Santorini is genuinely less crowded by cruise passengers in summer 2026 than it was two years ago. Mykonos has not improved. If you are island-hopping and trying to avoid the worst of the crowds, these numbers are more useful than any general advice about “going in shoulder season.”

Santorini

The caldera views from Oia and Fira are real, and the photographs do not exaggerate them. What they do not show is what Santorini actually is geologically: the rim of a collapsed volcano. Around 3,600 years ago, an eruption of extraordinary violence, classified VEI-7, destroyed an earlier round island called Strongyli. The eruption buried a Bronze Age trading city called Akrotiri under several metres of ash. Akrotiri is now an excavated archaeological site under a protective roof; it is sometimes called Greece’s Pompeii, with good reason. Multi-storey buildings, sophisticated drainage systems, and remarkably preserved frescoes have all been recovered. No human remains were found, which suggests the population managed to evacuate before the main eruption. The site is open to visitors, charges a modest entrance fee, and is consistently undervisited relative to its importance.

The caldera cruise-boat tour covering the active volcanic islets (Nea Kameni) and the hot springs of Palea Kameni is a standard activity that takes around 4 to 5 hours from the port of Fira or Ammoudi Bay below Oia. It remains good value at around 20 to 25 euros and gives you a closer look at the geological structure of the island from the water.

Oia at sunset is photographed constantly and feels like it. The caldera rim walk from Fira to Oia (roughly 10 kilometres, takes 3 to 4 hours depending on pace) is the better way to see both towns and gives views that no street corner in Oia can match. Leave Fira by 7am for the walk if you want to arrive in Oia before the cruise crowds build.

Mykonos

Mykonos trades on its nightlife reputation, the windmills of Chora, and its beaches. The beach clubs at Super Paradise and Paradise Beach are the international party scene concentrated into a very small area; they are crowded, expensive, and operate precisely as advertised. Avoid them if nightclubs and day-drinking are not your reasons for travelling. The Little Venice area of Mykonos Town, the old port, and the maze of whitewashed lanes in Chora all work well on a slower pace. The Delos day trip, about 30 minutes by boat from the old port, is one of the most significant archaeological sites in Greece and receives a fraction of the visitors that Mykonos does. Delos was sacred to Apollo and Artemis and served as a major commercial and religious centre in the ancient Mediterranean; the ruins cover essentially the entire island.

Crete

Crete is large enough (Greece’s largest island, 8,300 square kilometres) to absorb visitors without feeling overwhelmed. The Palace of Knossos, the major Minoan palace complex near Heraklion, is the highest-profile archaeological site on the island and worth the visit; try to go in the morning before tour groups arrive from cruise ships. The Samaria Gorge walk (16 kilometres, takes 4 to 6 hours) is one of Europe’s longer gorges and involves a very long descent followed by a boat back from the coastal village of Agia Roumeli. It requires reasonable fitness and appropriate footwear. The western end of the island, around Chania and Rethymno, has a different character from the east; both old towns have Venetian harbour architecture and more manageable crowds than the centre of the island.

Elafonisi beach in the southwest, known for its pink sand caused by crushed shells, is reached by a causeway across shallow water. It is remote enough to feel it, but popular enough during July and August that the approach road becomes congested; go very early or in late afternoon.

The Better Alternatives to Santorini and Mykonos

Naxos is the largest of the Cyclades and the most self-sufficient. It produces its own potatoes, dairy, and wine, which means local taverna food on Naxos is genuinely local rather than imported to sustain a tourist economy. The Temple of Apollo, visible from the port as a massive doorway frame on a small islet, is one of the more atmospheric ancient structures in the Cyclades. Beaches on the southwest coast are long, sandy, and family-practical. A hilltop marble-paved village called Chalki contains Byzantine churches and artisan shops in a setting that has not changed fundamentally since the medieval period. Book accommodation for July and August four to six months ahead; the island has fewer hotels than Santorini and good ones go early.

Milos is volcanic like Santorini but has its own distinct landscape: white pumice formations at Sarakiniko beach, coloured fishing boathouses (syrmata) built into the coastal cliffs, and boat-access-only coves and sea caves at Kleftiko. The Venus de Milo was discovered here in 1820 and is now in the Louvre; a reproduction stands in the island’s archaeological museum. Milos is harder to reach than Naxos (fewer ferry connections) but considerably quieter for it.

Hydra is the car-free island (all transport by donkey, water taxi, or foot) an hour and a half by Flying Dolphin hydrofoil from Piraeus. It functions as a day trip from Athens for many people, which means midday is busy and evenings are calm. The town is genuinely beautiful and the island has a long tradition of attracting artists and writers, including Leonard Cohen, who lived here in the 1960s.

Where to Eat

Greek island food is most rewarding when you eat where fishermen eat rather than where the tourism economy points you. On any island, walk away from the waterfront restaurants and look for places with hand-written menus, no photographs of dishes, and a chalked daily special. Octopus dried on a rack outside the door is a reliable signal.

On Crete specifically, dakos (bread rusk with tomato, olive oil, and aged mizithra cheese) is the canonical local dish and costs almost nothing at a proper kafeneion. In the Cyclades, saganaki (fried cheese), fresh anchovies in vinegar, and whatever fish was landed that morning cover the bases. Taverna meals with wine typically run 15 to 30 euros per person depending on the island.

Where to Stay

Cave hotels built into Santorini’s caldera rim cost significantly more than equivalent quality on other Cycladic islands and are correct to do so once; the view from a plunge pool over the caldera at dawn is the thing that Santorini does better than anywhere. If budget matters, base yourself in Fira or Firostefani rather than Oia and walk in for sunset.

On other islands, smaller family-run hotels and apartments provide much better value than branded hotel chains. The absence of a major hotel brand is usually a positive signal in the Greek islands.

Getting There

Athens is the hub. The international airport (Eleftherios Venizelos) connects to most major European cities; budget carriers cover the UK and German market well. From Athens, Santorini and Mykonos have direct flights (45 minutes) and high-speed ferry connections from Piraeus (4 to 5 hours). Naxos and Paros are reachable by high-speed ferry in 3.5 to 4.5 hours from Piraeus. Milos is 3.5 to 5 hours by conventional ferry or 2.5 hours on the high-speed service.

Ferry schedules in Greece are operated primarily through Blue Star Ferries and SeaJets for high-speed routes. Book online through Ferryhopper or directly with the operator; summer crossings on popular routes sell out and the booking fee is worth paying for peace of mind.

Practical Notes

The Aegean in late May, early June, and September offers the weather of midsummer without the density of July and August. October is warm enough for swimming into mid-month on most islands and accommodation is noticeably cheaper.

On Santorini, the cable car from Fira down to the old port has queues during cruise ship hours; the donkey path or the steps are faster during busy periods.

One consistent mistake: people book Santorini and Mykonos because they are the obvious choices, then find the cost high and the crowds dispiriting. The Greek islands archipelago contains more than 200 inhabited islands. The quality of experience on a less-visited island with good ferry access (Naxos, Milos, Sifnos, Amorgos) is, in most respects, higher.